History of Ripley's Leading up to Times Square Odditorium, Opening June 2007.

1800's
1889	35-year old Isaac Ripley marries 20-year old Lillie Bell Yocka.
1890	Birth of Robert Leroy Ripley in Santa Rosa, California.
1893	Birth of sister Ethel.
Early 1900's
1901-1908	Formal education in Santa Rosa; quit school in 1908 before graduating in order to support his mother.
1904	Birth of brother Doug.
1905	Death of Isaac Ripley. (father)
1906	Playing semi-professional baseball in Santa Rosa and sells first artwork locally.
1908	Sells first cartoon, "The Village Belles are Wringing" to LIFE, a national magazine.
1909	Joins the staff of the San Francisco Bulletin, then the Chronicle.
1910's
1912	August 28, Ripley's last drawing for the Chronicle, moves to New York that winter.
1913	January 2, draws his first cartoon for "The Globe"; tries out for the New York Giants, but gets injured, ending his dreams of a baseball career.
1914	His first trip abroad. (Europe)
1915	Death of Lillie Belle Ripley. (mother)
1918	December 19th - publishes Champs & Chumps cartoon, long regarded as the "first" BION cartoon; moves into the New York Athletic Club.
1919	October 16th - actual first cartoon with the BION bi-line; marries Beatrice Roberts on October 21st but separates 3 months later.
1920's
1920	second trip to Europe (his first "solo" excursion) to cover the Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.
1922	December 3, embarks on his first trip around the world (returns April 7, 1923); publishes his travel journal in installment form.
1923	April 13, divorce finalized; hires researcher/ linguist Norbert Pearlroth; Globe newspaper folds, Ripley moves to "The Post".
1925	Trip to South America, publishes his travel journal; publishes a Handball Guide.
1926	New York City Handball champion; publishes "Boxing Score." (a book on boxing)
1929	July 9th - joins W. R. Hearst's King Features Syndicate, goes from 17 papers to world-wide distribution; first BION book published.
1930's
1930	Begins his 14 - year run on radio and his 19- year association with radio show promoter Doug Storer (future President of Ripley's Believe It or Not!); Hearst funds Ripley's passion for travel, starting a decade of world travel, which culminates in Ripley visiting 201 countries by 1940; develops the concept for on location live radio broadcasts throughout the decade, which by the end of the decade becomes the Ripley radio show trademark with shows broadcast from underwater, in the sky, in caves in snake pits and from foreign countries.
1931	Creates movie shorts for Vitaphone Pictures, later owned by RKO; publishes his second book of BIONs.
1932	Lengthy trip to the Orient; the first, biggest and most successful national BION contest.
1933	July, opens his first Odditiorium in Chicago, Illinois.
1934	First radio show broadcast simultaneously around the world; purchases 28-room BION Island home (Mamaroneck, NY); closing of Chicago Odditorium in the Fall.
1935	Opens Odditorium in San Diego, California.
1936-1937	Opens Odditorium in Dallas, Texas; voted the most popular man in America. (more popular than the president)
1937	The first published Charles Schulz drawing appears in BION; opens Odditiorium in Cleveland.
1939	Opens Odditorium in San Francisco and New York City (Times Square); receives Honorary Degree from Dartmouth College.
1940's
1940	Purchases his second home, a Manhattan studio apartment with 13 rooms; receives two more honorary degrees.
1940-1945	Stops foreign travels and concentrates on "Seeing America First" (radio shows); World War II charity work, including a Madison Square Gardens baseball game featuring Babe Ruth.
1946	Purchases his Chinese junk, the Mon Lei.
1947	Purchases his third home, Hi Mount, Florida.
1948	Makes a tv show pilot; takes last foreign trip to the Orient and Hawaii; celebrates 30th anniversary of BION with an elaborate costume party at Toot Shor's famous nightclub in NYC.
1949	First tv show; dies May 27th from heart failure after collapsing on the set of his weekly television show. (show # 13)
1949	Public auction of the Ripley estate; exhibits purchased by John Arthur; Doug Storer takes over the publication of the Ripley BION cartoon and Paul Frehm becomes the Ripley cartoon artist.
1950's
1950	December 9th, the first permanent BION museum opens in St. Augustine; partnership between John Arthur and Robert Herlinger take over the display of Ripley artifacts as a separate entity/company.
