Refresh for new random facts
1. American Express started off as a shipping company in 1850, shipping financial products across the United States; their first credit card wasn't issued until 1958.
2. The first vending machines were installed on New York City elevated subway platforms in 1888 and dispensed Tutti-Fruiti gum.
3. Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb, is said to have been afraid of the dark.
4. Railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt would be worth around $150 Billion in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation.
5. Con Edison is the longest tenured listing on the New York Stock Exchange, first listed in 1824 as the New York Gas Light Company.
6. Arby's was named for brothers Forrest and LeRoy Raffel (the Raffel Brothers, or RB)
7. The original 12 stocks on the Dow Jones were cotton oil, sugar, tobacco, gas, cattle, electric, gas, lead, coal, leather, utility, and rubber companies.
8. One of the twelve original companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896 was Distilling & Cattle Feeding Whiskey Trust...believe it or not.
9. Fortune cookies were invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung.
10. The common phrase "Often a bridesmaid but never a bride" originates from a Listerine advertisement written by Milton Feasley in the 1920's.
When me and old Abe used to sit by the fire he would tell me the darndest tales about this great land of ours.
