March 7, 1826 - Jesse Delano, of New York, NY; received patent for "Fire Proof Wrought Iron Chests"; August 13, 1834 - reissued for a "Fire-Proof Safe".

February 23, 1839 - William F. Harnden organized nation's first express courier service, operated between Boston, New York City.

July 20, 1841 - Lewis Tappan established Mercantile Agency in New York City, network of correspondents to function as source of reliable, consistent, objective credit information; one of first organizations formed for sole purpose of providing business information to customers; 1849 - turned Agency over to Benjamin Douglass, former clerk; rival John M. Bradstreet Company founded in Cincinnati, OH; 1851 - Bradstreet organization popularized use of credit ratings; published first book of commercial ratings; 1859 - Douglass turned over Agency to his brother-in-law, Robert Graham Dun; renamed R.G. Dun Mercantile Agency; 1933 - Dun's CEO, Arthur Whiteside, engineered merger with The Bradstreet Companies, formed D&B.

June 1, 1843 - Daniel Fitzgerald, of New York, NY, received patent  for an "Improvement in Fire-Proof Safes and Chests" ("intended to resist the action of fire and for the safe keeping and preserving books, papers and other valuables from destruction by fire, which I call a "Salmander" Safe or Chest"); mythical animal having the power to endure fire without harm.

May 5, 1859 - Perry and Fidelia Brink started cartage business in Chicago; 1891 - delivers first valuables, 1900 - makes first bank shipment; 1927 - built first fully armored vehicle; 1956 - acquired by Pittston; May 5, 2003 - name changed to The Brink's Company.

1860 - Henry Varnum Poor (editor of The American Railroad Journal since 1849) published "History of Railroads and Canals of the United States", comprehensive account of financial, operating details of capital intensive American railroads and canals ((leading issuers of debt securities); formed H. V. and H. W. Poor Company with his son; 1868 - published "Manual of Railroads of the United States" (442 p., $5, updated annually); leader in establishing the financial information industry on the principle of "the investor's right to know"; 1906 - Luther Lee Blake formed Standard Statistics Bureau to provide central source of previously unavailable financing and operating information on U.S. industrial companies (beyond railroads); 1913 - acquired Babson Stock and Bond card System (financial reports on stocks, bonds) from Edward Shattuck and Roy W. Porter; 1914 - became Standard Statistics, Inc.; Roy W. Porter acquired control of Moody's Manual Co., began negotiations to acquire Poor's Railroad Manual Co. (successor to H. V. and H. W. Poor Company); 1919 - Porter merged Moody's Manual Co. with Poor's Railroad Manual Co., changed name to Poor's Publishing Co.; 1916 - Standard Statistics began to assign debt ratings to corporate bonds, with sovereign debt ratings following shortly thereafter; 1923 - produced its first weekly capitalization-weighted stock market index (233 U. S. companies); 1930 - Poor's Publishing Co. went bankrupt; Paul T. Babson (cousin of Porter), refinanced company, acquired control; 1941 - Standard Statistics merged with Poor's Publishing Company; formed Standard & Poor's Corporation; published "Bond Guide" (statistics, quality ratings on corporate bonds; 7,000 municipal bond ratings); 1996 - acquired by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

1878 - James M. Curtis founded J.M. Curtis & Son, oldest continually operating environmental analytical test and measurements laboratory in United States in San Francisco; served wine industry provided analyses for sugars, acidity, alcohol, solids in wines primarily for export to Europe; 1905 - Phillip W. Tompkins joined firm; president of Curtis and Tompkins Ltd. (1910 - 1953); 1926 - 45 people provided foods, feeds, mineral, petroleum, fats and oils analyses for California's agricultural, mining industries; satellite offices, labs served mining industry in Reno, NV, fishing products industry on Cannery Row in Monterey, CA; 1953 - acquired by employee group headed by Hugo deBusseries; 1976 - ownership changed; core business in Foods, Feeds, Agricultural, Fats, Oils analyses; 1991 - C&T offered agricultural, bacteriological, food, feed, petroleum, water, wastewater, bulk cargo inspection, consulting services from three labs with staff approaching 100; 1997 - exited food, bacteriology, petroleum, agricultural services sectors, concentrated on core competency in environmental testing and data management.

