Refresh for new random facts
1. 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.
2. When Coca-Cola appeared in 1886 it was marketed as an "Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage."
3. The first Ford cars had engines made by Dodge.
4. Starbucks was originally going to be called "Pequod," after the fishing vessel in Herman Melville's novel, Moby-Dick. The founders settled on Starbuck, the first mate on the ship, instead.
5. Alexander Graham Bell was one of the founders of National Geographic magazine.
6. A Singer sewing machine was the first consumer product purchased on an installment plan. In 1856, Margaret Hellmuth of New York paid $50 down, with the remaining $100 paid in six monthly installments.
7. 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.
8. Arby's was named for brothers Forrest and LeRoy Raffel (the Raffel Brothers, or RB)
9. Brothers Isaiah and John Wesley Hyatt developed plastic in 1869 while competing for a $10,000 prize offered by a company looking for a substitute for ivory in billiard balls.
10. J.C. Penney's initials stand for James Cash, founder of the store chain in 1902.
When me and old Abe used to sit by the fire he would tell me the darndest tales about this great land of ours.
