1930-1939
1930: The existence of Pluto is confirmed
1930: Hostess Twinkies are invented
1931: Thomas Edison submits his last patent application
1931: The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the U.S. national anthem
1931: MacEachron Field is dedicated
1932: Hattie W. Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate
1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president
1933: Repeal of prohibition in United States
1933: The first New Deal is implemented
1933: Iowa’s land values sink to $68 an acre
1934: The Dust Bowl begins
1934: Iowa’s highest temperature (118°F) occurs in July
1934: The FBI ambushes and kills bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
1934: Beginning of College’s Rosenfield Lectures in International Relations
1935: Over 60% of Grinnell College students are from Iowa
1935: Babe Ruth hits the 714th and final home run of his career
1935: Parker Brothers releases the board game Monopoly
1936: The Grinnell Herald & Grinnell Register merge
1936: Life Magazine is first published
1936: First live sporting event is televised
1937: The Golden Gate Bridge opens in California
1937: Amelia Earhart disappears
1938: Kristallnacht occurs in Germany
1938: Minimum wage is established in the U.S.
1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland; World War II begins
1939: The Wizard of Oz is released in theaters nationwide
1939: Rand Gymnasium is destroyed by fire
1940-1949
1940: First transmission of FM radio
1940: President Roosevelt wins an unprecedented third term
1941: Pearl Harbor is attacked
1941: General Mills introduces Cheerios
1942: Anne Frank's family goes into hiding
1942: President Roosevelt orders the internment of Japanese Americans
1942: Grinnell College women assemble “kit bags” for the military serving overseas
1943: Casablanca is released
1943: Rosie the Riveter first appears
1943-44: An army specialized training program uses the College’s facilities
1944: The Warsaw Uprising begins
1945: Robert Noyce graduates from Grinnell High School
1945: Hiroshima and Nagasaki are bombed
1945: President Roosevelt dies in office
1946: The CIA is established
1946: The first Tupperware is sold in department stores
1947: The Truman doctrine is proclaimed
1947: Jackie Robinson signs with the Brooklyn Dodgers
1948: President Harry Truman receives his first honorary doctorate from Grinnell College
1948: Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel
1948: Gandhi is assassinated
1948: Hells Angels motorcycle gang is founded
1948: Executive Order 9981 ends racial segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces
1949: The first VW Beetle arrives in the U.S.
1949: The first Emmy Awards are held
1950-1959
1950: Cinderella is released
1950: The first remote control is marketed
1951: I Love Lucy premieres
1951: The trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg begins
1952: The first open heart surgery is performed
1952: E.B. White writes Charlotte's Web
1953: Discovery of the structure of DNA
1953: The first color television goes on sale
1954: Marilyn Monroe marries Joe DiMaggio
1954: The first Burger King opens
1954: Grinnell celebrates its Centennial
1955: Albert Einstein dies
1955: Disneyland opens in California
1955: Rosa Parks is arrested
1956: Elvis Presley releases his first Gold Album
1956: Heavyweight boxing champion, Rocky Marciano, retires undefeated
1957: American Bandstand premiers
1957: U.S. National Guard is called to Little Rock, Arkansas
1957: Grinnell Police & Fire Departments move to new building on 4th Ave
1958: NASA is created
1958: Explorer I, the first successful American satellite, is launched
1959: Alaska and Hawaii are added to the union
1959: The Barbie doll debuts
1959: Burling Library is dedicated
1960-1969
1960: Iowa’s urban population surpasses its rural population
1960: The College president’s home becomes a guesthouse
1960: The FDA approves birth control
1960: Nixon and JFK participate in first televised Presidential debate
1961: The Beatles perform for the first time
1961: The Bay of Pigs invasion occurs
1961: The Vietnam War officially begins for the U.S.
1961: The first accession for college’s permanent art collection
1962: The first Wal-Mart opens in Arkansas
1963: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is published
1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech
1963: JFK is assassinated
1963: Iowa Legislature abolishes the death penalty
1963: The College stables close
1963: Former President Harry Truman is on campus as Politician-in-Residence
1964: Jeopardy premiers
1964: Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964
1964: The College Forum opens
1965: Malcolm X is assassinated
1965: Bob Dylan is criticized for “going electric” at the Newport Folk Festival
1965: The College’s retiring housemothers are replaced by resident advisors
1966: The U.S. increases troops in Vietnam
1966: Star Trek debuts
1967: The American Basketball Association is formed
1967: The Summer of Love occurs in San Francisco
1967: The 1966 College yearbook is not printed due to controversy
1968: Led Zeppelin makes their first live performance
1968: Yale University announces its decision to admit women
1968: College’s men’s and women’s hall governments are merged as Student Government Association
1968: The College radio station, KDIC, begins its operation
1969: 10 Grinnell students disrobe to protest Playboy magazine
1969: Neil Armstrong takes his first steps on the moon
1969: The Stonewall riots in New York City mark beginning of the gay rights movement
1969: The Woodstock Festival is held in Bethel, NY
1969: The Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA) is established
1970-1979
1970: Final exams and commencement are cancelled due to campus unrest
1970: Several College residence halls become coed by floor; Loose Hall, room by room
1970: Kent State massacre
1970: The First New York City marathon
1971: Beginning of College’s first-year tutorial program
1971: Richard Nixon declares War on Drugs
1971: Sit-in by Black students at Burling Library to draw attention to their concerns
1971: The World Trade Center south tower becomes the world’s 2nd tallest building
1971: The College’s first affirmative action policy is developed
1972: Dow Jones closes at over 1000 points for the first time
1972: The Godfather is released
1972: Grinnell Community Theatre is formed
1973: Roe vs. Wade legalizes abortion
1973: FedEx begins to deliver mail
1974: Watergate scandal, President Nixon resigns
1974: 55 MPH speed limit is imposed nationwide to conserve gas
1974: The College’s physical plant labor force goes on 10.5 week strike
1974: The Grinnell-in-London program is established
1974: Iowa’s first nuclear power plant is completed
1975: Lyme disease is first reconized at Lyme, CT
1975: Bill Gates founds Microsoft in New Mexico
1976: The first commercial Concorde flight takes off
1976: College holds first Waltz
1976: The Apple Computer Company is founded
1977: Star Wars opens in movie theatres
1977: Smallpox is eradicated
1978: Garfield makes its debut
1978: Annie Hall wins Best Picture at Academy Awards
1978: The Grinnell Area Arts Council is organized
1979: America’s most serious nuclear accident occurs at Three Mile Island, PA
1979: ESPN debuts
1980-1989
1980: Establishment of Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights
1980: John Lennon is murdered in New York City
1980: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57
1980-1: 13% of Grinnell College students are from Iowa
1981: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report the first known cases of AIDS
1981: President Ronald Reagan nominates the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, to the Supreme Court
1982: The first computer virus is spread by floppy disk
1982: The human growth hormone is genetically engineered
1983: Soft bifocal contacts are invented
1983: Cabbage Patch Kids are released
1984: The game Tetris is invented
1984: Michael Jackson does the moonwalk at the Grammys
1984: Grant O. Gale Observatory is dedicated
1985: Madonna begins her first tour
1985: Windows 1.0 is released
1985: Wal-Mart opens in Grinnell
1985: Trustees vote to divest the College’s portfolio of several stocks linked to South Africa
1986: The Statue of Liberty is reopened after extensive refurbishment
1986: The Phantom of the Opera opens on Broadway
1987: Aretha Franklin is the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
1987: The Iran-Contra Affair comes to light
1987: Prozac is released
1989: Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed
1989: Nintendo releases Game Boy
1989-90: The College’s library card catalog is converted to a computerized system
