First television station

WRGB-TV in Schenectady, New York is credited with being the first television station in the United States. Originally called W2XB, the station began offering regular TV programming complete with newscasts three days a week in May 1928. The station's signal came from a 380-meter antenna and offered 24 vertical lines of resolution at 21 frames per second.
More Famous Firsts

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was founded by Carl Fisher in 1906 and the first Indianapolis 500 Mile Race was held on May 30, 1911. Ray Harroun sped through the finish line ahead of the other 39 drivers in the field winning the 500-mile race with an average speed of 74.59 miles-per-hour in six hours and 42 minutes.
More Famous Firsts

Mount Everest

Attempts to climb Mount Everest began in 1921 when Tibet first opened its borders to outsiders. Eleven expeditions over a period of thirty years failed to conquer the world's tallest mountain. On May 29, 1953, New Zealanders Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay overcame crevasses, ferocious winds, sudden storms and oxygen deprivation to became the first to conquer Everest.
More Famous Firsts

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ruth Wakefield baked the first Chocolate Chip Cookie in 1930. Ms. Wakefield accidentally discovered her new recipe while making chocolate cookies for her guests at her tourist lodge. She ran out of the baker's chocolate needed for the chocolate cookies and substituted a chocolate bar cut up into tiny pieces. The chocolate chip cookie was born!
More Famous Firsts

Dow Jones

The Dow Jones industrial average index was first published on May 26, 1896. The index consisted of twelve stocks and closed at 40.94. It took the Dow over 75 years to surpass 1,000. The Dow hit 4,000 in 1995; 8,000 in 1997; and 12,000 in 2006.
More Famous Firsts

Transcontinental railroad

The first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. was completed in May 1869. Seven years after President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, and four years after his death, the "golden spike" completing the rail link between the Eastern U.S. and California was celebrated at Promontory Summit, Utah. The railroad was considered the greatest technological feat of the 19th century.
More Famous Firsts

First paying space traveler

Dennis A. Tito, founder of Wilshire Associates, created the index now known as the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index, the broadest measure of the U.S. securities markets. Mr. Tito is also famous for becoming the world's first paying space traveler in 2001 when he flew with a Russian crew aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station.
More Famous Firsts

Barbary Wars

The First Barbary War was waged from 1801 to 1805 between the U.S. and four North African countries. The U.S. paid ransoms to these countries for several years in return for captured American ships and crews. Ransoms reached 20 percent of U.S. government revenues, which compelled Thomas Jefferson to send American Navy ships to the Mediterranean, thus entering the war.
More Famous Firsts

Mark Twain

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." -- Mark Twain.
More Famous Firsts

Lady Lindy

Amelia Earhart was nicknamed "Lady Lindy" because of her comparable achievements to Charles Lindbergh. On May 21, 1932, Earhart became the first female, and only second pilot, to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart took off from Newfoundland, Canada and landed in Ireland, covering 2,026 miles in fifteen hours. Ms. Earhart was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress.
More Famous Firsts

Cal Ripken Jr.

Baltimore Orioles infielder Cal Ripken Jr. played in a record 2,632 straight Major League games. His consecutive game record set on September 6, 1995 spanned sixteen seasons and surpassed the record held by Lou Gehrig for 56 years. Cal's first of 2,632 straight games occurred on May 20, 1982. He batted eighth and played third base in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
More Famous Firsts

Little League Baseball

Little League Baseball was developed by Carl Stotz in 1938 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Eleven teams participated in the first Little League World Series in 1947. The Maynard Midget League of Williamsport defeated the Lock Haven All Stars in the final game to claim the first Little League World Series championship.
More Famous Firsts

Mark Spitz

Mark Spitz is considered by many to be the greatest swimmer of all time. Spitz earned this status during the 1972 Olympics when he became the first athlete to win seven gold medals in an Olympics. His performances were even more remarkable considering world records were set in all seven events he competed in.
More Famous Firsts

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is the oldest consecutively held thoroughbred race in America. The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875, before a crowd of 10,000. In that race, a field of 15 three-year-olds ran a 1.5 mile course which was won by H.P. McGrath's Aristides. The Derby's race distance was changed to the current 1.25 miles in 1896.
More Famous Firsts

Computer "bug"

The computer term "bug" was first used at Harvard University in August 1945 when the Mark I computer project staff noticed something wrong with one of the computer's circuits. After a lengthy search, a two-inch moth was located and removed from one of the computer cabinets. From then on computer problems were referred to as bugs.
More Famous Firsts

