Also, on this day in 1937 Charles Elmer Hires died (born Aug 19, 1851). Hires, a Philadelphia pharmacist, introduced root beer to the world in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. This naturally effervescent beverage was billed as the ‘National Temperance Drink.’ The original formula included sarsaparilla, sassafras, ginger, pipsissewa, wintergreen, juniper and other flavor ingredients.
In 1962 The ‘Little Debbie’ trademark was registered by McKee Baking Co. for their line of snack cakes (first sold in 1960).