Toilet Paper: New York’s Finest Achievement

Did you know toilet paper was created in New York? And that's not all. Take a look at some of the more interesting and life-changing inventions that call New York State home.

Business Insider created a list of top inventions from each state, and New York's has to top them all. I mean where would we be as a society if we didn't have toilet paper?

Well before packaged toilet paper was invented by Joseph Gayetty in Albany in 1857, people used leaves, sticks, corn cobs, and even magazine pages!

Gayetty is credited with developing commercial toilet paper in Albany in 1857, even though Seth Wheeler patented "improvement wrapping paper" wrapped around a tube and perforated for easy use in 1871.

The original toilet paper invented in New York by Gayetty, was still the first ever to be packaged though. It was a stack of pre-packaged and pre-moistened sheets that were also medicated with aloe.

It sounds like Gayetty also invented bathroom wipes as well!

Now all we have to do is solve the debate over which way to hang the roll....oh wait, we did.

If that isn't enough to get your State Pride going, here are a few other important inventions that began life in the Empire State.

The Club Sandwich - Saratoga Springs

That's right, one of the best sandwiches ever(so great you don't even have to be a member to eat it) was created right down the Thruway.

The Potato Chip - Saratoga Springs 

People must have loved to eat once upon a time in Saratoga Springs, because here's another culinary game-changer that was created there.

The story goes that Moon's Lake House Chef George Crum's french fries were too thick for a customer. So Crum cut a potato as thin as he could, over fried it and covered it in salt.

Even though he wasn't supposed to, the customer loved it and the Saratoga Chip was born in 1853.

Crum went on to sell his invention to a man named Herman Lay.

A few other honorable mentions that were invented in New York include air conditioning, Jell-O, the Kodak Camera, Chop Suey, the Tuxedo, the Yale Lock, and even the commercialization of Christmas.

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