1880 - Roland M. Smythe established Smythe and Company to provide financial community, private individuals, with accurate information concerning obsolete securities and banknotes; developed into one of world's premier auction houses, specializing in Antique Stocks and Bonds, Banknotes, Coins, Autographs and Photographs.

February 3, 1888 - Alexander Dey, of Glasgow, Scotland, received a British patent for a "Workman's Time Recorder";  September 24, 1889 - received U. S. patent; dial time recorder (clock first manufactured by Dey Company, then as Industrial Time Recorders [ITR] after 1907); employees required to point to their assigned number, press to record time of arrival and departure; numbers of employees, times recorded on sheet of paper wrapped around a drum.

1892 - Oakleigh Thorne founded Corporation Trust Company "to carry on a general agency business, especially the acting as agent of and trustee for corporations"; opened in Jersey City, NJ, with 44 employees; 1895 - first company to assist lawyers with details of incorporating, qualifying corporations in all states, territories; 1903 - tracked, reported on activities of various state, federal legislative bodies for United States Steel Corp.; December 1913 - established tax department following passage of Tariff Act of 1913 (instituted nation's first income tax); signed up 1,000 subscribers to first Income Tax Reporter (400-page loose-leaf binder that summarized Act, provided space for updates on tax laws as influenced by court, administrative rulings); 1927 - merged with Commerce Clearing House (founded 1920 by William Kixmiller as monitor of import, export business practices; switched loose leaf tax service), formed Commerce Clearing House, Inc. (Corporation Trust, Thorne family assumed controlling interest); 1960 - over 1,000 employees; 1961 - went public; 1993 - acquired Matthew Bender & Co. (Bender's Federal Tax Service, eight state tax services, related tax publications) from Times Mirror Company; 1996 - acquired for nearly $2 billion by Wolters Kluwer, Dutch company.

1898 - German Jewish immigrant went into business as "William Morris, Vaudeville Agent" in New York City; January 31, 1918 - incorporated; signed Al Jolson, Marx Brothers, Mae West, Charlie Chaplin; 1930 - William, Morris, Jr., Abe Lastfogel took over (Jimmy Cagney, Louis Armstrong, Will Rogers); December 1949 - acquired Berg-Allenberg Agency (Frank Capra, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Jr., Milton Berle, Rita Hayworth); 1965 - Music Department formed (Rolling Stones, Byrds, Beach Boys, Sonny & Cher); 1989 - acquired Jim Halsey Company (The Oak Ridge Boys, Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette); 1992 - acquired Triad Artists, largest acquisition of talent agency in show business history; 1993 - created Corporate Advisory/New Media Department (evolved into William Morris Consulting; August 1999 - Jim Wiatt, Vice-Chairman of International Creative Management, joined William Morris as President, Co-Chief Executive Officer.

1900 - John Moody founded John Moody & Company; published Moody's Manual of Industrial and Miscellaneous Securities, provided data, information, statistics on stock and bonds issued by financial institutions, government agencies, on manufacturing, mining, utilities, food companies; 1907 - closed due to lack of capital; 1909 - reopened, published Moody's Analysis of Railroad Investments, opinions about relative investment quality of railroad securities (used letter rating symbols used by credit reporting firms since late 1800s); 1914 - incorporated as Moody's Investor Service, expanded ratings coverage to bonds issued by U.S. cities, other municipalities; 1962 - became part of The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation; 1970s - began to cover commercial paper market, bank deposits; started to charge issuers, investors for rating services; September 30, 2000 - D&B split into two separately publicly traded companies; ratings, related research and credit risk management business renamed Moody's Corporation.

August 9, 1904 - Libanus McLouth Todd received a patent for a "Printing-Stamp" ("improved printing apparatus or stamp particularly adapted for marking or embossing upon checks, drafts, and similar instruments words or figures indicating a limiting amount beyond which such instrument is not good"); protectograph to protect against check forgers.

