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Dwight D. Eisenhower’s road trip inspired the interstate highway system.

  • Eisenhower signs the Highway Act of 1954
Eisenhower signs the Highway Act of 1954
Credit: Everett Collection Historical/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Timothy Ott
August 5, 2025

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In 1919, Dwight D. Eisenhower, then a lieutenant colonel in the Tank Corps, learned of the U.S. Army’s plan to test the capabilities of its transport vehicles by moving 80 military vehicles across the United States from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. A cross-country expedition of this scale had never been attempted, and as Eisenhower later explained in his memoir At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends, he volunteered his services as an observer “partly for a lark and partly to learn.”

After missing the first leg of the trip to Frederick, Maryland, Eisenhower joined the expedition, known as the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy, for the remainder of its two-month, 3,000-mile journey along the Lincoln Highway to California. As per the requirements of his involvement, the young officer dutifully submitted a report that analyzed the performances of the various military vehicles, the discipline shown by participating soldiers, and the quality of the roads encountered along the way. He also offered suggestions on how to allocate resources toward improving highway conditions — demonstrating how the journey piqued his interest in a future United States linked by a system of well-maintained roads.

A quarter-century later, Eisenhower, as supreme commander of the Allied forces during World War II, observed how Germany’s modern highways enabled the speedy, efficient transport of materiel. His interest in an improved road network again ignited, Ike made the development of America’s highways a centerpiece of his domestic agenda upon being elected U.S. president in 1952. His vision became a reality with the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which established the Interstate Highway System, the vast network of roads that crisscross the country today.

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The First Transcontinental Motor Convoy was a hard and dangerous trip.

Eisenhower's memoir recounts the welcome reception the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy enjoyed in some towns and the practical jokes he and a buddy enjoyed at the expense of recruits, but overall, this trip was no joy ride. Along with weathering the regular mechanical malfunctions of its vehicles, the convoy's personnel endured numerous tense and even life-threatening situations, especially as they navigated the lesser-developed regions of the West. Once, a massive rainstorm turned the Nebraskan dirt road into a muddy, slippery mess that required 25 trucks to be pulled out of ditches. Another harrowing situation saw one of the vehicles lost for good when it tumbled over the side of a mountain. The War Department's official report noted the expedition's 230 motor-related accidents, as well as the difficulties endured by travelers due to insufficient sleep and shelter, fluctuating temperatures, and sand storms. Small wonder, then, that the convoy's members received medals upon reaching San Francisco, although there's little to commemorate this pioneering mission today besides the Zero Milestone marker of the journey's starting point on the Ellipse south of the White House.

$2 bills are older than the United States.

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$2 bill
Credit: Alicia Razuri/ Unsplash
Author Rachel Gresh
March 20, 2024

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In the spring of 1775, the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired, beginning the American colonies’ arduous journey to sever ties with the British monarchy. As the war pressed on, the colonies faced a pressing matter: They needed funds. The Second Continental Congress voted to issue bills of credit equal to 2 million Spanish milled dollars, and the first Continental Currency notes (referred to simply as “Continentals”) were born. These notes featured various denominations including the first standardized $2 bills, which were issued on May 10, 1775, more than one year before the U.S. officially declared independence on July 4, 1776. 

The Continental Currency notes not only funded the war, but also symbolized a new nation in defiance of England. Founding father Benjamin Franklin was an early printer of Continentals, which were developed and printed in Franklin’s native Philadelphia. He also suggested inspirational sayings for the notes, as seen in one famous $2 bill design from 1776, which includes the motto “Tribulatio Ditat,” or “Troubles make us stronger.” That particular bill design features an image of grain being separated from the chaff. Franklin also devised a way to fight counterfeit bills by producing notes with raised patterns cast from actual leaves from trees. 

The $2 bill looks very different today. The modern version was first printed in 1862 and featured a portrait of Alexander Hamilton, who established the First Bank of the United States in 1791 and served as the first U.S. Treasury secretary. Since 1869, the $2 bill has featured a portrait of Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president. On the reverse side is a print of John Trumbull’s painting “Declaration of Independence,” which depicts the Founding Fathers presenting a draft of the historic document to Congress.

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A small town printed wooden money during the Depression.

