American Business Timeline By liesedupre1 1770 The Boston Massacre Period: 1770 to 1850 Merchant Era 1775 The American Revolutionary War began 1791 First bank of America was built 1792 First stock market 1794 Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin 1808 Africa's slave trade closed 1837 Panic of 1837 1837 Procter & Gamble Company created 1844 Samuel Morse invents the telegraph 1850 American Express Company formed Period: 1860 to 1939 Corporate Era 1877 Bell Telephone Company is formed 1888 First successful Kodak appears on marker 1898 Pepsi was created 1903 Ford Motor Company founded 1903 Warner Brothers show their first film 1911 Supreme Court orders the breakup of Standard Oil 1913 Ford introduced the Assembly Line 1923 Disney Bothers Studios was formed 1927 First Electronic Television was invented 1938 Earl S. Tupper Company is formed Period: 1940 to 1979 Consumer Era 1942 Chrysler, GM and Ford convert to military production 1947 The transistor is invented 1957 First Japanese car, a Toyota, sold in the US 1958 Bank of America launches first credit card 1961 Kroc takes full control of the McDonalds Corporation 1962 First Walmart 1963 Equal Pay Act 1971 First Starbucks opens in Seattle 1973 First cell phone 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen form Microsoft 1976 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak form Apple 1980 Ted Turner starts CNN Period: 1980 to 2018 Global Era 1984 Apple introduces the Macintosh computer 1990 Vera Wang Bridal House opens in NY 1994 DreamWorks is formed 1995 Jeff Bezos opens Amazon.com on the Internet 1996 Microsoft & General Electric launch MSNBC 2000 Dayton Hudson changes its name to Target 2001 Amazon posts its first profit, $5.1 million 2001 September 11 Attacks 2009 Great Recession officially ends
