FOOD HISTORY TIMELINE
1846 to 18491846 Norbert Rillieux of New Orleans, Louisiana, received U.S. patent No. 4879 for an 'Evaporating Pan,' a vacuum sugar evaporator. The device revolutionized sugar processing, making it more efficient, faster, much safer. 1846 Iowa became the 29th state. 1846 Ira Remsen was born. American chemist, codiscoverer (with Constantine Fahlberg) of saccharin, the artificial sweetener. 1846 Eliza Maria Mosher was born (died Oct 16, 1928). An American physician whose wide-ranging medical career included an educational focus on physical fitness and health maintenance. 1846 Edward H. Johnson was born. Johnson, vice-president of Thomas Edison's electric company, created the first electric Christmas tree lights which he displayed on a Christmas tree at his New York home on December 22, 1882. 1846 In Nantucket, Massachusetts, a fire began in a hat store on Main Street and raced through town, consuming everything in its path. At the wharves, barrels of stored whale oil burst into flames, flowed into the water, and created a sea of fire. More than 250 buildings were destroyed, including most of the commercial district. 1846 (Georges-) Auguste Escoffier was born. Escoffier was called "the emperor of chefs" by Emperor William II of Germany, and is widely know as 'the king of chefs and the chef of kings.' He modernized and codified the elaborate haute cuisine created by Marie-Antoine Careme. Escoffier was chef at the Carlton Hotel in London, the Grande National Hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland, the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo, the Savoy in London and the Ritz hotels in Paris and New York City. His books include 'Guide culinaire' and 'Ma Cuisine.' 1846 Carry Amelia Nation was born. Well known temperance movement activist, she was famous for destroying saloons with a hatchet. 1846 William Horlick was born (died 1936). Manufacturer of food for infants and invalids, he created and patented (1883) a new formulae named 'Diastoid' - later renamed and trademarked as 'malted milk' which found new and unexpected uses and markets. 1846 Nancy Johnson invented the hand-cranked ice cream freezer. Nothing more is known about her. Her design was patented in 1848 by William G. Young. 1846 The Tudor Ice Company of Boston shipped 65,000 tons (175 shiploads) of ice, most to the Far East, and the rest to the Southern States. 1846 Adolphe Sax obtained a patent for the saxophone which he had invented a few years earlier. 1846 Elias Howe Jr. of Cambridge, Massachusetts received the first U.S. patent (# 4,750) for a lock-stitch sewing machine. 1846 William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody was born (died 1917) American frontiersman, buffalo hunter and Indian scout. 1847 Carlsberg brewery in Denmark began production of its first brew. 1847 The American Medical Association was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1847 Thomas Alva Edison was born. Chefs use his inventions everyday, including light and music to work by. 1847 Bram Stoker was born (died 1912). Author of 'Dracula' (1897). 1847 The Donner Party is rescued after being snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas. Almost half of the original 87 members died, and some of the survivors seemed to be well fed considering the ordeal they went through. Cannibalism itself is not a crime, and no charges were ever brought. 1847 Supposedly, Hanson Crockett Gregory, of Rockport, Maine, created the doughnut. His mother's fry-cakes were not cooked in the center, so he used the top of a round tin pepper container to punch the holes, so the dough would cook evenly. (I have doubts about this story) 1847 Henry David Thoreau left Walden Pond and moved in with Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family in Concord, Massachusetts, ending his 2 years of simple living at Walden Pond. 1847 'The Carolina Housewife' by Sarah Rutledge was published.
1847 Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco.
1847 Alexander Graham Bell was born (died Aug 2, 1922). Scottish-American inventor of the telephone. 1847 Benjamin Delessert died. French industrialist who developed the first successful process to extract sugar from sugar beets. 1848 The Oregon Territory was established. The area included the future states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and parts of Wyoming and Montana. 1848 William G. Young of Baltimore, Maryland received U.S. patent No. 5,601 for an improved ice cream freezer. 1848 The first commercial chewing gum is introduced, State of Maine Spruce Gum 1848 At about midnight, for the first time in recorded history, a huge upstream ice jam stopped almost all water flow over Niagara Falls (both American Falls and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls) for 30 hours. You could actually walk out into the riverbed below the falls. 1848 William Keith Brooks was born. An American zoologist, he was a champion for the conservation of the Chesapeake Bay oyster. Author of 'The Oyster' (1891). 1848 A huge upstream ice jam stopped almost all water flow over Niagara Falls (both American Falls and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls) for several hours. You could actually walk out into the riverbed below the falls. 1848 William Waldorf Astor was born. William Waldorf Astor was a cousin of John Jacob Astor IV, the great grandson of John Jacob Astor. He built the Waldorf section (1893) of what would become the Waldorf Astoria (1897). The Empire State Building (1929) now stands on the site of the former hotel. 1848 Franklin Hiram King was born. American agricultural scientist and inventor of the cylindrical tower silo. 1848 The first pure food laws were enacted in the U.S. 1848 Francois Auguste Rene Vicomte de Chateaubriand died. Chateaubriand was a French writer and politician. His chef, Montmireil, created the famous recipe consisting of a center cut from the beef tenderloin, grilled and served with bearnaise sauce and chateau potatoes. He named the dish Chateaubriand. 1848 M. Waldo Hanchett patented a dental chair. 1848 Auguste-Henri Forel was born. The next time you are on a picnic and become overtaken by ants, think of Forel. If you would like to know about ants, find a copy of his 5 volume 'The Social World of the Ants.' 1848 Pasta is produced commercially in the U.S. for the first time at a pasta plant in Brooklyn, New York - by a Frenchman! 1848 Wisconsin became the 30th state.
1849 Congress creates the Minnesota Territory. 1849 The first poultry show in the U.S. was held on November 15-16 in Boston, Massachusetts. 1,423 birds were exhibited by 219 exhibitors. 1849 Minnesota's first brewery is opened by Anthony Yoerg in St. Paul.
1849 U.S. agricultural exports were about $90 million a year during the 1840s. 1849 Luther Burbank was born. American horticulturist, he developed many new varieties of fruits and vegetables, including the Burbank Potato (1873), the Shasta Daisy, over 100 varieties of plums and prunes and 10 varieties of berries. 1849 Walter Hunt of New York patented the safety pin. However, safety pins existed prior to this. 1849 Charles F. Brush was born. U.S. inventor and entrepreneur. Invented improvements to arc lights and generators. His arc lamps on NY City's Broadway gave it the nickname 'The Great White Way.' 1849 In Great Britian, Charles Rowley patented a safety pin. 1849 Jacob Perkins died. Jacob Perkins was issued the first U.S. patent for a refrigerating machine. It used sulfuric ether compression. 1849 Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born. Pavlov's work with dogs actually started as a study of digestion. He theorized that digestion was controlled in part by sensory inputs of sight, smell and taste - and as he discovered, sound; 'conditioned reflex.' 1849 Self service restaurants first appear in San Francisco during the California gold rush of 1849. At first a selection of free food was placed along the bar in saloons. There were so many people, that soon other businesses opened which charged for serving yourself. You went down the line with a tray, picked what you wanted, and paid at the end of the line. 1849 The 'Hangtown Fry' is created during the California goldrush. The Hangtown Fry is eggs, oysters and bacon cooked together, scrambled or an omelette. 1849 Benjamin Leroy Holt was born (died 1920) Invented first practical track-type or crawler tractor (caterpillar tractor) in 1904.
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