AUGUST 4 ^TH

1821: The first Saturday Evening Post is published. The weekly newspaper became the most widely circulated magazine in the United States under the guidance of George Horace Lorimer. In the 1920s the Post began a relationship with illustrator Norman Rockwell after Lorimer discovered him in New York. Rockwell’s iconic cover illustrations defined the look of the magazine through much of the 20 ^th century.

1914: Britain enters World War I by declaring war on Germany. President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed America’s neutrality in the conflict. Woodrow’s position would become increasingly difficult to maintain as U.S. ships en route to England were damaged and sunk by German mines.

1922: All the telephones in North America are silent for one minute. Switchboards and switching stations across the United States and Canada shut down to commemorate Alexander Graham Bell, who had died two days earlier. Bell patented the first telephone and is widely credited as being its inventor.

AUGUST 5 ^TH

1888: Bertha Benz makes the first long-distance automobile trip. Benz, the business partner and wife of Karl Benz, drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back, a distance of about 130 miles (105 KM), with just her young sons to accompany her. Before the trip automobiles had only made very short journeys. During the trip, she stopped at a cobbler’s to install leather pads on her failing wooden brakes, thus inventing the world’s first brake pads.

1914: The first electric traffic light is installed in Cleveland, Ohio.

1957: American Bandstand debuts on the ABC television network. The program played popular music by rock ‘n’ roll acts and featured dancing baby boomers.

AUGUST 6 ^TH

1762: The sandwich is invented. The story goes that John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, England, was playing cards when he ordered a valet to bring him meat assembled between two pieces of bread. Sandwich hit upon the design so he could continue to play while eating without using a fork or getting the cards dirty. The other card players asked the valet to bring them “the same as Sandwich,” and the name stuck. The story was first reported in A Tour to London, published by Pierre-Jean Grosley in 1772. Sandwich’s official biographer claimed that the Earl had actually invented the finger food while he was working at his desk.