Henkels & McCoy opens a major office,
in Elkhart, Indiana to replace its Erie office. The site’s primary responsibility is to expand
telephone work being done in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan. This is the
beginning of what will become the Midwest Division...
Also in 1954 we install a complete lighting system for the Woodbridge Interchange of
the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey as well as street lighting for the
approach to the new Philadelphia International Airport Terminal Building.
Henkels & McCoy Power Restoration crews will keep busy in the autumn of
the year repairing damage caused by Hurricanes Carol, Edna, and Hazel.
Henkels & McCoy have been active in Emergency Power Restoration
following hurricanes, ice and sleet and snow storms since
1938, when we made a name for ourselves in
the power and communications industries following the Great New England
Hurricane of that year.
More recently, H&M restored power and phone service in 1941 following
a sleet storm in Connecticut, Atlantic City (1945), northern Bucks County,
Pa.(1947), in northern New Jersey (1948), and following a severe wind
storm in Pennsylvania in 1950. This is an area of expertise that is still
very much in demand today.
January 14
American Motors Corporation founded from the merger between the Nash and
Hudson automobile companies to compete against Detroit's Big Three (Ford,
GM, and Chrysler). The Studebaker-Packard Corporation is also formed this
year. January 21
USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear powered submarine is launched at
Electric Boat Corporation's shipyard, Groton, Connecticut.
January 30
The 30-millionth customer is added to US electric utilities. About 98% of
the US is now electrified.
February 23
Widespread inoculation against polio begins.
March 1
Several members of the US House of Representatives injured in attack at
Capitol building.
March 4
First successful kidney transplant takes place in Boston.
April 1
The creation of the United States Air Force Academy is authorized by President
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
April 22 - June 17
United States Senator Joseph R. McCarthy commences live
televised hearings dealing with alleged Communist presence in the US Army.
McCarthy had made a name for himself in 1950, by accusing 205 members of
the US government of espionage and/or secretly sympathizing with the
Soviets. Over 20 million Americans will tune in to follow the
Army-McCarthy Hearings. At the finish, Joe McCarthy is finally discredited
and democracy triumphs. This closed the chapter on one of America's
darkest periods. For a summary of the historic events,
click here. For a short biographical profile of Joseph McCarthy,
click here.
April 26
Solar cell demonstrated by Bell Laboratories at the National Academy of
Science meeting in Washington, DC. It is patented three years later.
May 17
Brown vs. Board of Education Decision. The US Supreme Court unanimously
declared that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal"
and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment the United States Constitution,
which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws." The case is
successfully argued by civil rights attorney, and later Supreme Court
Justice Thurgood Marshall.
July 5
Thank you. Thank you very much. Elvis Presley makes first recordings at
Sam Phillips' Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. That's All Right Mama and
Blue Moon of
Kentucky are released July 6 and go on the air July 7.
Photos: Elvis Presley, right, and Sam Phillips. When Presley achieves
fame, he will be known for giving Cadillac automobiles to his friends.
Left: 1954 Cadillac Fleetwood
July 21
Vietnam is divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam as a result of
Geneva Conference following the shocking defeat of the French at Dien Bien
Phu in May. Over 2,200 French troops were killed there and thousands more
taken prisoner by units of the Viet Minh (right). This defeat erased the
idea of a French Indochina and was a prelude to US involvement in the
following decade.
August 16
Sports Illustrated magazine debuts.
August 30
President Eisenhower signs the Atomic Energy Act opening door to private
use of nuclear energy.
August 31
Hurricane Carol, the most destructive hurricane to hit southern New
England since 1938, smashes ashore at Old
Saybrook, Connecticut, causing massive property damage, flooding, and the
deaths of at least 65 people.
September 3
Who WAS that masked man? The final new radio episode of the Lone Ranger airs after over 20
years on the air. The show will leave the air in 1956. “Let us return to
those thrilling days of yesteryear... a fiery horse with the speed of
light! A cloud of dust and a hearty ‘Hi-Yo, Silver!’ The Lone Ranger!...
who, with his faithful Indian companion Tonto, led the fight for law and
order in the early
western
United States.” Countless American kids become unwittingly familiar with
Rossini's William Tell Overture, the show's opening and closing
theme music.
September 11
Hurricane Edna follows her big sister and makes a track up the East Coast
to southern New England at over 45 mph, making landfall and passing over
Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, then across the eastern tip of Cape Cod.
Edna killed 21 people and flooded the already saturated ground before she
was through.
October 14-16
Hurricane Hazel is the most contrary of the three major hurricanes this
season, maintaining a lot of its strength even after it comes ashore in
South Carolina with 140 mph winds. Hazel is the eighth hurricane of the
year to menace the Atlantic Coast from Carolina to Canada, leaving
400 people dead or missing and inestimable property damage.
November 10
USMC War Memorial dedicated in Arlington National Cemetery.
November 29
Ellis Island closes after processing more than 20 million immigrants
beginning in 1892.
December 24
Maiden flight of the B-52 Stratofortress (above). America's premier long-range
heavy bomber was later used widely in Vietnam and is still in service today
(last used in Afghanistan, against Taliban fighters and islamist mujahadeen following the September 11 terror attacks in the US).
