Page 111 - History Facts

A janitor who worked at Goldman Sachs eventually became the CEO.

Yet another rags-to-riches story that’ll either give you hope or make you feel terrible about your own life. Sidney James Weinberg was nicknamed “Mr.Wall Street” by the The New York Times and the “director of directors” by Fortune Magazine. He started out as an assistant janitor making $3/week. 

Weinberg came from a poor family, and when he started working at Goldman Sachs, his responsibilities included brushing the firm partner’s hats and wiping mud from their overshoes. The grandson of the firm’s founder, Paul Sachs, promoted Weinberg to the mail room, which he completely reorganized. Paul Sachs saw his potential and sent him to Brooklyn’s Bowe’s Business College. 

From there on in, he continued to climb the corporate ladder; becoming a securities trader, a partner, and then a senior partner. The company’s value was dangerously low when he finally became head of the firm in 1930. However, he saved it from bankruptcy and held the position until his death in 1969. This is a man who truly lived the American Dream.

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Baby carrots were invented as a way to sell “ugly carrots” that would otherwise be thrown away.

It’s difficult to imagine that something so popular and adorable can come from something unwanted and grotesque. But it’s true and it all began 26 years ago when Mike Yurosek got tired of seeing 400 tons of culls drop down the waste shoot every day. 

Culls are carrots that are too twisted, knobby, bent, or broken to sell, but just as healthy and delicious to eat. In 1986, Yurosek started out by cutting and peeling the culls into something small enough to make use of their straight parts. He later went on to buy a frozen food company that was going out of business and an industrial green bean cutter, which cut the carrots into 2 inch pieces (their standard size). 

When they had been cut, Yurosek loaded the carrots into an industrial potato peeler to take off the peel and smooth down the edges. Thus the baby carrot was born. After a few rounds of trials and an investment in some bagging machinery, he sent some of these carrots to a Vons supermarket in Los Angeles. The next day they called and said, “We only want those.” 

The baby carrots exploded (not literally of course; that would be a tragedy) all across the nation. Stories paid 10 cents a bag for whole carrots and sold them 17 cents, but 50 cents for a 1-pound package of baby carrots and sold them for $1. Today, baby carrots are a part of more breakfasts, lunches, dinners, after school snacks, and unsuccessful diets, than ever before. 

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There’s a city in the middle of the Caspian Sea, 25 miles from the coast.

It's history goes back to the beginning of the Cold War. Just as World War II ended, Russia was recovering from the Nazi invasion and was seeking a source for oil. Back then, Russia’s oil reserves weren’t discovered to the extent that they are today. Most of their oil came from Southern Russia and the Caspian Sea region (instead of northern Siberian regions, like today). 

With growing interest in the oil at the bottom of Caspian Sea, as oil reserves began to run dry, someone decided it would be a good idea to construct a city 42 kilometers (25 miles) off the coast to retrieve more oil. The Soviet leaders approved the plan and it was well funded. In just a few months, an actual town was built floating on the water in the middle of nowhere. 

Called Neft Daşları, or “Oil Rocks,” it was originally built on giant steel blocks coming all the way from the sea bottom, hundreds of feet down. The city still exists today, built continuously on landfill. Its present population is about 5,000. 

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There’s a piece of land in Delaware that’s been disputed since 1632!

The Delaware Wedge was a tract of land fought over from 1633 until 1921. The land is only one square mile, but it crosses into 3 different lines drawn by charters. The original 1632 charter for Maryland placed the land in Delaware to the Calverts. Then in 1664 the land was taken and given to Maryland. 

Then in 1681 the land was given to William Penn through the charter of Pennsylvania. The charter granted Penn the land west of the Delaware River and north of the 40th parallel. All land within 12 miles of New Castle was excluded from the charter, though. The area was poorly charted. New Castle is 25 miles south of the 40th parallel in all actuality. 

Later, Penn acquired the New Castle land from the Duke of York. After that, the land was disputed between the three colonies for the next 80 years. It was finally settled, though, and the land was given to Delaware. 

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Hitler once had a Jewish-Austrian doctor who didn’t charge Hitler’s family due to their economic hardships.

In 1904, Hitler had become seriously ill and bedridden due to a lung ailment. He even had to leave school and stay home sick. Once there, his family doctor Eduard Bloch, a Jewish-Austrian practicing in Linz, fixed him up. 

When Hitler’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1907, Bloch tended to her as well, until she passed away on the December of that year. Due to their poor economic circumstance, Bloch had worked for the Hitler family for reduced prices, and sometimes didn't even take any money at all. 

For his generosity, an 18-year-old Hitler granted Blouch his “everlasting gratitude.” At the time, Bloch probably didn’t realize how powerful Hitler’s “gratitude” would come to be. 

In 1908, Hitler could only express it by sending Bloch hand-made gifts. But in 1937, he personally ensured that Bloch would never be sent to a concentration camp, and had him and his family protected. He referred to Bloch as the “noble Jew.” 

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