1905 - Star Furniture Company opened in Zeeland, MI; 1909 - renamed Michigan Star Furniture Company; D.J. De Pree hired as clerk (named President in 1919); 1923 - De Pree convinced his father-in-law, Herman Miller, to purchase majority ownership; renamed Herman Miller Furniture Company.

1906 - Sophus Falck founded Falck A/S in Denmark to prevent accidents, emergencies and illness, rescue people in distress,  help those who are ill, relieve after-effects of sickness and distress; 2006 - Europe’s leading rescue, assistance organization, with major tasks for the public and private sector and adapted to rules and conditions of individual countries.

1907 - James E. ("Jim") Casey (19-year-old) borrowed $100 from friend to start American Messenger Company in Seattle, WA; 1919 - expanded to Oakland, CA, changed name to United Parcel Service: "United" served as a reminder that the company's operations in each city were part of same organization, "Parcel" identified the nature of the business, and "Service" indicated what was offered.

1913 - John Knowles Fitch founded Fitch Publishing Company; published financial statistics for investment community; 1924 - introduced Fitch ratings system for analyzing financial securities; 1997 - merged with IBCA Limited, London-based company owned by Fimalac S.A.; 2000 - Fitch acquired Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Company, rating business of Thomson BankWatch.

1914 - Edwin G. Booz founded consulting practice; 1929 - James Allen joined; 1935 - Carl Hamilton joined.  

1917 - Andrew Pansini saw need for "off-street parking" in downtown Los Angeles; founded Savoy Corporation; opened Savoy Auto Park, world's first parking lot, fee was 5¢ a day; 1942 - opened Savoy's Union Square Garage in San Francisco, world's first, largest, underground parking garage; 1958 - Andrew L. Pansini (son) invented world's first automatic pool cleaner, created Jandy Industries; 1964 - opened first Rain Tunnel Car Wash in San Francisco at Fisherman's Wharf, first operation of its kind west of Mississippi; 1972 - developed its first commercial office building with construction of Savoy Building in San Francisco at Fisherman's Wharf; 2000 - sold its land interest in Los Angeles in exchange for five office buildings in Petaluma; 2007 - owns, manages over $50,000,000 in commercial real estate in Northern California (9 buildings in San Francisco, Larkspur, Petaluma, Napa).

September 1918 - Walter L. Jacobs (22) opened car-rental operation in Chicago; started with dozen Model T Fords (repaired, repainted himself); 1923 - business generated annual revenues of about $1 million; acquired by John D. Hertz, President of Yellow Cab and Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company (Jacobs continued as chief operating officer); business called Hertz Drive-Ur-Self System; 1926 - Yellow Cab Manufacturing Co. acquired by General Motors (became GM truck division); 1929 - Morris Markin bought 60 percent ownership in Yellow Cab, including all of John Hertz's holdings; 1953 - Hertz properties GMC acquired by Omnibus Corporation; 1954 - name changed to The Hertz Corporation (Jacobs became Hertz's first President, served until retirement in 1960); 1967 - became subsidiary of RCA; 1985 - acquired by UAL; 1987 - acquired by Park Ridge Corporation, investor group affiliated with Ford Motor Co.; 1994 - Park Ridge investors acquired by Ford, Hertz became Ford subsidiary; March 9, 2001 - Ford reacquired outstanding 18.5% of Hertz' stock; became wholly owned subsidiary; December 22, 2005 - acquired by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; The Carlyle Group, Merrill Lynch Private Global Equity.

1926 - James O. McKinsey left academic career as professor of accounting at University of Chicago, founded McKinsey & Co. to build firm that provided finance, budgeting services; quickly gained reputation for providing advice on organization and management issues.

