Modern history on Long Island is filled with innovations. We were the cradle of aviation, a hotbed for science, and so many smart people who invented cool stuff came from Long Island. Here we compiled just five “firsts” that happened here. Did we miss your favorite first? Let us know in the comments for when we compile our next list.
First Video Game
Photo: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
According to BNL:
The game’s creator, William Higinbotham, was a nuclear physicist who lobbied for nuclear nonproliferation as the first chair of the Federation of American Scientists.
Higinbotham realized how static and non-interactive most science exhibits were at that time. As head of Brookhaven Lab’s Instrumentation Division, he would change that. While reflecting on his creation, Higinbotham wrote, “it might liven up the place to have a game that people could play, and which would convey the message that our scientific endeavors have relevance for society."
Hundreds of visitors lined up for a chance to play the electronic tennis game.
First ATM
Photo: Shutterstock.
On September 2, 1969, Chemical Bank of Rockville Centre unveiled their automated teller machine, the first. That’s right, less than two months after the first men landed on the moon and a few weeks after Woodstock, Americans installed the first ATM. What a year to be alive!
We have since then sometimes referred to this as a “cash machine,” “money machine,” “cash dispenser” or the redundant term “ATM machine.”
Don Wetzel holds the patent for the ATM, originally called Docuteller machine, named for the company he worked for, Docutel.
One question Wetzel sought to answer before developing the machine was “If we built this machine and the banks were interested in buying it, would the banks' customers use it?”
We all know the answer to that question.
As he recalled in an interview the machine that was installed at Chemical bank on Long Island didn’t really have any glitches.
“The machine was installed at a Long Island branch of Chemical Bank in September of '69, and it worked well,” he said. “We didn't have any major problems. A few minor ones, but that was OK.”
First to Land Men on The Moon
Photo: NASA.
The vehicle that carried us to the moon for the first time was designed and built by Long Island-based Grumman Aerospace Corporation. Long Island is steeped in aerospace history and no accomplishment can rival the feat of rocketing humans to a heavenly body and back.
In the early 1960s Grumman Aircraft won a bid to build the Lunar Excursion Module, or as it is affectionately known, the LEM and helped deliver the first man to walk on the moon. To date it is still the only crewed vehicle to land on another heavenly body. The LEM was built at the Grumman plant in Bethpage. Of the ten LEMs launched into space, six landed men on the Moon.
First Commercial Passenger Flight Across the Atlantic
Photo: Public domain.
In 1939 Pan Am made history in aviation out of Port Washington. In June of that year, the company flew the first paying passengers from New York to Lisbon, Portugal. The Boeing 314 Dixie Clipper known as a flying boat because it took off and landed in water, took off from Long Island via what was called transatlantic “southern route” ferrying 22 paying passengers. (Also read about five times Long Island made aviation history in our article here.)
America’s First Supermarket
Photo: King Kullen website.
According to the King Kullen website, on August 4th, 1930, a 46-year old Michael J. Cullen opened the doors to America’s first supermarket, King Kullen Grocery Company. The Smithsonian Institute acknowledges King Kullen as America’s first supermarket, as it was “the first to fulfill all five criteria that define the modern supermarket: separate departments; self-service; discount pricing; chain marketing; and volume dealing.”
Success of the supermarket was instantaneous. People came from miles around. To the public, King Kullen was more than a convenience – King Kullen supermarkets meant affordable food and gained recognition as the “World’s Greatest Price Wrecker.”
The New York Times later reported on King Kullen’s successful idea.
“Mr. Cullen had tried to convince Kroger, his employer at the time, to open such a store,” the newspaper wrote. “He envisioned markets on the fringes of a town's central business district so there would be parking for the rapidly growing numbers of cars on the road. It would also benefit customers, he reasoned, because the volume buying dictated by the size of the stores would allow for lower prices. Kroger was not interested so Mr. Cullen left the Midwest, returned to the Island and became a pioneer.”
Bonus First: United Nations
Photo: Great Neck Library Local History Collection.
Not actually the first, but before its permanent home, the one we all recognize in New York City, the United Nations had its headquarters in Lake Success on Long Island.
A building on Marcus Avenue in Lake Success was the home of the UN from May of 1946 and January of 1947. The UN Security Council met in the building that was previously owned and occupied by the Sperry Gyroscope Company. After the UN vacated the building, Sperry moved back into them.
