George Eastman

by Kyle and Daniel

Introduction

“Click, click!” That was a shutter on George Eastman’s camera moving! You may hear your son or grandson asking, “Who invented the camera?” Well it’s a simple answer, George Eastman! You will be able to learn about his life and invention of the camera.

Birth and Childhood

George Eastman was born on July 12, 1854, in Waterville, New York. By age 5, George’s father judged that his children should be sensible enough to run errands.

In 1862 George’s father died and George only had his mom left. In 1868 George dropped out of school at the age of 13. He bought land in the Caribbean without his mom’s approval.

Then, in 1877, George began his work in photography. In 1878 George made a chemical that made wet plates more light resistant. In 1879 George Eastman invented a coating machine. George sold his used machine to make money. In 1880, George rented a second-floor room in a building and turned it into a factory.

Eastman Dry Plate Company

One year later, in 1881, George founded the Eastman Dry Plate Company. In 1885 George Eastman invented American Film. It helped people’s cameras work better and easier. That same year, George invented motion picture film. It included a box camera that weighed 2 pounds!
In 1890 George made film that lasted for 100 pictures. A lot of people bought his film. In 1891, George invented a slogan for his company. It went something like this, “You press the button and we do the rest.” In 1905 George Eastman had talent for coming up with advertisements for different things, which helped make his company a success.

Inventing the Camera

In 1900 George Eastman invented the Kodak Brownie Camera, made just for kids. He also had a club for it. Thousands of Kodak Brownies were sold within the first month. In 1901 people stole George’s ideas so George started to sue people because of it. In 1902 George hired some workers. They wanted pay for their work, so George gave them some of the profits.

Building

In 1905 George built a house with 500 rooms in it! George even hired a professional pipe organist so people would wake up listening to beautiful music. George Eastman planted a ton of flowers in gardens around the Eastman house. George also built 3 barns for farm animals. In 1906 George thought his house was too quiet so he hired an organist.

Traveling And Giving Away

In 1907 and as George got older, he traveled through out the United States. In his 50’s, George gave over $2.5 million away under the name Mr. Smith becuase he didn't want people to know of his generous donations.In 1909 George biked through Europe with some of his friends. In 1913 George built a dental clinic for poor families.

Finally, in 1911, George gave all of his money away. He gave some of his money to people…he gave the rest of his money to dental places so they could help poor people care for their teeth so that they wouldn’t rot.

1960, George Eastman’s Kodak Brownie Camera celebrated its 60th year anniversary. A ton of people came to the celebration.

Death

In 1932 George Eastman died at the age of 77. By that time, George had given away over $100,000,000.00 (One hundred million dollars)!