1950s	Company operates two museums (New York & St. Augustine) and several traveling shows (Las Vegas, Atlantic City.) Doug Ripley sells all family interests in the company to Doug Storer and John Arthur.
1960's
1960-1961	Doug Storer retires after 30 years with the company.
1963	Alec Rigby, a Canadian, becomes a franchisee with John Arthur and builds museum # 3 in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
1966	The opening of new museum in San Francisco.
1968	The opening of new museum in Chicago; publication of the 50th Anniversary Edition of RBION (1968).
1969	Alec Rigby becomes sole owner of BION and moves the company from New York to Toronto, Canada.
1970's
1972	Santa Rosa honors Ripley with a city run memorial in "The Church of One Tree." (closes in 1998)
1973	Hiring of future BION president Robert Masterson.
1976	Norbert Pearlroth retires after 53 years service as Head Researcher of BION.
1978	Paul Frehm retires as the Ripley cartoonist and is replaced by his brother Walter Frehm.
1980's
1980-1985	Alec Rigby, semi-retired CEO; company run by president John Withers; successful national television show starring Jack Palance. (1980-84)
1985	January, company purchased from Rigby by Canadian entrepreneur Jim Pattison of Vancouver; opening of Las Vegas, BION, October 1, the first franchised Ripley museum.
1988	Opening of Surfer's Paradise, Australia (initially opened as a franchise, but later acquired by Ripley Entertainment Inc), the first "Asian" BION museum.
1989	John Withers retires; Bob Masterson becomes president of BION; Walter Frehm retires and is replaced by Don Wimmer (January 1990); Ripley's leaves King Features Syndicate after 60 years and moves to United Media.
1990's
1990-1993	Opening of several franchised museums, domestic and foreign, including Orlando and Korea, and a return to Blackpool, England (the first one closed in 1976).
1991	opening of the first Ripley Moving Theater in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
1993	RBION headquarters moved from Toronto to Orlando, Florida; celebration of the 75th Anniversary of RBION , including TBS' 90-minute television documentary "The Life and Times of Robert Ripley."
1993-1997	Asian expansion; opening of museums in Thailand, Korea, Jakarta and Hong Kong.
1996	Acquisition of the Guinness World Records Museum franchise rights.
1997	Opening of the first Ripley Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
1999	Opening of the first Ripley Haunted Adventure in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
2000's
2000	Opening of the first Guinness World Record Experience in Orlando; opening of the second Ripley Aquarium, the Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tennessee; new television show starring Dean Cain.
2001	Conversion of Ripley's three Moving Theaters to 3-D presentations.
2002	Opening of museum in Genting Highlands, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; opening of the second Haunted House in Myrtle Beach.
2003	Opening of new museums in Key West, Florida and New Orleans, Louisiana; end of new Dean Cain TV show (4 seasons, 88 shows), and beginning of world syndication of the show; opening of third Haunted House in San Antonio.
2004	Acquisition of 2 franchised Ripley museums and 2 Louis Tussaud's wax museums in Texas; acquisition of St Augustine Sightseeing trains; launching of Ripley Publishing company with successful New York Times best seller: Ripley's Believe It or Not! ("eyeball book"). Ripley cartoonist Don Wimmer retires and is replaced by John Graziano. Ripley's move its corporate office to its second location in Orlando, Florida, combining the art department, the exhibit warehouse and administrative offices under one roof for the first time in the company's history.
2005	Opening of Old MacDonald's Mini Golf and Super Fun Zone in Sevierville, Tenn.; opening of a new Louis Tussaud's Waxworks in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada (an earlier version had operated for nearly 40 years); start of construction on Ripley's first Great Wolf Lodge (to open 2006) in Niagara Falls, Canada.
2006	Opening of Great Wolf Lodge Indoor Waterpark Resort in Niagara Falls, Canada; opening of Wacky Wilderness Mini-golf on the Great Wolf Lodge property; opening of two new Ripley's Believe It or Not! museums in Panama City Beach,Florida and Williamsburg, Virginia; release of the highly anticipated Ripley publication: "Expect the Unexpected".
2007	Opening of Ripley's Believe It or Not Times Square.