#11: March 9-15

Note: there are no podcast episodes (yet) of any of these events.

March 9 1959 – The First Barbie Doll Was Sold

In 1959, Ruth Handler created the Barbie doll, inspired by her daughter’s love for paper dolls. She wanted a toy that let kids imagine different careers and futures. With the help of Mattel, Barbie debuted on March 9, 1959.  Unlike baby dolls, Barbie encouraged creativity and storytelling, quickly becoming one of the most popular toys in history!

Fun fact: The first Barbie commercial aired during Mickey Mouse Club in 1959, making Barbie one of the first toys ever marketed directly to children on TV!  This helped Barbie become a huge success, and within the first year, over 300,000 dolls were sold!

March 10, 1876 – The First Telephone Call!

Alexander Graham Bell made history by making the first telephone call! He spoke to his assistant, Thomas Watson, and said, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” This was the first time someone’s voice traveled through a machine to another person! Back then, phones were big and had no buttons or screens. Today, we have cell phones and smartphones that let us talk, text, and even play games! Bell’s invention changed the way people communicate forever.

Fun Fact: The first telephone didn’t have numbers or a dial! When Alexander Graham Bell made the first call, he just spoke into the device, and his assistant heard him on the other end!

March 10 1955 – The First U.S. Jet Airplane: 

On March 10, 1955, the Boeing 707 became the first jet airplane made in the United States. It was much faster than older planes because it used jet engines instead of propellers. The 707 changed air travel, making it easier for people to fly across the country and around the world. It became one of the most famous airplanes in history and helped start the jet age!

Fun fact: The Boeing 707 was so fast that it cut travel time in half compared to older planes. Before jets, flying across the U.S. could take over 10 hours, but with the 707, it took only about 5 hours!

March 11, 1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888

On March 11, 1888, one of the biggest blizzards in U.S. history began!  Called The Great Blizzard of 1888, it covered parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts in huge piles of snow—up to 50 inches!  People couldn’t leave their homes, trains stopped running, and strong winds knocked down trees and power lines. It was one of the first times people realized how important it is to be prepared for big snowstorms. Fun Fact: During the Great Blizzard, some people traveled by snowshoes and sleds because the streets were buried in snow!

March 13 Pluto’s Discovery – A Big Space Surprise! 

On March 13, 1930, scientists made an exciting announcement—the discovery of Pluto! A young astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh was searching for a hidden planet at Lowell Observatory in Arizona. He spent months looking at pictures of the night sky and finally spotted a tiny moving dot. That dot turned out to be Pluto, a small, icy world far from the Sun! Fun Fact: Pluto has five moons, and one of them, Charon, is so big that Pluto and Charon actually orbit each other—like a double planet system!  Charon is almost half the size of Pluto, making it one of the largest moon-to-planet size ratios in our solar system.