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. Wanamaker's of Philadelphia, was the first U.S. department store to install electric lighting, in 1878.
3. Sara Lee is named for the daughter of Chicago bakery owner Charles Lubvin. He first named a cheesecake after his daughter, then in 1951 his company.
4. The only original Dow Jones Industrial listed company still in existence is General Electric.
5. Xerox inventor Chestor Carlson, named his product for the dry copying technique that he invented. The Greek root `xer' means dry.
6. Diners Club issued its first card to only two hundred customers and it could only be used at twenty seven restaurants in New York City.
7. Thomas Jefferson invented the first hideaway bed ever patented in the United States.
8. The only American to have two cars named after him was Ransom E. Olds- the Oldsmobile and the long-discontinued Reo, which was produced from 1904 to 1936.
9. Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
10. The original 12 stocks on the Dow Jones were cotton oil, sugar, tobacco, gas, cattle, electric, gas, lead, coal, leather, utility, and rubber companies.
When me and old Abe used to sit by the fire he would tell me the darndest tales about this great land of ours.
