Weird History: 10

A Graham Of Goodness

Presbyterian minister Reverend Sylvester Graham developed the graham cracker in Bound Brook, New Jersey in 1822, but it wasn’t to complete the recipe for S’mores. It was created so people wouldn’t want “s’more” of anything—especially sex.

Graham believed his cracker, along with bland foods and a strict vegetarian diet, could cure not just alcoholism but more important, sexual urges, which he believed to be a source of many maladies,

Graham’s belief that eating pure foods created a purity of mind, body, and spirit influenced people, including Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of the corn flakes cereal.

On a side note: In 1871, Tucson, Arizona, was at the heart of the Wild West, and boasted 3,000 people, two doctors, a newspaper, a brewery, and several salons, but just one bathtub. That may explain why there were so many gun duels on the street.