MARY BRASWELL: Looking back at 1916, 1941, 1966 and 1991

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.

As 2016 approaches, here is a look back 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago from the new year that starts Friday.

1916

— Electric refrigerators were first offered for sale at the whopping price of $900. That dollar amount is approximately $19,500 in today’s dollars.

— Mr. Peanut was created.

— The hamburger bun was invented by fry cook Walter Anderson, who co-founded White Castle in 1921.

— Arthur Hale, a civil engineer from Maryland, patented the first cloverleaf interchange.

— The Professional Golf Association (PGA) was formed.

— Georgia Tech, coached by John Heisman, defeated Cumberland 222-0, the most lopsided score in the history of college football.

— The British Royal Army Medical Corps carried out the first successful blood transfusion with blood that had been cooled and stored.

— For the first time in American history, women were permitted to attend boxing matches.

— Margaret Sanger opened the first U.S. birth control center, a forerunner of Planned Parenthood. During this time, public speaking to small or large groups about birth control landed a number of women in jail.

— Albert Einstein completed his mathematical formulation of the theory of relativity.

— The first self-serve supermarket opened in Memphis, Tenn. It was the Piggly Wiggly.

1941

— Gutzon Borglum completed the carvings on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. The work, with starts and stops, was started in 1927.

— The Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Dec. 7 on the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor. Hitler and Mussolini soon announced they were at war with America. The U.S. retaliated with its own declaration of war and entered World War II in full force.

— Radio tuners that could receive several stations were invented.

— Glenn Miller was the recipient of the first Gold Record. The song that took the honor was “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.”

— A bill was passed to designate the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

— The U.S. Army began using the Willy Jeep.

— Popular films included “Citizen Kane” and “Dumbo.”

— Roy J. Plunkett received a patent for Teflon, something he created/discovered by accident in 1938.

— Elsie the Cow was involved in a truck accident and had to be put to sleep. She was originally just a cartoon character for advertising, but when people began asking where she was at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, Borden’s picked a cow from their herd to be Elsie.

— Lyle David Goodloe and W.N. Sullivan received a patent for the aerosol can.

— The Dupont Corporation developed the first acrylic fibers and trademarked them under the name Orlon.

— Both comic book characters “Wonder Woman” and “Captain America” made their debuts.

— Actor Jimmy Stewart was inducted into the U.S. Army. He was the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II.

1966

— American Roman Catholics were no longer required to abstain from eating meat on Fridays.

— McDonald’s restaurants began using frozen French fries.

— Mississippi, the last state to do so, repealed Prohibition.

— The last episode of “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” aired. The first episode of “Star Trek” aired.

— Ingredients were first required to be listed on food packages.

— The most popular musical groups of the year included the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys. It was this year that Simon and Garfunkel released their album “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.”

— An act of Congress created the U.S. Department of Transportation.

— On June 13, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion in Miranda v. Arizona The person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be clearly informed that he has the right to remain silent, and that anything he says will be used against him in court; he must be clearly informed that he has the right to consult with a lawyer and to have the lawyer with him during interrogation, and that, if he is indigent, a lawyer will be appointed to represent him.

— An international Day of protest against the war in Vietnam was held on March 26 with an estimated 200,000 people participating. Gallup Polls showed a drop in support for the war from 52 percent to 37 percent. The war, however, continued on until January 1973.

— “Caution! Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health” was required on all packages in the United States.

— The first disposable diapers, Pampers, hit the market.

— Ronald Reagan entered politics as the governor of California.

— The animated version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss first aired on TV.

1991

— U.S. patent No. 5,000,000 was issued to Lonnie O. Ingram, Tyrrell Conway and Flavio Alterthum of the University of Florida. The patent was for a genetically engineered form of E. Coli bacterium for converting plant material into ethanol.

— The average annual income was $29,430.

— Freddie Mercury, lead singer for the band Queen, died.

— Internet was made available for unrestricted commercial use. The number of computers “online” in the U.S. reached 1 million.

— “Silence of the Lambs” won five Oscars as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Writing.

— Elizabeth Taylor married husband No. 7, Larry Fortensky, at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. The couple met at a rehab center.

— Emergency number 911 was tested in selected states for the first time.

— Former U.S. postal worker Joseph Harris killed his former girlfriend, her fiance and two former co workers at the post office in Ridgewood, New Jersey which resulted in the phrase “going postal.”

— Time magazine’s Man of the Year was Ted Turner.

— Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested after the remains of 11 men and boys were found in his apartment in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

— The cost of a gallon of gas averaged $1.12. A loaf of white bread was 71 cents and ground beef cost $1.65 per pound.

—Journalist Terry Anderson was released after seven years in captivity in Beirut.

— Microsoft released MS Dos 5.0.

— Japan stated it would not issue an apology for the attack on Pearl Harbor 50 earlier.

— Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) was arrested in a Florida movie theater for indecent exposure.

— It became a lot easier for many to quit smoking when Nicoderm CQ’s nicotine patch was approved by the FDA.

— Kentucky Fried Chicken officially changed its name to KFC.

— The airbag for automobiles was invented by Americans Geoffrey L. Mahon and Allen Breed.

QUIK QUIZ answer: (b) deodorant (it was officially called Astringent Preparation).

FYI: The toggle light switch was invented in 1916 by William Newton and Morris Goldberg. Processed cheese was also patented in 1916 with the patent in the name of J.L. Kraft. The first solid-body guitar was invented by Les Paul in 1941.