If you're running low on toiler paper at the moment, here's some food for thought: The year that the French Lick Springs Hotel opened, toilet paper wasn't even a thing yet.
The original French Lick Springs Hotel opened in 1845; commercially packaged toilet paper didn't roll out until 1857. Telephones and movies didn't come along for another 30 years; the first light bulb for another 40 years. Nobody had yet bitten into a donut (1847), potato chips (1853) or jelly beans (1861) which all came along later.
In last week's blog, we shed some light on what the hotel would have been like when it opened in 1845. It's worth broadening that view for a little more perspective on just how long ago 175 years really is. Just think of the everyday things that hadn't yet been invented — the zipper, safety pin, barbed wire, spring clothespin, Mason jar, pencil eraser, ironing board, dustpan, paper clip, clothes hanger and ballpoint pen, just for starters.
What else was going on in America 175 years ago? A flashback to other highlights from 1845:
• The New York Herald is the first newspaper in the US to
mention a new game called baseball. The first baseball team, the New York
Knickerbockers, organize and adopt a rule code. The following year in 1846, the Knickerbockers and the New York Nine square off in the first modern baseball game.
The original French Lick Springs Hotel opened in 1845; commercially packaged toilet paper didn't roll out until 1857. Telephones and movies didn't come along for another 30 years; the first light bulb for another 40 years. Nobody had yet bitten into a donut (1847), potato chips (1853) or jelly beans (1861) which all came along later.
In last week's blog, we shed some light on what the hotel would have been like when it opened in 1845. It's worth broadening that view for a little more perspective on just how long ago 175 years really is. Just think of the everyday things that hadn't yet been invented — the zipper, safety pin, barbed wire, spring clothespin, Mason jar, pencil eraser, ironing board, dustpan, paper clip, clothes hanger and ballpoint pen, just for starters.
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| The original French Lick Springs Hotel, built in 1845. |
What else was going on in America 175 years ago? A flashback to other highlights from 1845:
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| Presidents James Polk, John Tyler and John Quincy Adams (left to right). |
• The 11th president, James K. Polk, is sworn in on March 4, succeeding John Tyler. (John Quincy Adams, the 6th U.S. president, was still alive in 1845.)
• The US Congress establishes a uniform date for federal
elections – the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
• Manifest Destiny: President Polk announces to Congress that the U.S. should expand aggressively into the West.
• Florida is admitted as the 27th state in the Union in
March of 1845, and also in that year, the US Congress approves the annexation
of Texas which is admitted as the 28th state on December 29.
• The New York Herald is the first newspaper in the US to
mention a new game called baseball. The first baseball team, the New York
Knickerbockers, organize and adopt a rule code. The following year in 1846, the Knickerbockers and the New York Nine square off in the first modern baseball game.
• Anesthesia is used in childbirth for the first time. (Thank your lucky stars for modern medicine...)
• Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem, The Raven, is published for the first time.
• Notable patents issued in 1845: self-rising flour, rubber bands, and “adhesive
medicated plaster” (the precursor to the Band-Aid).