Things you didn’t know were invented in Virginia

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- When you think of inventions, you may not think of the Commonwealth. While Virginia is often honored for its historical landmarks or political roots, it's also where there have been some quietly unknown inventions shaping history.

8News compiled the list below of a few things you may not know were invented in Virginia.

Tinted lip balms are moisturizing and nourishing. The texture is similar to that of Chapstick.

ChapStick

The formula you use to give moisture to chapped lips was actually invented in Lynchburg. In the late 1980s, Dr. Charles Browne Fleet invented ChapStick lip balm, according to the Lynchburg Museum, which resembled a wickless candle and was sold locally, though it did not have much success.

The museum further explained that the formula was sold to John Morton for $5, who, along with his wife, developed the iconic black tube packaging and further refined the formula. They melted the pink formula, cooled it and cut it into sticks.

Frank Wright, Jr., who was also from Lynchburg, commissioned the design of the CHET ChapStick logo we know today in 1935. The museum said he was paid a one-time fee of $15.

Veggie Farm Cerro Punta, Panama. (Photo by: Edwin Remsberg/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Mechanical Reaper

Developed by Cyrus McCormick, the Mechanical Repear was created in the 1930s and combined all the steps that earlier harvesting machines had previously performed, according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

His father reportedly tried to produce a model repear, and McCormick created one in July 1831. This invention allowed farmers to more than double their crop size and led to more farm machinery innovations.

However, he was one of several designing engineers who produced working models, his biggest rival at the time being Obed Hussey, who patented a reaper in 1833, the Hussey Reaper.

FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2007, file photo, Vice President Dick Cheney, left, is joined by Virginia House of Delegates speaker, William Howell, R-Stafford, front right, and others in the the Pledge of Allegiance during a commemorative session of the Virginia General Assembly in Historic Jamestown's Memorial Church in Jamestown, Va. Academics, lawmakers, dignitaries and maybe even the president will gather in Virginia this week for events celebrating the beginnings of American democracy four centuries ago. Tuesday, July 30, 2019, marks the 400th anniversary of the first meeting of the House of Burgesses. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

The first legislative body in America

The House of Burgesses was the first legislative body in America in 1619, as the American tradition of representative government actually began in Jamestown, influencing the political world in later years, as per the National Park Service. This came after the first meeting of the Virginia General Assembly at Jamestown in July 1619.

George Washington served in the Virginia House of Burgesses for 15 years before the American Revolution. During the mid-18th cenutry, Washington represented Frederick County from 1958 until 1765. He ran in Fairfax County later that year, winning a seat, which he would retain until 1775.

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES: This 23 November photo shows The Bankers Trust building in Manhattan's financial district in New York. The US-based Bankers Trust and Germany's Deutsche Bank confirmed 23 November that they are in "the advanced stages of negotiations" on an over 9 billion USD merger to create a huge transatlantic financial group. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images)

The first Black woman-owned bank

The first Black woman to establish and become president of a bank in the U.S. was Maggie Lena Walker, who chartered the Saint Luke Penny Bank in Richmond in 1903.

According to the Library of Congress, Walker was the president of the bank for nearly 30 years and oversaw the merger with two other banks: Consolidated Bank and Trust Company during the Great Depression.

According to the law library, banking and finance were primarily male-dominated fields, and Walker's ownership allowed many Black women to be employed and ultimately run the operation, giving multiple large mortgage loans to the Black community.

Eastern State Hospital Administration building is seen off of Ironbound Road in Williamsburg, Va. on Tuesday, April 19, 2016. Brian Michael Price, 45, who was fatally shot by a Virginia state trooper on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, after a police chase and a crash that killed his passenger had been mentally ill for years, according to court records. Price was released from Eastern State Hospital in March 2020 under conditions including that he take his prescribed medications, go to therapy and routinely meet with a psychiatrist, according to court records first reported on by The Associated Press. (Aileen Devlin/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

The first public mental health facility

According to the National Library of Medicine, the first public mental health facility was located Williamsburg in 1773.

The Public Hospital of Williamsburg, later known as Eastern State Hospital, was the first facility in the U.S. dedicated to treating those with mental disorders. In 1773, it was located in the heart of the colonial city of Williamsburg, and is now located outisde of the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg, according to the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Sciences.

“Mental health plays a profound, though often poorly understood, role in the ongoing story of our nation,” said Ron Hurst, Colonial Williamsburg’s chief mission officer and senior vice president for education and historic resources on Oct. 3, 2023. “Colonial Williamsburg is honored to partner with Eastern State Hospital to commemorate the anniversary of the Public Hospital of 1773 and to invite the community to better understand this complicated aspect of our collective history.”

The first public health hospital arrived after an act establishing a public hospital was first passed by colonial legislators in 1769, the department said in 2023.

Bellevue Hospital is considered the old public health center in the country, dating back just 40 years prior to Eastern State Hospital and the American Revolution, in 1736, according to the National Library of Medicine.

Know a Virginia-made invention that’s not listed here? Let us know by sending an email to news@wric.com.