In December 1931, amid the Great Depression, the Citizens Bank of Tenino in Washington state ran out of money, and it was the only bank in town. This was a common occurrence throughout the country, and many towns and cities printed scrip notes or IOUs so that residents could purchase necessities. Local Tenino newspaper publisher Don Major suggested a new type of temporary scrip that residents could use to buy things in town until the economy recovered: wooden money. It was made from slices of spruce — an appropriate material for a Pacific Northwest logging town — that were only one-eightieth of an inch thick and laminated. The city council approved the plan, and the bills were printed in denominations of 25 cents, 50 cents, and $1. It turned out to be a successful publicity stunt. Over the next few years, $10,000 worth of wooden bills were sold, and apparently, only about $40 of that was ever redeemed (wealthy collectors bought most of them), leaving the town with a significant profit. The peculiar wooden currency is alive and well today; Tenino prints souvenir and commemorative wooden bills, and more than a dozen local businesses still accept the novelty bills as currency.

The ancient Greeks had waffle irons.

  • Waffle iron, circa 1947
Waffle iron, circa 1947
Credit: Chaloner Woods/ Valueline via Getty Images Plus
Author Sarah Anne Lloyd
July 29, 2025

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It’s easy to assume waffles are a recent invention after cooking them (or having them cooked for you) on electric appliances your whole life. But waffle irons are far older than one might expect. All you need to make a waffle is metal, heat, and batter, and ancient Greeks had all three at their disposal. 

Ancient Greeks (and later, ancient Romans) used a pair of cooking irons (flat or patterned metal plates with long handles) over a fire to cook a batter of flour and either water or goat’s milk. The result was a wafer-like treat called panis obelius, named either for its suggested retail price (one obol coin) or because it was described as being roasted on a spit known as obeloi. 

These ancient waffles could have all kinds of add-ins, including olives, figs, cheese, herbs, or honey, and were eaten during festive rituals. The treat eventually evolved into the ancient Roman crustulum, a sweet, crisp, biscuit-like food made with honey, flour, lard, and a couple of hot irons. 

Europeans continued to evolve the waffle throughout the Middle Ages. In Italy, ferratelle biscuits, a popular homemade treat made with patterned irons, may have developed directly from ancient crustulum. The Catholic Church used similar iron plates, inscribed with religious designs, to make Communion wafers, and eventually street vendors started selling a leavened, secular version. The traditional “waffle” pattern emerged sometime in the 1200s, and such waffle irons even appeared in medieval and Renaissance art.

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An iconic Nike shoe was made with a waffle iron.

Bill Bowerman was obsessed with creating lighter, more efficient running shoes, first as an athletics coach at the University of Oregon, and then, in the 1960s, as the co-founder of Nike. He was having breakfast with his wife one morning in 1971 when he realized the pattern of the waffle iron would be ideal for a grippy sole for training shoes. He developed the perfect pattern by pouring rubber into multiple waffle irons until he got it right, and Nike still sells those “waffle shoes” today.

During WWII, the British used Monopoly games to help POWs escape.

  • Monopoly board game
Monopoly board game
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Author Bennett Kleinman
March 13, 2024

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Monopoly has been beloved for generations, but the history of the classic board game isn’t all fun and games. During World War II, specially manufactured Monopoly boards were used to help prisoners of war escape from captivity. In 1940, the British government struck a deal with Waddingtons, the company that manufactured London-themed editions of Monopoly, in which MI9, a secret department of the War Office, tasked Waddingtons with creating a version of Monopoly that contained various tools and information to aid POWs in their potential escape efforts.

The sneakily altered Monopoly boards were distributed to Nazi-run POW camps as part of larger aid packages. In addition to the standard thimble and dog game pieces, each board contained metal “playing pieces” that were actually escape tools, such as a file and magnetic compass. Each version also contained silk maps provided by the intelligence agency, which could be unfolded discreetly without drawing attention. What’s more, these special editions swapped out fake Monopoly money for real German, Italian, and French currency that could be used to bribe guards. The British government also contracted game company John Jaques & Son to create chess sets and versions of Snakes and Ladders that contained hidden compartments with escape tools.

