7 th March

1849 Luther Burbank was born. (Burbank Day)

1854 The sewing machine that could stitch buttonholes was patented.

1876 The telephone was patented. (See January 25th and March 3rd entries.)

1936 Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles.

1945 The Remagen Bridge was captured.

Today is Burbank Day. You may know that Burbank is a famous city in California. However, you might not know that the Burbank Day that city celebrates each year commemorates Luther Burbank’s birthday, unless you are a horticulturist. Burbank developed over two hundred varieties of fruits and vegetables, as well as hundreds of hybrid flowers at his California laboratory. The world became a more colorful and delectable place thanks to this man’s efforts.

It has been said that every deed is just another stepping stone on an eternal road. No action—however isolated it may appear in the present—ever stands alone. Today marks two anniversaries that prove this point. In 1936, Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles by occupying the Rhineland. One single act led that nation on the rocky road to war. Nine years later, in 1945, the U. S. Ninth Armored Division captured Germany’s Remagen Bridge. That maneuver changed the course of the Second World War in favor of the Allied powers.

When it comes to patent, buttons ring a bell on this day. In 1854, Charles Miller of St. Louis, Missouri, was granted a patent. He had invented a sewing machine that could stitch buttonholes. And in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for his telephone.