Toyota automobiles

The first Toyota automobiles were imported into the United States in 1958. The Toyota Land Cruiser was a half-ton, jeep-styled truck, and the Model SA Sedan, nicknamed the "Toyopet," was a 1-liter, two-door compact car. Neither sold very well. The first big seller in America was the 1964 Toyota Corona PT20.
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Filibuster

Senator John C. Calhoun was the first to use a filibuster in 1841. In opposition to Senator Henry Clay's proposed bank bill, Calhoun began a lengthy, unending rebuttal designed to leave no time for a vote on the bill. Clay threatened to change the Senate rules in order to end the debate but his effort was rebuked.

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Player strike

The National Hockey League is the first professional sports league to lose an entire season to player strike. The entire 2005 season came and went without a puck being dropped after the league locked out players. Major League Baseball lost almost half a season to a player strike in 1981. The NFL hired replacement players to fill-in for striking players in 1987. The NBA was locked out in 1998.
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First female mayor

Susanna M. Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas in April 1887, becoming the first female mayor of a U.S. city. Salter was nominated as a mayoral candidate on the Prohibition Party ticket by a local group intended as a joke. With the combined support of the Prohibitionists and the Republicans, Salter was elected mayor, making history and generating a world-wide news event.
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Pony Express

The Pony Express set off on its first mail delivery on April 3, 1860. The Pony Express was a relay delivery of mail by horses and riders from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. Each rider on the express rode for about 150 miles, horses ran for about fifteen miles. The 2,000 mile route took about ten days to complete during the summer and fourteen days during the winter.
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Teddy Bear

The first Teddy Bear was sold in a New York candy store in 1902. Morris Michtom came up with the stuffed animal idea after seeing political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman's Teddy Roosevelt bear hunting cartoon. Michtom sent Roosevelt his new Teddy Bear creation and asked permission to use the teddy bear name. Within a year, Teddy Bears were being mass produced.
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April Fools Day

The first April Fools Day celebrations occurred in France in 1582. The introduction of the Gregorian Calendar a few years earlier moved New Year's from April 1 to January 1. Due to slow communications and refusal to change, some folks continued New Year's celebrations on April 1. Labeled as fools, these people were made the subject of practical jokes.
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