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Standard Monopoly locations are based on Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Monopoly is based on an earlier board game called the Landlord’s Game, an anti-capitalist game created by a woman named Elizabeth Magie. It became so popular that people made homemade versions featuring locations in their own regions. One of these directly inspired the standard Monopoly board we know today, and can be traced back to a woman named Ruth Hoskins. In the 1920s, Hoskins moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and introduced the Landlord’s Game to her friends there. The group decided to create a new version featuring locations and prices that were directly tied to Atlantic City’s actual property values at the time. One of Hoskins’ friends — Charles Todd — later presented the Atlantic City-themed version to his own friend Charles Darrow, who sold the Monopoly concept to Parker Brothers in 1935. While designing the official board, Parker Brothers stuck with the Atlantic City-based locations, which became the standard.

Amelia Earhart had her own clothing line.

  • Amelia Earhart portrait
Amelia Earhart portrait
Credit: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Sarah Anne Lloyd
March 13, 2024

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Amelia Earhart broke into an almost entirely male-dominated profession to become one of the most famous aviators of all time, but being one of a small handful of female pilots came with plenty of obstacles. One of the more annoying problems was a lack of flight apparel designed to fit women’s bodies. At the beginning of her career, Earhart was saddled with ill-fitting clothing designed for men, which only bolstered her lifelong interest in fashion. As a child, Earhart sewed clothing for herself and her dolls; later in life, she had a reputation for wearing practical clothing, much of which was custom-made.

In 1933, with a couple of transatlantic flights under her belt, Earhart released Amelia Fashions, a clothing line “for the woman who lives actively”; while some of the line was made for aviation, some of it was just stylish and comfortable. Earhart didn’t just lend her name to the label — she approved every step of the process and helped sew some of the garments, too. Many of the designs incorporated aviation materials, such as buttons and buckles made of ball bearings, oil cups, and bolts. Some shirts were made from parachute silk and included tails, which were mostly exclusive to menswear at the time. She also designed hats, which she used as prizes for flying contests with the Ninety-Nines, an all-woman aviation society she helped establish. What ultimately doomed the clothing line was that Earhart cared too much about it, and she found that working as a full-time designer took her focus away from flying and lecturing.

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Winston Churchill had several custom-made onesies.

In Britain during World War II, one never knew when they’d have to rush to an air raid shelter — including Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Wanting to make sure he could dress quickly in the event of an emergency, Churchill commissioned upscale shirtmaker Turnbull & Asser to make a series of one-piece suits that could be donned quickly — similar to work coveralls, but in a variety of fancy fabrics and patterns like pinstripes. The prime minister didn’t need an actual emergency to make use of his “siren suits” though, and he was known to wear them while carrying out official duties; he even owned a black velvet romper for formal dinners. One of the few surviving examples is sewn from green velvet and still has a cigar jammed in the breast pocket.

The CIA spent millions training cats to be spies.

  • Cat on a podium
Cat on a podium
Credit: Nurefşan koşar/ Unsplash+
Author Michael Nordine
March 13, 2024

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If you’ve ever had a stealthy feline sneak up on you, you might have had the same idea the CIA once did: that cats would make good spies. Indeed, the intelligence agency spent millions of dollars on a program to that end in the 1960s. But as any cat owner can tell you, it probably shouldn’t have bothered: However sneaky and/or intelligent cats might be, they know no masters but themselves. Operation Acoustic Kitty was essentially a disaster, with only one subject making it into the field before the ill-advised — and, quite frankly, cruel — program was scrapped. The idea was to create a sort of cyborg cat by implanting a microphone in the animal’s ear, a radio transmitter at the base of its skull, and an antenna in its fur — “a monstrosity,” in the words of Victor Marchetti, a former CIA employee who went on to write the tell-some book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence.

On paper, the Acoustic Kitty agent’s first test was simple enough: sit near a park bench and capture a conversation between two people on a park bench. Instead, according to most accounts, the unfortunate feline was hit by a taxi and killed. Writing of the operation’s failure in a heavily redacted memo, the CIA concluded, “Our final examination of trained cats… convinced us that the program would not lend itself in a practical sense to our highly specialized needs.”

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The CIA replaced an earlier organization called the OSS.

