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Office of Gov. Dennis Daugaard
500 E. Capitol Ave.
Pierre, S.D. 57501
605-773-3212
125th Anniversary Feature
Friday, August 15, 2014
Contact: Jim Soyer at 605-773-5689
1889: That Wonderful Year
The year 1889 was an eventful one, and not just because four new states were admitted to the Union.
In January, Coca-Cola was originally incorporated as the Pemberton Medicine Company.
In February, Congress passed and out-going President Grover Cleveland signed the Enabling Act that set the procedures by which South Dakota and five other states were created in 1889 and 1890. The headline in the Huron Daily Huronite read, “It’s a Go.”
In March, Benjamin Harrison became the 23rd president. Prohibition promoters met in Huron to organize for fall elections. The Eiffel Tower opened, and the first U.S. golf course opened in Younkers, N.Y.
In April, Charlie Chaplin was born. The Oklahoma land rush began on April 22.
In May, the modern brassiere was invented. The Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood killed 2,295 people on May 30 and 31.
On June 14, the first Flag Day was observed. The first long distance electric power transmission line was completed, delivering electricity from Williamette Falls to Portland, Oregon. The forerunner of the modern pizza was invented by Raffaele Esposito. He called it Pizza Margherita.
On July 4, 75 delegates convened in Sioux Falls to draft a state constitution. On July 8, the Wall Street Journal was first published and the last bare-knuckles championship fight was held. It lasted 75 rounds.
In August, San Francisco was invaded by millions of crickets. The Savoy Hotel opened in Great Britain. It was the first hotel equipped with private bathrooms. When owner Richard Carte ordered them, the builder was incredulous and asked Carte if the guests would be amphibious. The Savoy’s primary competitor had only four bathrooms for its 500 guests.
Also in August, Kodak began selling the first commercially packaged celluloid roll film for their new Kodak camera and Thomas Edison was completing his first movie.
In September, the Nintendo company began as a marketer of playing cards. The First General Conference on Weights and Measures started out by defining the “meter.”
On Oct. 1, 1889, soon-to-be South Dakotans approved a constitution and elected Arthur C. Mellette to be their first governor. Later that month, the state Legislature-elect met to select our first U.S. senators. Having no Capitol, the Senate met in the Presbyterian Church, while the House met in the county courthouse.
In November, reporter Nellie Bly started her trip around the world to beat the record of Phileas Fogg, hero of Around the World in Eighty Days. Bly did it in 72 days.
In San Francisco, the first jukebox was installed (maybe to scare away the crickets). Curtis Brady was issued the first permit to allow an automobile to drive through New York City’s Central Park, but only after he pledged to not frighten the horses. Jefferson Davis died in New Orleans and South Dakota became a state on Nov. 2.
In December, the first bicycle with a back pedal brake was patented.
Also in 1889, the Mayo Clinic was founded, rubber heels were introduced on shoes and the steam-powered dish washing machine was invented. The national debt was only $1,619,052,922 and John Philip Sousa composed the “Washington Post March.” Georgia declared Robert E. Lee’s birthday a state holiday and free mail delivery to the home was introduced in cities over 5,000.
“The Burger” was the first petrol-driven agricultural tractor. It was built in 1889 in Illinois and promptly sold to a wheat farmer near Madison, South Dakota. It worked so well that six more were built and dispatched to the Dakotas.
The first direct-dial telephone was invented by Almon B. Strowger. He was working as an undertaker in Kansas City, Missouri, and experienced a sudden decline in business. Strowger discovered that a telephone operator who was romantically involved with a rival was sending calls to his competitor. He responded by creating a device that allowed telephone users to place calls directly, without the need for operators.
A lot happened in 1889. But without South Dakota statehood, it wasn’t that great of a year.
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