1932 - George E. Phelps, employee of First Wisconsin Company, William H. Duff, of Commerce Clearing House, Inc., invested $125 each, formed partnership in Chicago "for the purpose of furnishing investment counsel to banks, insurance companies, and individuals"; concentrated counseling services on utility industry (Duff - sales, Phelps - analysis); 1994 - credit ratings business spun off (eventually purchased by Fitch Ratings); focused on investment banking, financial advisory businesses; November 2000 - 65% interest in Duff & Phelps, LLC acquired by Webster Financial Corporation, through newly formed subsidiary, Webster D&P Holdings, Inc.; 2004 - acquired by partnership consisting of management, investment banking boutique Stone Ridge Partners, investor group led by Lovell Minnick Partners LLC.

1946 - Henry and Leon Bloch founded United Business Company in Kansas City, MO with $5,000 loan; offered bookkeeping, other services to small businesses; Leon left business after few months; Richard (brother) joined company; January 1955 - advertised tax preparation service in Kansas City Star; January 25, 1955 - specialized in income tax return preparation, changed name to H&R Block Inc. ("Block" simpler, could be spelled phonetically); company grossed more than $20,000 in weeks (third of annual volume United Business Company had taken years to develop); 1956 - opened 7 offices; revenues tripled to more than $65,000; January 1957 - opened franchise offices in Columbia, MO, Topeka, KS; 1962 - 206 offices, nearly $800,000 in revenues; went public; 1978- prepared more than one out of every nine tax returns filed in United States; 1982 - Richard Bloch sold his interest in company, gave up position as chairman; 1990s - speed of refund, refund anticipation loans drove client growth; 2003 - company filed 16.4 million returns electronically; 2007 - world's largest tax services company, served clients at more than 12,500 U.S. retail offices, through digital tax solutions.

1946 – Warren Avis founded Avis-rent-a-Car at Willow Run Airport near Detroit with an $85,000 investment; first car rental operation located at an airport; 1950 - franchises in 75 cities; 1954 - franchises in 350 cities; acquired by Richard S. Robie for $8 million; 1956 - acquired by investment group led by Amoskeag Company; Avis, Inc. formed as formal holding company for company's related business interests; 1962 - acquired by investment banking firm, Lazard Freres & Company; 1963 - "We Try Harder" advertising, marketing campaign debuted; 1965 - acquired by ITT Corporation for $51 million; 1977 - acquired by Norton Simon, Inc. for $174 million; 1986 - acquired by Wesray Capital Corporation for $263 million plus assumption of debt; 1987 - acquired by Avis’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for $750 million, plus assumption of debt; 1996 - acquired by HFS Incorporated, world’s largest franchiser of hotels, residential real estate brokerage offices; 2001 - Cendant acquired all outstanding shares of Avis Group Holdings it did not currently own in a transaction valued at $937 million; Avis Rent A Car System, Inc. became wholly owned subsidiary of Cendant; 2006 - structure, name changed to Avis Rent A Car System, LLC.

1948 - Aaron Scheinfeld, Elmer Winter (brother-in-law), opened Manpower, Inc., nation's first temporary employment service in Milwaukee, WI, as sideline to their law practice.

1957 - Jack Taylor founded Executive Leasing Company in St. Louis, MO with seven cars and hunch that customers would lease automobiles, 1962 - added rental car business division with fleet of 17 vehicles; started Car Sales division; 1969 - company renamed Enterprise (in honor of aircraft carrier aboard which Taylor served as decorated fighter pilot in World War II); 1970 - perceived best growth opportunities were with hometown renters, not airport travelers; 1974 - established "We'll Pick You Up" tradition; 1980 - company's fleet reached 6,000 rental vehicles; 1989 - name changed to Enterprise Rent-A-Car; more than 500 locations, more than 50,000 rental vehicles; 1992 - surpassed $1 billion in annual revenues, nearly 10,000 employees; 1994 - more than $2 billion in annual revenue, more than 250,000 rental vehicles; 2004 - more than 6,000 offices in U.S. (locations within 15 miles of 90 percent of the entire population), Canada, U.K., Ireland, Germany; 600,000 rental car, 135,000 Fleet Services vehicles in service; surpassed $7 billion in annual revenue.