Bonanza

The television series Bonanza aired on NBC from September 1959 to January 1973. The popular cowboy series was the first network television series to film all of its episodes in color. The show chronicled the Cartwright family with father Ben and sons Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe living on a ranch called The Ponderosa.
More Famous Firsts

"In God We Trust"

"In God We Trust" was first declared as the current national motto of the United States by an act of Congress in 1956 and first appeared on paper currency in 1957. The new motto displaced the existing national motto "E Pluribus Unum."
More Famous Firsts

Charles Lindbergh

On May 12, 1927, Charles Lindbergh and his plane "The Spirit of St. Louis" landed in Curtiss Field on Long Island, New York to break the existing record for the fastest transcontinental flight. Eight days later, Lindbergh landed safely at Le Bourget Field in Paris becoming the first pilot to fly a transatlantic flight solo. The flight through fog and ice covered 3,600 miles and took almost 34 hours.
More Famous Firsts

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are the oldest continuous franchise in all of American professional sports. The Phillies were established in the National League as the Philadelphia Quakers in 1883. The storied and often maligned baseball franchise ended a 97-year World Series championship drought by defeating the Kansas City Royals in 1980 to win its first World Series.
More Famous Firsts

Mother's Day

Anna M. Jarvis is credited with establishing the celebration of Mother's Day in the United States. Ms. Jarvis solicited the help of hundreds of legislators and prominent businessmen to create this special day. The first Mother's Day was celebrated on May 10, 1908 in a church. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honor of mothers.
More Famous Firsts

American Dictionary

Noah Webster published the first edition of his American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. In this edition of nearly 50,000 words, Webster standardized the spelling of many of the words, introducing the convention of having one acceptable and correct spelling for a word. Webster's dictionary was so popular that "Webster's" became synonymous with dictionary to many Americans.
More Famous Firsts

First commercial airlines

United Airlines was the first commercial airlines in the U.S. Walter Varney launched what would become United Airlines as an air mail service in 1925. Varney's service was purchased in 1927 by William Boeing, who later renamed the company United Aircraft-Transport Corp. Boeing's company was later split into three separate company's: United Technologies, Boeing Airplane Company and United Airlines.
More Famous Firsts

Cell phones

The first working cell phones began in 1947 when researchers developed two-way over the air radio transmission using cell towers. The Federal Communications Commission was reluctant to open the necessary cellular phone frequencies for commercial use. The first commercial cell phone service in the U.S. was offered in Chicago in 1983, thirty-seven years after its development.
More Famous Firsts

The four-minute mile

English runner Roger Bannister broke the widely-held assumption that it was impossible for a human to run a mile in under four minutes. He became the first to do this when he ran a mile in 3.594 minutes in Oxford on the May 6, 1954. In addition to being a skilled runner, Bannister used his knowledge as a physician to research the mechanical aspects of running and to develop scientific training methods.
More Famous Firsts

Carnegie Hall

Andrew Carnegie laid the first ceremonial cornerstone in 1890 on what would become the most famous concert hall in the world. The "Music Hall" officially opened on May 5, 1891 with a concert conducted by Walter Damrosch and composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The building was renamed Carnegie Hall in 1893. Carnegie Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
More Famous Firsts

Oldsmobile

The first factory specifically set up to manufacture automobiles in the United States was built by the Olds Motor Works in 1899 on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. By 1901, the Oldsmobile became the first American car to be manufactured in quantity. The Olds Motor Vehicle Company was established in 1897 by Ransom E. Olds.
More Famous Firsts

The White House

The construction of The White House took place over a period of eight years, from October 13, 1792 to November 1, 1800. President John Adams was the first U.S. President to reside in the White House. The newly constructed building was referred to as the "President's Palace," "Presidential Mansion," and "President's House," until 1811 when the term "White House" was first used.
More Famous Firsts

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is considered by many to have been the greatest writer the English language has ever known. Between 1586 and 1612 Shakespeare wrote nearly 40 plays, 154 sonnets, and a variety of poems. He authored his first play at the age of twenty-five titled "Henry VI, Part One," the first in series four plays often referred to as "The Wars of the Roses."
More Famous Firsts

The North Pole

Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura was the first person to reach the North Pole alone. Naomi reached the North Pole on May 1, 1978, after a harrowing 57 day trip. Naomi almost gave up twice during the quest. Once, after he and his dog team survived an attack by a polar bear. The second when they became stranded on a floating island of ice. Naomi is world famous for his solo adventures.
More Famous Firsts