by Daneisha & Erin

1930   1931   1932   1933   1934   1935   1936   1937   1938   1939

In 1930 the United States is growing and changing. It has 694,000 miles of paved road, up from 387,000 in 1921, plus 2.31 million miles of dirt road. Many new things are invented. The world's population reaches close to 2 billion. Most of the world is just entering an economic depression, including America. There are many problems politically, socially, and economically. For the first time in history, more people leave the United States than enter the country.

• On February 18 the Planet Pluto is discovered as the 9 planet. Astronomers at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona discovered it.
• On May 15, the first woman Flight Attendant begins working for United Airline. United Airlines hires Ellen Church as a registered nurse and tells her and the pilot to hire seven other nurses, all aged 25, who are single, have pleasant personalities, are no taller than five feet four, and no heavier than 115 pounds.
• On July 13 the first World Cup soccer game was played in Pocitos Stadium, and France defeated Mexico.
• On September 8 the comic strip first appeared in newspapers. Chic Young created it. It is produced today under the direction of his son, Dean Young, and continues to keep up with the times. Blondie started out as a pretty girl romance and became the most widely read strip in comic art history.
• September 23 flashbulbs are patented by German inventor Johannes Ostermeir. The small filament in the "flash lamp" heats up when connected to a source of electricity, then heat ignites the foil inside the bulb and the foil flashes to produce a fireless, smokeless, odorless, noiseless light.
• Snickers Candy Bars are introduced by Mars, Inc.
• A McGill University research student William Chalmers inventes Plexiglas. Plexiglas is a thermoplastic polymer of methyl methacryalate that is very light and can be bent when it is heated into any shape.
• Hostess Twinkies are introduced by Continental Baking. Manager James A. Dewar, 33, in Chicago was turning out little sponge cakes for shoppers to use as the basis of strawberry shortcakes. When the strawberry season ended Dewar go the idea to fill the cakes with sugary cream to keep his line in production. The St. Louis sign advertising "Twinkie Toes Shoes", inspired him to call the cakes Twinkies.
• The first supermarket opens in Queens, New York in August. Former Kroger store manager Michael S. Cullen who opens the King Kullen Market in an abandoned garage and is very successful.
• Eliot Ness made Chicago a safe place to live again.
• Sliced bread is introduced under the Wonder Bread label by Continental Baking. Customers are suspicious at first because sliced bread grows stale faster but soon after the product was off to a good start. Sliced Bread first appeared in Britain under the Wonder Bread label.
• Toll House Cookies  are invented by Ruth Wakefield. The Wakefields decide to open a lodge, calling it the Toll House Inn and that's where they created tollhouse cookies by accident for guests who stayed at the Toll House Inn.
• Dry Ice is introduced commercially in the United States for keeping ice cream.
• The Veterans Administration is created to help America's veterans.
• Grant Woods completes "American Gothic."

1930   1931   1932   1933   1934   1935   1936   1937   1938   1939

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last updated 12/04/05