On July 7, 1928, American inventor and engineer Otto Rohwedder debuted the bread slicer, which became a key indicator to future mechanization that would impact American’s daily lives. This is just one of the fun facts that I have unearthed while researching 1928—the year Crane was founded—in preparation for Crane’s 90th anniversary celebration on May 3 & 4.
- Crane has existed through 16 different presidents.
- Crane has survived a world war, the stock market crash of 1929, and a few recessions.
- Crane has endured floods and many local fires — in 1969, the flow of the creeks on campus was coined the Mississippi; in 1995, it looked as if Crane was sitting on a lake; and, this past winter, the debris flows following the Thomas Fire.
- There are the all-time “game changers” of the last 9 decades — the inventions that have impacted both the way we live and think of school life: televisions, vacuum cleaners, microwaves, computers, Post-It notes, digital cameras, the Internet, 3D printers, the aforementioned bread slicer …
- The campus has enlarged in size from 4 to 11 acres.
- Staffulty has grown from 5 to 61.
- The number of school buildings has increased from 9 to 25.
- The number of students has increased from 31 to 254.