Category Archives: Technology

technoween

Posted on October 31, 2024 by SUMPTER

According to the Library of Congress, the above picture was created/published in 1909 or 1910. Since the Wright brothers’ first 59 second flight at Kitty Hawk occurred in December 1903, I’d call that witch an early adopter, at least by … Continue reading →

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Fall River Fire

Posted on September 30, 2024 by SUMPTER

On September 19, 1874 a very destructive fire at a mill in Fall River, Massachusetts killed or injured many of the employees. In its October 10, 1874 issue Harper’s Weekly analyzed the fire and highlighted the heroism of a young … Continue reading →

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Spirit in St. Louis

Posted on July 4, 2024 by SUMPTER

July 4, 1874 was a big day in the St. Louis area. People celebrated the official opening of a new bridge that connected Missouri and Illinois. The Eads Bridge was the first bridge to span the Mississippi River after its … Continue reading →

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up in the air

Posted on February 15, 2021 by SUMPTER

A duck, a sheep, and a rooster take off in a hot air balloon. … Already heard this one? … No? Well, actually, according to the Château de Versailles, this isn’t a joke. In 1782 the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph and … Continue reading →

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under the influence

Posted on July 20, 2019 by SUMPTER

150 years ago a newspaper doubted the truth of what it called a “verdict of Science” regarding earth’s next-door neighbor. From Harper’s Weekly May 22, 1869: THE MOON’S INFLUENCE WHATEVER be the influence exercised upon the earth by the varying … Continue reading →

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prize fliers

Posted on June 15, 2019 by SUMPTER

World War I was disruptive, and while it was a boon to aviation, it caused the postponement of an aerial competition. In 1913 the Daily Mail offered a prize of £10,000 to “the aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic … Continue reading →

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more trans in transportation

Posted on June 7, 2019 by SUMPTER

Our society seems to like historical anniversaries , so I wondered if May 1919 headlines in The New York Times would mention the 50th anniversary of the completion of the United States’ First Transcontinental Railroad. I searched in vain. Certainly … Continue reading →

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At the junction …

Posted on May 10, 2019 by SUMPTER

… Promontory junction North and South America had been a big impediment to free-flowing and relatively quick world trade. Even though way back in 1513 an expedition led by Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovered how near the Atlantic and Pacific … Continue reading →

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conservative counterpoise

Posted on December 25, 2018 by SUMPTER

In an editorial on December 25, 1868 The New-York Times stressed that Christmas was a traditional, family time in a world of great technological change, especially the transportation revolution caused by steam power. The technological innovation led to social change: … Continue reading →

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the velocipede revolution

Posted on December 19, 2018 by SUMPTER

The times they are a-modernizin’. Back in April 1868 an American periodical urged better preservation of historically important places. 150 years ago this month the same paper enthusiastically described a new device – a traveling machine. It wasn’t just the … Continue reading →

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