🫖 Boston Tea Party: America’s First Big PR Stunt

Welcome back History Nerds,

Let’s all take a minute to appreciate another week that’s passed in history. As Christmas approaches, we want to make sure you’re not missing out on your weekly history fix. To ensure of that, would you consider moving our emails to your primary folder? Here’s a guide on how to move us if you’re lost. Speaking of lost..

Did You Know? The disappearance of the Roanoke Colony in what is now North Carolina remains one of the greatest mysteries in American history. When John White returned to the colony in 1590 after a resupply trip to England, he found it abandoned with no trace of the settlers. The word "CROATOAN" was carved into a post, suggesting they might have moved to live with the Croatan tribe, but no definitive evidence has ever been found..

During Your History Lesson You’ll Learn About:

• $27m Restoration of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

• Wright Bros’ First Flight in Kitty Hawk

• Harbor Tea Party: America’s First Big PR Stunt

• Crossword Craze: The Puzzle That Filled The Blanks

Leaning into History: The Tower of Pisa's Comeback

On December 15, 2001, after a meticulous 11-year journey costing $27 million, the Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened its doors with a with the same old tilt. The aim wasn't to make this iconic bell tower stand up straight but to ensure it could keep its quirky lean without toppling over like a poorly stacked set of books.

The Tower of Pisa, which began its construction back in 1173, started leaning just five years into its build when the third story was added. The soft, sandy soil beneath wasn't quite up to the task of holding up a 14,500-tonne structure. By 1990, the lean had reached a dangerous 5.5 degrees, and the world held its breath, worried this postcard-perfect symbol of Italy might soon be a memory. Enter the engineers, who over the next decade, focused on preserving the tower's unique lean, reducing it by about 16 inches through a careful process of earth removal and counterweight engineering.

The restoration was no small feat; it involved removing soil from under the north side of the foundation to subtly correct the lean back by 44 centimeters, taking the tower back to its tilt from the early 19th century. They wrapped the tower in steel cables, ensuring it wouldn't fall while they worked their magic. It’s crazy to think a 800 year-old structure built to house bells for the cathedral of Pisa, is now being restored as a tourist spot for it’s structural failure and it’s oddly satisfying lean.

The Wright Brothers Take Flight in Kitty Hawk

On December 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved what was once considered a fantasy - the first successful powered, controlled, and sustained flight in an aircraft. These two brothers, originally from Dayton, Ohio, had been quietly working on their flying machines since the late 1890s, inspired by a toy helicopter their father had given them in childhood. Their journey to this day involved years of studying flight, building kites, gliders, and finally, their powered Flyer, which was essentially a biplane with a 12-horsepower engine they designed themselves.

The weather that day was anything but ideal for flying; it was cold, the winds were strong at about 27 mph, and the sand dunes were their runway. Despite these challenges, the brothers were determined. Orville won the coin toss to make the first attempt, but it was after a failed try three days prior on December 14. On the 17th, at 10:35 AM, with Orville prone on the lower wing, the Flyer lifted off, traveling 120 feet in 12 seconds. This was just the beginning; they completed three more flights that day, with each one pushing the boundaries further. The longest flight, by Wilbur, soared for 59 seconds and covered 852 feet, a distance that would have been unimaginable just hours before.

The Wright brothers had developed a system of wing-warping for roll, a moveable rudder for yaw, and an elevator for pitch, which together allowed for the first truly controlled flight. Watching old film of early flight attempts may be comedy gold, but these meticulous experiments in wind tunnels, their understanding of aerodynamics, and their hands-on approach with bicycles and print shops translated into solving the puzzle of flight. The world, however, was slow to recognize the magnitude of their achievement. Newspapers initially paid little attention, and many doubted the brothers' claims until public demonstrations years later in Europe and the U.S. proved their flying machine was no fluke.

The Wright brothers' first flight was not just a leap into the air but a giant step for humanity. It laid the groundwork for the modern aviation industry, from biplanes to jets to space shuttles.

Harbor Tea Party: America’s First Big PR Stunt

Taxes, everyone hates them but on December 16, 1773 a group of American colonists had it with King George III and his taxes on common goods. He has imposed levies on everything from paper to paint, but the last straw? Tea. The colonists brewed up a bold plan to dump the British East India Company’s tea into Boston Harbor. This was not an isolated event either. While Boston's protest is the most famous, similar "tea parties" occurred in other colonies like New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. Boston just had the best PR team. 🙂

A rebellious group of around 150 colonists disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and boarded three British ships under cover of darkness. With impressive efficiency, they tossed over 340 chests of tea into the harbor, roughly 92,000 pounds of the stuff. The tea tossed into the harbor was valued at around £10,000 at the time, which translates to over $1.7 million today. And if you’re wondering how the harbor smelled afterward, think less like a revolution and more like a poorly drained teapot.

The Boston Tea Party wasn’t just a rowdy act of defiance; it was a major turning point in American history. The British government responded with the Coercive Acts (known in the colonies as the “Intolerable Acts”), which only fired up revolutionary sentiment further. What started as a protest over tea turned into the catalyst for the American Revolution. So next time you sip a cup, remember: it’s not just a drink—it’s a symbol of sticking it to the man.

Crossword Craze: The Puzzle That Filled The Blanks

Remember when the New York Times released Wordle a few years ago and the world was obsessed with posting how many guesses it took them on Facebook? Well back on December 21, 1913 a journalist at the New York World Newspaper named Arthur Wynne created a very similar thing when he invented the crossword puzzle. He was tasked with spicing up the Sunday “Fun” section. Although he didn’t know it at the time, he would change the newspaper world forever! He initially called it a “Word-Cross” but thankfully there was a printing error and flipped it to Crossword. 

Believe it or not this new segment was not a smash hit right away. Readers didn’t know what to do with the empty squares but quickly caught on and it became an obsession. By the mid-1920s, crosswords became wildly popular in the U.S. The New York Times refused to publish them at first, considering them silly, but other newspapers quickly embraced the trend, leading to a crossword craze.

Thankfully the New York Times eventually caved and started publishing them in 1942 to distract readers from the war. The New York Times still benefits to this day with over 500k subscribers to their crossword puzzle as of 2019. It’s probably more now but I couldn’t find you guys an updated statistic. But this just shows that the obsession continues to this day and was not a fad like many people thought back in the 1920s.  Unfortunately for Arthur he never made a dime from this revolutionary idea so in his honor next time you are stumped doing your crossword puzzle you can thank Arthur for that!

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