Prior to the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947, the United States conducted its espionage via a different shadowy organization: the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS. Founded in 1942 to help win World War II, it was partially inspired by the attack on Pearl Harbor — a massive intelligence failure that led the government to rethink its comparatively informal intel-gathering operations. Led by William J. Donovan, who was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to helm the organization, the OSS employed 13,000 individuals at its peak and is credited with making significant wartime contributions during its three years in existence. Donovan is considered a founding father of the CIA, which was established two years after the OSS was phased out. His supporters urged President Harry Truman to put him in charge of the new agency, but the post instead went to Roscoe Hillenkoetter, a retired Navy vice admiral.

Stealing pineapples used to be a serious crime.

  • Man selling pineapples, 1917
Man selling pineapples, 1917
Credit: Topical Press Agency/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Author Bennett Kleinman
March 13, 2024

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If you stole a pineapple today, you’d likely end up paying a small fine, but the punishment for pineapple theft was far more severe between the 16th and 19th centuries in Britain. Pineapples were first introduced to the European continent in the late 1400s, and rapidly gained popularity as a rare — and expensive — luxury among the elite. Growing pineapples on British soil proved challenging, and few made it back from Britain’s Atlantic colonies without spoiling. This made the fruit all the more desirable, and by the 1770s, the most expensive pineapples were valued around £60 to £80, or roughly $17,000 to $23,000 today. 

The scarcity and value of pineapples meant they were the target of many thieves, and given the high cost of each pineapple, those who were caught were subject to heftier fines and punishments than people who stole more common, inexpensive foods such as bread. By the late 18th century, farmers figured out how to grow pineapples on British soil, and many hired security guards to protect their crops. Still, criminals remained determined to get their hands on the valuable fruit. In 1807, a man named John Godding was charged with stealing seven pineapples, and was sentenced to seven years in an Australian penal colony. Eventually, pineapple rental shops began appearing throughout Britain, allowing middle-class Brits to borrow pineapples to be used as centerpieces at parties. By the latter half of the 19th century, Britain was importing more of the fruit than ever, and advances in refrigeration and canning made pineapples easier to come by.

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While president, Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for speeding.

On September 27, 1908, a story appeared in the Washington Evening Star in which retired police officer William H. West recounted the time that he arrested sitting President Ulysses S. Grant for speeding. The arrest had occurred back in 1872, during Grant’s first term. At the time, West was out on patrol when he saw the president barreling down the street in a horse-drawn carriage. West stopped Grant and let him off with a warning, but caught the commander in chief speeding again the next day. At this point, West placed the president under arrest and brought him to the station for booking, where Grant posted a $20 bond (approximately $505 today) before being released. Grant forfeited the money after skipping his court appearance the following day, but the president suffered no further consequences. As for West, he was commended for keeping the streets safe, and also became friends with Grant after the incident.

A Roman emperor pranked his dinner guests with an ancient whoopee cushion.

  • Bust of Roman Emperor Elagabalus
Bust of Roman Emperor Elagabalus
Credit: PRISMA ARCHIVO/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Sarah Anne Lloyd
July 30, 2025

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The Roman emperor known posthumously as Elagabalus (or Heliogabalus) reigned for just under four years, from 218 to 222 CE, but that short time period is packed with tales both salacious and silly. Ascending to the throne at just 14 years old, Elagabalus was known for enjoying juvenile pranks — one of which involved what historians have described as an early form of the whoopee cushion.

The historical record of Elagabalus, who was born Varius Avitus Bassianus and ruled under the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, is notoriously hard to verify; he was unpopular among the era’s most prominent storytellers, who likely exaggerated the young ruler’s behavior. But according to accounts from the ancient biography collection Historia Augusta, the emperor’s dinner guests were especially prone to practical jokes. 

Sometimes, Elagabalus served food of only a single color such as green or blue. His least-desired guests were even known to find that the food in front of them was not food at all, but wax replicas of what everyone else was eating. Other unfortunate guests would find themselves sitting on what Historia Augusta describes as “air-filled pillows” that “let out air while they were dining.” These were much larger than modern whoopee cushions, and while it’s possible they made a similar noise, they took much longer to deflate. Eventually, the guests seated on the air cushions would find themselves on the floor.

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The whoopee cushion was originally called the “poo-poo cushion” or “boop-boop a doop.”

