For example, the story of George Washington cutting the cherry tree or throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac River are both legends, and the events they describe probably never happened.
But most of the legends about Benjamin Franklin are true. For example, it is true that Franklin proved that lightning is pure electricity, and that he invented the lightning rod. Franklin also invented bifocal eyeglasses, in which each lens contains one area for seeing things nearby and another area for seeing things far away.
Other inventions include a type of iron stove, now called the Franklin stove, and the Boston swing chair.
Franklin was the first person to write about the existence of an ocean current called the Gulf Stream. He also organized the first fire department in Philadelphia, the first lending library in the United States, and the first fire insurance company.
He helped create America's first hospital, also the first efficient postal system in the country, and a school that later became the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1785, Franklin's bifocal eyeglasses cost $100 a pair - not far from what they cost today!
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