On September 2, 1969, America’s first automatic teller
machine (ATM) makes its public debut, dispensing
cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville
Centre, New York. ATMs went on to revolutionize the
banking industry, eliminating the need to visit a bank
to conduct basic financial transactions.  

By the 1980s, these money machines had become
widely popular and handled many of the functions
previously performed by human tellers, such as
check deposits and  money transfers between
accounts. 

Today, ATMs are as indispensable to most people
as cell phones and e-mail.

Donald C. Wetzel (93) is an American businessman known
for holding the USA patent to the automatic teller machine.

     
CAMILLE
BOHANNON

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept
through the central parts of London from Sunday, 2 September
to Thursday, 6 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval
City of London inside the old Roman city wall. The death toll is
generally thought to have been relatively small, although some
historians have challenged this belief.

The fire started in a bakery shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September, and spread rapidly.