Great Moments

1897

First Automatic Lawn Sprinkler Invented

By Elijah McCoy. And about time! Because standing out in the middle of the lawn with a pail between your legs, spreading water around with a tin cup for hours was getting really old.

1933

1st Drive-In Theater Opened

In Camden, NJ. Popularized making out among teens (and adults without sofas) and insured that Hollywood's worst movies would receive regular distribution in out-of-the-way weed infested fields throughout suburbia for nearly half a century.

3000 B.C.

Patio Furniture First Introduced

By Egyptians. Wicker. Used by royalty outside their palaces. Also in burying their dead -- though presumably the dead (and buried) enjoyed their wicker experience less heartily than those who sat in the wicker above ground, on the piazza, served grapes by slaves who would soon join the buried, though in a somewhat lower-grade coffin (i.e., dirt).

1992

U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association Founded

Visionary. Pathbreaking. These athletes race around dirt fields in their tractor mowers living the dream -- that one day their proud organization moniker (USLMRA) will be linked with that of their heroes (NASCAR), and not the more commonly heard and decidedly less lofty, NITWITS.  

1979

TV Series Knots Landing Premieres

Set around a picturesque cul-de-sac, visionary hit primetime soap opera depicts suburbia as a tree-lined wonderland whose residents amuse themselves primarily by having sex, stealing from each other, and trying to kill themselves and their neighbors.