When Toronto-based rubber company JEM invented the modern whoopee cushion in the early 1930s, it looked a little different than the standard uniform pink bladder we know today. It was green, its mouth was made of wood, and it had a small illustration of a mischievous little boy in a kilt on it. The toy — which came in both economy and deluxe editions — was sold with the wordy tagline, “It gives forth noises that can be better imagined than described.” But it took a little while for JEM to decide on a name for the indelicate product, which was called “poo-poo cushion” and the less sensical “boop-boop a doop” before “whoopee cushion” stuck in 1932. 

Jefferson City is the only state capital named for a vice president.

  • Missouri state capitol
Missouri state capitol
Credit: Bill Grant/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Bennett Kleinman
March 13, 2024

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Of the 50 U.S. capital cities, only one is named after a person who held the role of vice president of the United States: Jefferson City, Missouri. The eponym of this Midwest metropolis is Thomas Jefferson, who served under John Adams from 1797 to 1801 as the country’s second-ever vice president. Jefferson later became president himself, and in 1803, he acquired the land that is now Missouri as part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1821 — the year Missouri achieved statehood — the legislature selected a site to serve as the state capital, and settled on the name Jefferson City to honor the man who had purchased the land to begin with. (The legislature briefly considered naming the capital “Missouriopolis,” though that idea ultimately did not win out.)

Jefferson City is also one of just four state capitals named after a former U.S. president. The others are Jackson, Mississippi, which was also founded in 1821 and named for then-Major General Andrew Jackson; Madison, Wisconsin, which was founded in 1836 and named after founding father James Madison, who died that year; and Lincoln, Nebraska, which was renamed after Abraham Lincoln in 1869, four years after his assassination.

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Nine cities have served as the capital of the United States.

When the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia in 1776, the City of Brotherly Love became the first of nine cities to serve as the U.S. capital. Philadelphia acted as the capital on various occasions from 1776 to 1800, as Congress was forced to relocate several times due to threats during the Revolutionary War, but it wasn’t the only colonial capital. The second city to serve as the nation’s capital was Baltimore, Maryland, in late 1776, before the seat of government returned to Philly in early 1777. The capital then bounced around to Lancaster, Pennsylvania; York, Pennsylvania; Princeton, New Jersey; Annapolis, Maryland; Trenton, New Jersey; and New York City (with additional stops in Philly mixed in) until 1789. On July 16, 1790, the Residence Act formally established Washington, D.C., as the future capital of the United States, but it also reestablished Philadelphia as the capital for an additional decade. On November 17, 1800, Congress convened for the first time in Washington, where the capital has remained ever since.

Buzz Aldrin took Holy Communion on the moon.

  • Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11 mission
Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11 mission
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Author Michael Nordine
July 23, 2025

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Buzz Aldrin was the second person to set foot on the moon, but he was the first to do something else on Earth’s only natural satellite: take Holy Communion. Before departing on the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin, who was an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church in Webster, Texas, received permission to bring wine and bread to space. While he and Neil Armstrong prepared for their moonwalk, he told the world, “I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.”

Aldrin wanted his Communion to be broadcast live, but NASA, which had recently been sued for a religious display, chose to keep it quiet. “I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me,” Aldrin later wrote. “In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup.” Webster Presbyterian and other churches still celebrate Lunar Communion Sunday, but Aldrin came to wonder if partaking in a Christian ritual was appropriate for an event of global significance. “We had come to the moon in the name of all mankind — be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists,” he wrote in his book Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home From the Moon. “But at the time I could think of no better way to acknowledge the enormity of the Apollo 11 experience than by giving thanks to God.”

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The first meal eaten on the moon was bacon.

Taking one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind builds an appetite. And so Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did what anyone would do after completing history’s first moonwalk: They ate a well-earned meal. The first meal on the moon included bacon squares, peaches, sugar cookie cubes, pineapple grapefruit juice, and coffee. Given that the entire menu was either freeze-dried or dehydrated and then reconstituted with water, it's likely that none of these menu items, each of which was scheduled in advance, was especially gourmet. Bacon had proved popular throughout the entire Apollo program, however, with astronauts particularly enjoying the bacon squares for breakfast. They would be saddened to learn that bacon is no longer on the menu for astronauts, alas, as it was phased out in 2002.

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