Today in History

Today in History

1610 – Sir Thomas Gates institutes 'laws divine moral and marshal,' a harsh civil code for Jamestown.

1624 – After years of unprofitable operation Virginia’s charter was revoked and it became a royal colony.

1689 – The English Parliament passed Act of Toleration, protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics were specifically excluded from exemption.

1738 – The Methodist Church was established.

1764 – Bostonian lawyer James Otis denounced 'taxation without representation' and called for the colonies to unite in demonstrating their opposition to Britain’s new tax measures.

1798 – Believing that a French invasion of Ireland was imminent, Irish nationalists rose up against the British occupation.

1816 – Emamual Leutze was born in Germany. He was most famous for his paintings 'Washington Crossing the Delaware' and 'Columbus Before the Queen'.

1822 – At the Battle of Pichincha, Bolivar secured independence of the Quito. 1830 – The first passenger railroad service in the U.S. began service.

1844 – Samuel F.B. Morse formally opened America's first telegraph line. The first message was sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD. The message was 'What hath God wrought?'

1859 – Charles Gounod's 'Ave Maria' was performed by Madame Caroline Miolan-Carvalho for the first time in public.

1863 – Bushwackers led by Captain William Marchbanks attacked a U.S. Federal militia party in Nevada, Missouri.

1878 – The first American bicycle race was held in Boston.

1881 – About 200 people died when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sank near London, Ontario.

1883 – After 14 years of construction the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to traffic.

1899 – The first public garage was opened by W.T. McCullough.

1913 – The U.S. Department of Labor entered into its first strike mediation. The dispute was between the Railroad Clerks of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

1930 – Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly from England to Australia.

1931 – B& O Railroad began service with the first passenger train to have air conditioning throughout. The run was between New York City and Washington, DC.

1935 – The Cincinnati Reds played the Philadelphia Phillies in the first major league baseball game at night. The switch for the floodlights was thrown by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt.

1941 – The HMS Hood was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic. Only three people survived.

1950 – ‘Sweetwater’ (Nat) Clifton’s contract was purchased by the New York Knicks. Sweetwater played for the Harlem Globetrotters.

1954 – The first moving sidewalk in a railroad station was opened in Jersey City, NJ.

1958 – United Press International was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.

1961 – The Freedom Riders were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.

1962 – The officials of the National Football League ruled that halftime of regular season games would be cut to 15 minutes.

1967 – California Governor Ronald Reagan greeted Charles M. Schulz at the state capitol in observance of the legislature-proclaimed 'Charles Schulz Day.'

1974 – The last 'Dean Martin Show' was seen on NBC. The show had been aired for 9 years.

1976 – Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington.

1980 – The International Court of Justice issued a final decision calling for the release of the hostages taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.

1983 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had the right to deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminate.

1986 – Montreal won its 23rd National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup championship.

1990 – The Edmonton Oilers won their fifth National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup.

1993 – The Ethiopian province of Eritrea declared itself an independent nation.

History