National German Chocolate Cake Day

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1742 Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin Stove. He purposely did not patent it, so that others could freely copy the design.

1793 The first American stove patent is granted to Robert Haeterick

1842 Carl Paul Gottfried Linde was born. A German engineer who invented mechanical refrigeration. He developed it so beer could be brewed year round. (Brewing requires low temperatures.)

1860 Mary Jane Rathbun was born. A marine zoologist and crustacean expert.

1901 New Zealand annexed the Cook Islands.

1910 Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born. Ocean explorer, marine biologist. Co-inventor of the aqualung.

1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt served hot dogs to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England during their 1939 visit to the United States. It was the first time they had tried this American gourmet treat.

1947 Sugar rationing ends in the U.S.

1996 The record Pacific halibut weighed 459 pounds and was caught in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.