Orson Pratt Stewart (1876 - 1960)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Orson's lifetime.

In 1876, in the year that Orson Pratt Stewart was born, on February 14th, Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone. So did Elisha Gray. A month later, on March 7th, Bell was granted the patent and on the 10th, he made his first successful telephone call - in which he said: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."

In 1885, he was merely 9 years old when on February 16th, the first Dow Jones Industrial Average was published by Charles Dow, who also founded the Wall Street Journal. The index was 62.76. It represented 12 stocks - American Cotton Oil, American Sugar, American Tobacco, Chicago Gas, Distilling & Cattle Feeding, General Electric, Laclede Gas, National Lead, North American, Tennessee Coal and Iron, U.S. Leather pfd. and U.S. Rubber.

In 1892, when he was 16 years old, on October 5th, the Dalton Gang was shot. The Gang was attempting to rob two banks - simultaneously - in Coffeyville Kansas but word spread of the robberies and townspeople with guns greeted them when they left the banks. Four members of the gang were killed - only Emmett Dalton survived his wounds and spent 14 years in prison.

In 1931, when he was 55 years old, on May 1st, the Empire State Building opened in New York City. At 1,454 feet (including the roof and antenna), it was the tallest building in the world until the World Trade Center's North Tower was built in 1970. (It is now the 34th tallest.) Opening at the beginning of the Great Depression, most of the offices in the Empire State Building remained unoccupied for years and the observation deck was an equal source of revenue and kept the building profitable.

In 1960, in the year of Orson Pratt Stewart's passing, on September 26th, the first televised debate for a Presidential campaign in the United States - Kennedy vs Nixon - was held. Seventy million people watched the debate on TV. The debate pre-empted the very popular Andy Griffith Show.