The average size of a new house in 1950 was 983 square feet, and the cost was $7,354.

Bubble wrap was invented in 1957 by engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes, who sealed two shower curtains together, creating a smattering of air bubbles, which they originally tried to sell as a futuristic wallpaper. Although this idea was a failure, they began selling the product as a packaging material in 1960. Their first client was IBM, which used bubble wrap to protect the IBM 1401 computer during shipment.

Written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts would become one of the most popular and influential strips in the history of comics. By the time of Schulz's death in 2000, he had published 17,897 strips in all, making it arguably the longest story ever told by one human being.

Baby boomers are the demographic following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation consists of people born during the post-World War II baby boom, which set records for the number of babies born per year--around 4 million on average.

When Elvis made a June 5, 1956 appearance on The Milton Berle Show, his pelvic gyrations created a storm of controversy. Television critics across the country slammed the performance for its "vulgarity," and the Catholic Church took up the criticism in a weekly organ piece headlined "Beware Elvis Presley."

The launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, started a Cold War technological and ideological competition with the United States known as the Space Race. The demonstration of American technological inferiority came as a profound shock to the American public. The Soviets followed up with Sputnik 2, which carried Laika, a Soviet space dog.

West Side Story explores the rivalry between two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The young protagonist, Tony, a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang's leader, Riff, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks.

The biggest-selling album of the 1950s was the original soundtrack to the movie South Pacific, featuring "Some Enchanted Evening", which has been described as the "greatest song ever written for a musical."

Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Court's unanimous (9-0) decision in Brown v. Board of Education stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal", and therefore violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Court further ordered states to desegregate "with all deliberate speed."

Alaska was admitted to the union on January 3, 1959, and Hawaii followed on August 21.