Though I am sure it can (and will) be argued, this forum and
so much else might not be here today - or at least in a very
different form - had it not been for the work of one quiet and
publicity-shy professor and engineer from Massachusetts who
launched the first liquid-fueled rocket from his Aunt Effie's
farm in Auburn, MA on March 16, 1926.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Goddard_(scientist)

The flight lasted only 2.5 seconds and reached an altitude of
just 41 feet. Nell, as Goddard called it, came down in his aunt's
cabbage patch.

On a technical level, the flight was no more impressive than
the Wright Brothers first airplane flights in 1903, but that is
not what mattered.

A number of Goddard's papers can be found online here, including
his crazy idea of sending a rocket all the way to the Moon where
its impact would be seen by the release of a flash powder:

http://www.si.edu/archives/documents/goddard.htm