Virginia has helped shape farming, flight and the internet. Count down five tech firsts from the Old Dominion — from AOL and Richmond’s electric streetcars to Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaper — plus two bonus picks, including where astronauts practiced landing on the Moon.
#5: Blacksburg Electronic Village (Blacksburg, 1993)
A whole town plugged into the internet together. Virginia Tech launched it in Blacksburg in 1993. By 1995 about 30,000 locals were on the internet. Guinness later named it the “Most Wired Community”.
#4: AOL (America Online) (Vienna, 1985)
The dial-up service that put families online. It began in 1985 as Quantum Computer Services, Vienna, Va. Its menus, chat rooms and email made going online easy. At one point about half the world’s CDs carried AOL’s logo.
#3: Langley aeronautics lab (Hampton, 1917)
A research center for making airplanes fly better. NACA opened it in Hampton in 1917 — now NASA Langley. The nation’s first civilian aeronautics research lab. Its “human computers” inspired the film Hidden Figures.
#2: Electric streetcar system (Richmond, 1888)
City streetcars were once pulled by horses and mules. Frank Sprague’s electric line opened in Richmond in 1888. The first practical electric trolley system. Its cars climbed hills steeper than 10% — a tough test.
#1: Mechanical reaper (Steeles Tavern, 1831)
A horse-drawn machine that cuts grain in the field. Young Cyrus McCormick built it on his family’s farm. Shown in 1831 near Steeles Tavern, it transformed harvests. His father had worked on a reaper for about 20 years.
Bonus Picks From Virginia
Modern winglets (Hampton, 1976). Ever notice the bent-up tips on airliner wings?. NASA Langley’s Richard Whitcomb developed them in the 1970s. They cut drag about 5% — and that saves fuel.
Moon-landing simulator (Hampton, 1965). At NASA Langley a 200-foot steel frame held a lunar lander. Neil Armstrong and 23 other astronauts trained on it. They rehearsed the last 150 feet down to the Moon.
Tech From Every State
This is part of my Tech From Every State series: the top tech inventions and firsts from each of the 50 states, told with simple animations. Watch the whole series on YouTube and subscribe to The Tech Ranch so you don’t miss your state.
Did we miss something invented in Virginia? Tell me in the YouTube comments — and give the video a thumbs up if you learned something.
