Fractured Flickers of Wisconsin History

On This Day: August 27

1833 - Margarethe Meyer Schurz Born
On this date Margartha Meyer Schurz was born in Hamburg, Germany. In 1852 she relocated to Watertown, Wisconin with her husband, Revolutionary War hero, Carl Schurz. In Watertown, Margarethe began holding classes for children of family and friends. She conducted these classes utilizing the educational philosophy set forth in Froebel's System of Infant Training. Margarethe Meyer Schurz founded the first kindergarten in the United States in November 1856, in Watertown, Wisconsin. [Source: Froebel Web]

Clarification: Carl Schurz, a 'Revolutionary War hero', who married Margarethe Meyer, born in 1833, must have been a serious cradle robber (He was, after all, a serious Republican, but my research could not find a relational link to Mark Foley). Or... it was a Revolution in Germany where he was forced to escape to Switzerland and eventually the U.S. where he served as a general for the North in the American Civil War. Whatever.

1878 - Typewriter Patented
On this date Christopher Latham Sholes patented the typewriter. The idea for this invention began at Kleinsteuber's Machine Shop in Milwaukee in the late 1860s. A mechanical engineer by training, Sholes, along with associates Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soulé, spent hours tinkering with the idea. They mounted the key of an old telegraph instrument on a base and tapped down on it to hit carbon & paper against a glass plate. This idea was simple, but in 1868 the mere idea that type striking against paper might produce an image was a novelty. Sholes proceeded to construct a machine to reproduce the entire alphabet. The prototype was sent to Washington as the required Patent Model. This original model still exists at the Smithsonian. Investor James Densmore provided the marketing impetus which eventually brought the machine to the Remington Arms Company. Although Remington mass-marketed his typewriter begining in 1874, it was not an instant success. A few years later, improvements made by Remington engineers gave the machine its market appeal and sales skyrocketed. [Source: Wisconsin Lore and Legends, p.41]

Some say that Milwaukee's economy is going down the tubes. Blame it in Bill Gates (and George Bush, of course).

1919 - Nation's First Commercial Air Transport Commences
On this date the Lawson Airliner, with 16 passengers, took off from the Milwaukee County Airport on a demonstration flight to New York City and Washington, D.C. [Source: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin's Historical Markers edited by Sarah Davis McBride, p. 39]

Upon arriving in D.C., the airline crew was fired by the Clintons and replaced by friends of Hillary. They then donated to the Doyle campaign and soon after won the state government travel contract.

Finis