 1958 – Bank of America launched BankAmericard in Fresno, CA (innovative "revolving credit" feature); 1970 - Visa incorporated in Delaware as National BankAmericard Inc. (NBI); 1974 - International Bankcard Company (IBANCO) formed to administer BankAmericard program internationally; 1976 - BankAmericard changed name to Visa; 1983 - launched global ATM network, provided 24-hour cash access to cardholders around world; 1997 - annual global sales volume reached $ trillion; 2001 - annual global sales volume reached $2 trillion; 2004 - global debit volume surpassed credit volume; 2007- completed corporate restructuring, created new global corporation, Visa Inc.; nation's largest electronic-payments processor ($5.2 billion in 2007 revenue, handles more than 44 billion transactions valued at more than $3.2 trillion).

1960 - Mark McCormack, Arnold Palmer shook hands on agreement that formed foundation of IMG and sports marketing, company dedicated to marketing, management of sport, leisure, lifestyle; 2004 - acquired by Forstmann Little for $750 million.

1965 - Frederick W. Smith, undergraduate at Yale University, wrote term paper about economic inadequacy of passenger routing systems used by most airfreight shippers; wrote of need for shippers to have system designed specifically for airfreight that could accommodate time-sensitive shipments such as medicines, computer parts, electronics; June 1971 - Federal Express incorporated; August 1971 - bought controlling interest in Arkansas Aviation Sales (Little Rock, AR); April 17, 1973 - began operations with the launch of 14 small aircraft from Memphis International Airport; first night - delivered 186 packages to 25 U.S. cities from Rochester, NY to Miami, FL.

September 1970 - Paul Orfalea (nicknamed "Kinko" because of his kinky, curly hair) and Bradley Krause (24), student in graphic arts and photography class at Santa Barbara City College, opened printing shop near University of California, Santa Barbara; 100 square feet, single copier, offset press, film processing, small selection of stationery and school supplies; 1975 - 24 Kinko's stores; 1979 - 72 stores; customer base shifted from mostly academics to broad range of personal, business customers; mid-1990s - more than 800 stores; 1996 - Clayton, Dubilier & Rice invested; 1999 - more than 1,000 locations and 25,000 employees; February 2004 - acquired by FedEx for $2.4 billion; April 2004 - name changed to FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Services; more than 1,500 locations in 11 countries, 20,000 team members.

January 20, 1975 - William Morris agent Michael Ovitz left  agency he joined in 1968; founded a new agency; Creative Artists Agency; developed into most powerful firm in Hollywood.

November 7, 2007 - Visa agreed to pay $2.1 billion to American Express to settle damages related to 2004 antitrust lawsuit; claimed that Visa and MasterCard barred member banks from offering their customers credit cards which could be used on rival payment networks, in violation of antitrust law; believed to be largest amount ever paid to resolve antitrust violation.

(American Linen Supply), Leonard J. Arrrington (1991). From Small Beginnings: A History of the American Linen Supply Company and Its Successors and Affiliates (Salt Lake City, UT: Steiner Corporation, 243 p.).

(Avis), Robert Townsend (1970). Up the Organization (How To Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits). (New York, NY: Knopf, 202 p.). CEO of Avis-Rent-A-Car (1962-1965). Management. 

(Avis), Robert Townsend (1984). Further Up the Organization/How Groups of People Working Together for a Common Purpose Ought to Conduct Themselves for Fun and Profit. (New York, NY: Knopf, 254 p.). CEO of Avis-Rent-A-Car (1962-1965). Management; Organization. 

(Avis), Warren Avis (1986). Take a Chance To Be First: The Secrets of Entrepreneurial Success. (New York, NY: Macmillan, 222 p.). Founder, Avis-Rent-A-Car. Avis-Rent-A-Car System; Success in business.

(EDS), Todd Mason (1990). Perot: An Unauthorized Biography. (Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin, 316 p.). Perot, H. Ross, 1930- ; Businessmen--United States--Biography.

(Enterprise Rent-A-Car), Stan Burns (1997). Exceeding Expectations: The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Story. (Lyme, CT: Greenwich Pub. Group, unpaged). Enterprise Rent-A-Car--History; Automobile leasing and renting--United States--History; Lease and rental services--United States--History.