On August 23….

In 1630, the first minimum wage – in fact, the first labor law of any kind in Colonial America – was passed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony when Gov. John Winthrop and his court of assistants decreed that construction workers should be paid at the rate of one shilling a day, or about 7 cents in today’s economy.

In 1853, the first bank clearinghouse in the U.S. was established by 16 presidents, a vice president, and 21 cashiers representing 38 banks. Named the New York Clearing House, it opened in October at 14 Wall St., NYC; its first day’s clearings were $22,648, 109.

In 1937, David Packard dropped in on his college friend William Hewlett in Palo Alto, California, which became their first “official” business meeting of the Hewlett-Packard electronics company. The product ideas they discussed that day were high-frequency receivers and medical equipment, with mention of making “every attempt to keep up on {the newly announced technology of} television.” The company was founded in a garage; among its first products was a device to detect a foul-line roll for a local bowling alley.