Oldsmobile [in front of Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.]

Oldsmobiles were first manufactured by the Olds Motor Vehicle Co. in Lansing, Michigan, a company founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In 1901, the company produced 425 cars, making it the first high-volume gasoline-powered automobile manufacturer. (Electric car manufacturers such as Columbia Electric and steam powered car manufacturers such as Locomobile had higher volumes a few years earlier). Oldsmobile became the top selling car company in the United States for a few years around 1903-4. Ransom Olds left the company in 1904 because of a dispute and formed the REO Motor Car Company. The last Curved Dash Oldsmobile was made in 1907. General Motors purchased the company in 1908. The 1901 to 1904 Oldsmobile Curved Dash was the first mass-produced car,[1] made from the first automotive assembly line, an invention that is often miscredited to Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company. (Ford was the first to manufacture cars on a moving assembly line.) After Olds merged Olds Motor Vehicle Co. with the Olds Gas Engine Works in 1899, it was renamed Olds Motor Works and moved to a new plant in Detroit. By March 1901, the company had a whole line of models ready for mass production. However, a mistake by a worker caused the factory to catch fire, and it burned to the ground, with all of the prototypes destroyed. The only car that survived the fire was a Curved Dash prototype, which was wheeled out of the factory by two workers while escaping the fire. A new factory was built, and production of the Curved Dash commenced.

In the second grade, the student will examine the lives of notable Americans who expanded peoples’ rights and freedoms in the American system of government. Students participate in shared and individual research using biographies and informational text historic examples of honesty, courage, patriotism, self-sacrifice, and other admirable character traits seen in citizens and leaders including Abigail Adams, Francis Scott Key, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Chief Joseph, Eleanor Roosevelt, Fred Korematsu, Jackie Robinson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, César Chávez, and Senator Daniel Inouye. Students analyze the significance of historic places including the White House, the United States Capitol, the United States Supreme Court, the Washington Monument, and The Lincoln Memorial. Students commemorate months designated to the contributions the American nation of significant groups to the history of including National Hispanic History Month, Native American Heritage Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. Students understand chronological sequencing and the connection between historic events and individuals through the creation of basic timelines.