1847
- Margarete Steiff is born on July 24
1858
- Theodore Roosevelt is born on October 27
1869
- Clifford Berryman is born on April 2
1902
- Roosevelt leaves on November 12 for Mississippi for his 4 day bear hunt
- Berryman�s �Drawing the Line in Mississippi� cartoon published in The Washington Post on November 16
- Morris Michtom and Steiff produce teddy bears
1903
- Michtom creates the Ideal and Novelty and Toy Co.
- Steiff�s Bar 55 PB shown at Leipzig Toy Fair in March; 3,000 sold
- Dean�s Ragbook Co. established in August
1904
- Steiff introduces the button in the ear in March; registers Bar 35 PB with string jointing
- Steiff introduces rod-jointed Bar 28 PB
1905
- Steiff registers Bar 35 PAB, first disk-jointed teddy bear design in February
- Seymour Eaton�s Roosevelt Bears first copyrighted
1906
- Toy magazine Playthings first uses term �teddy�s bears� in May
1907
- American John W. Bratton composes �The Teddy Bear�s Picnic�
- Steiff produces 975,000 bears
- Little Johnny and the Teddy Bears is first teddy bear comic strip
1908
- Steiff first mentions tilt growler in catalogs; first uses glass eyes for British market
- First lawsuits between Steiff and other German companies over �button in ear�
- JK Farnell starts making teddy bears
1903-1908
- Barenjahre: Steiff factory expands 3 times
1909
- Margarete Steiff dies at age 61 on May 9
1912
- Schreyer and Co. is established
1913
- First Hermann bear is produced
1914-1915
- German imports are banned in Britain
1914-1918
- Teddy bear factories are used to make items for World War I
1915-1916
- Dean�s and Chad Valley produce first jointed mohair teddy bears
1920
- Teddy Toy Co. patents Softanlite kapok stuffing
- Mary Tourtel�s Rupert Bear introduced in British newspaper in November
1921
- Schreyer and Co. patentsYes/No bears
1926
- AA Milne�s Winnie the Pooh is published in October
1929
- Rayon-plush bears are first advertised
1930
- Jimmy Kennedy writes lyrics for �The Teddy Bear�s Picnic�
- Merrythought Ltd established
1940-1945
- Teddy bear factories are used to make items for World War II; some suffer bomb damage
1944
- Smokey Bear is created for the US Forest Service to promote fire prevention campaigns
1945-1951
- Teddy bears commonly made with nylon and rayon plush
1957
- Elvis sings �Teddy Bear�
- Merrythought�s Cheeky first appears in catalog
1958
- British author Michael Bond�s Paddington Bear first appears
- Yogi Bear debuts on Huckleberry Hound; has own show 3 years later
1959
- Safe vinyl noses used
- Wendy Boston introduces new safety eye
1962
- Berenstain Bears appear in first book
1964
- Benjamin Michtom, Ideal founder�s son, gives a 1903 teddy bear to Roosevelt�s grandson Kermit, who donates it to the Smithsonian
1967
- Baloo sings �Bare Necessities� in Disney�s The Jungle Book
1973
- Good Bears of the World started
1974
- First artist bear shown by Beverly Port
1980
- Steiff introduces first replicas
- North American starts VIB line
1981
- Doll Reader first uses term bear artist
1982
- Care Bears are introduced
1983
- Teddy Bear and Friends magazine started
1985
- Christie�s holds first teddy bears only sale
- Good Bears of the World name this the International Year of the Teddy Bear
1986
- First teddy bear museum opens in Berlin
- Teddy Bear Review magazine started
1987
- Golden Teddy Awards started
1990
- East European firms taken by Communists given back to descendents
- TOBY Awards started
- Teddy Bear Museum of Naples in Florida opens
1992
- Steiff Collectors� Club started
1994
- A record $158,000 is paid for a 1905 Steiff bear at a London auction
1998
- US Postal Service issues a teddy bear stamp for its Celebrate the Century program
2000
- Steiff�s Louis Vuitton bear sells for around $210,000 in Monaco, highest ever
2002
-100th anniversary of the teddy bear
- US Postal Service issues 4 stamps of teddy bears by American companies
- Guinness World Records reports the smallest handmade teddy bear is 9 mm long
- Many celebrations for the anniversary; Steiff and Disney hold first event together in November


Many of these facts came from The Teddy Bear Encyclopedia by Pauline Cockrill.