Davenport Responsible for Sliced Bread

We've all heard it, but I bet you didn't know it originated in the Quad Cities.

Davenport, IA. has been a hub for some pretty cool things since it began in 1836. We have some pretty famous people and events from here, such as, The Bix race and jazz festival  in honor of the jazz musician, Bix Beiderbecke, Palmer College of Chiropractic and the best minor league baseball stadium in the nation at Modern Woodmen Park, home of our Quad Cities River Bandits (btw, opening season is tomorrow, April 9, 2016).

We are also known for WWE megastar, Seth Rollins, Former NFL Running back Roger Craig and the no-so-well-known, Susan Glaspell, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. Something else that has been a staple in the American diet since we were born, came from here.

Sliced bread.

No, Davenport is not responsible for inventing bread, wheat or baking, but the guy who literally invented the machine to slice bread was born here. Otto Rowedder spent his entire childhood in Davenport, IA. He went on to Chicago to become an optometrist and then on to learn a trade and apprenticed with a jeweler.

Otto owned three jewelry stores and used his skills in fixing watches and jewelry to invent new machines. After hearing many complaints about the task of slicing bread from customers, he made it his mission to develop the first bread slicer for commercial use. By 1927, he had successfully made and sold his first bread slicing machine, which also wrapped the bread, too. 1930, Wonderbread was introduced and the rest, is truly, history.