Nick:
Rev. Leon L. Langstroth discovered "bee space" in 1851 and hence built the
first movable frame hive we use today.
Both Dadant and Root started up within 1-2 years of each other, about 1871.
The Tracheal mite (acarapis woodi) was first found in the U.S. in 1984.
The Varroa mite (varroa jacobsoni) was first found in the U.S. in 1987.
The Africanized Honey Bee (apis mellifera scutellata), a.k.a. killer bee,
first crossed
the Rio Grande from Mexico into Hildago, Texas on Oct. 20, 1990, and have now
been found in Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Nevada.
The first Italian queen was brought to the U. S. in 1857, the first Carniolan
in 1905,
and the Buckfast (which is a hybrid, not a race) is bred only by Weaver in
Texas
by artificially inseminating queens with drone semen flown here from Great
Britain.
The feral honey bee population in 1998 was only about 10-15% of what it was
before the mites arrived.
Richard Adee is the largest honey producer in the U.S. and has 60,000
colonies.
A good young queen can lay 1500 eggs (one every 30 seconds) per day during
late spring.  The queen lays male drones or female workers by her choice based
on the need of the colony; and she only breeds once in her life storing about
5 million sperm for the remainder of her life, and releases one sperm to
fertilize each worker
egg as she lays it.
I started beekeeping 65 years ago in June, 1933.  Ha Ha!
 
Hope this helps                                                                         George Imirie