| Peterborough Town Library in Peterborough, New Hampshire, was the first tax-supported free public library not only in the United States but the world. The library was established in 1833 by a vote of the town led by Dr. Abiel Abbot, a minister who stirred the community's intellectual life with respect to books and reading. Originally housed in a storefront, the library moved to its final location in 1893, where it remains today. |  |
| Close this window | |
| The Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition. As citizens they could make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, give evidence in court, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property. | |
| Close this window | |
| By the Deed of Surrender of 1869, the Company retained its Charter but surrendered ownership of its Rupert's Land territory. In return, it received £300,000 and seven million acres in the fertile belt which it gradually sold during the next 85 years. | |
| Close this window | |
| The Aerial Lift Bridge, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Minnesota, was constructed in 1904-1905 as the Aerial Ferry Bridge. Before that time, Park Point was only accessible by ferry boats and, during the winter months, a temporary suspension bridge. The original Aerial Ferry Bridge consisted of much of today's structure but, instead of the lift span, a suspended car, or gondola, ferried people and vehicles on a one-minute trip across the canal. The gondola could carry the equivalent of a loaded street car, two loaded wagons with teams, and 350 people. |
 |
| Close this window |
| First Fenway game (exhibition): Red Sox 2, Harvard 0, played during a snowstorm. Fenway Park had its now famous brick facade, and steel and concrete grandstands from a little beyond first base to a little beyond third base. The original grandstands down the left and right field lines were made of wood. |  |
| Close this window | |
| Cramped but colorful Ebbets Field, in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, was home to the Dodgers
in their lean times and glory years, until the franchise was transplanted to Los Angeles. Built by Dodger owner
Charlie Ebbets for the 1913 season, the widely anticipated park opened without a press box, and no one brought
the key to the bleachers for the first game. Originally the double-decked grandstand stood only along the
foul lines, leaving the left field corner 419' distant, and center 477'. With league approval, the Dodgers play their opener—and first regular-season game at Ebbets Field—a day ahead of the rest of the league. Cold weather keeps the crowd down to about 12,000, and the Phils' knuckleballer Tom Seaton beats Nap Rucker, 10. Seaton will lead the NL in wins with 27. |
 |
| Close this window |
| Diamond Lil (1928) made her a star and put the finishing touches on a character she was to play her entire life. In the 1930s she took Hollywood by storm, stealing the show in Night After Night (1932) and then starring in classic comedies such as She Done Him Wrong (1933, with Cary Grant) and I'm No Angel (1933). In 1935 she was proclaimed the highest paid woman in the United States, a movie star famous for her ability to poke fun at her own public image. |  |
| Close this window | |
| In 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) forbade her to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her DAR membership in protest and sponsored Anderson's concert at the Lincoln Memorial. |  |
| Close this window | |
| Barron decided to form his own orchestra in 1936. Though rough at first his outfit soon took
on a slick sheen and by 1938 posed a challenge for the title "King of the Mickey Mouse Bands." Barron never took himself or his music seriously, often making fun of it in private. In its early years the orchestra recorded for RCA and during the 1940s and 1950s for MGM. Its tagline was ''Music of Yesterday and Today, Styled the Blue Barron Way.'' Russ Carlyle was vocalist for several years, followed by Clyde Burke and Jimmy Brown, a former Kaye vocalist. Barron's biggest success came in 1949 with the hit song ''Cruisin' Down the River,'' which held the number one spot for seven weeks. He eventually disbanded his orchestra in 1956 but continued working into the 1960s. |
 |
| Close this window |
| Hope became the highest-paid performer for a single show on TV. The "Star-Spangled Review" was a musical special. Frigidaire sponsored the special, "Star Spangled Revue," which featured a monologue, skits, and musical performances. Bob's guest stars were Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Beatrice Lillie, and Dinah Shore. |  |
| Close this window | |
| House of Wax emerged at the height of the short-lived 1950s fad for 3-D films that had been created by Bwana Devil (1952). The 3-D fad was cinema's attempts to create a novelty that would recapture the audiences it was losing to the newly arrived form of commercial television. The film was a remake of the classic Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) produced by Warner Brothers and premiered in New York City. And it was one of the most successful of the 1950s 3-D films - in fact it was the No. 1 one grossing genre film in the whole of the 1950s. |
 |
| Close this window |
| Bill made hit Broadway debt in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s ‘Me and Juliet,’ followed with a gold
record for ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett’ (over 3,000,000 sold!) Hayes was a singer on the Sid Caesar and Imogene
Coca variety show Your Show of Shows in the early 1950s. During the Davy Crockett craze in 1955 three recorded
versions of the Davy Crockett theme was in the top 30. Hayes' version was the most popular and reached #3 for
the year. His singing career found its way to his storyline on Days of Our Lives; in the story, Doug was introduced as an convict who was also a lounge singer. |
 |
| Close this window |
| The nationalization of the canal surprised the world, especially the British and French
stockholders who owned the Suez Canal Company. Although Nasser promised compensation to the company for its
loss, Britain, France and Israel began plotting to take back the canal and overthrow Nasser as well. Beginning in March 1957, under the supervision of a U.N. police force, the Suez Canal was cleared of wreckage and opened to shipping. The canal was returned to Egypt, and reparations were paid by Egypt under the supervision of the World Bank. Overall the actions of Britain and France served to draw Nasser and Egypt into further relations with the USSR. The fight over the canal also laid the groundwork for the Six Day War in 1967 due to a lack of a peace settlement following the 1956 war. | |
| Close this window | |
| At a press conference in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 1959, NASA introduced the Mercury
Seven to the public. The press and public soon adopted them as heroes, embodying the new spirit of space exploration.
Each one (except Slayton, who was grounded because of a previously undiscovered heart condition, but later flew as a
crewmember of the Apollo Soyuz Test Project) successfully flew in Project Mercury. The "Mercury Seven" were Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., John H. Glenn, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. "Deke" Slayton. |
 |
| Close this window |
| Percy Faith was one of the most popular easy listening recording artists of the '50s and
'60s. Not only did he have a number of hit albums and singles under his own name, but Faith was responsible for
arranging hits by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, and Burl Ives, among others, as the musical director
for Columbia Records in the '50s. His late-1959 recording of Max Steiner's "The Theme From 'A Summer Place'" became a number one hit in 1960 and earned Faith his first Grammy. |
 |
| Close this window |
| President John F. Kennedy throws out the first ball to open the 1962 baseball season at new District of Columbia Stadium. Despite rain, a record Washington crowd of 42,143 shows up to see Bennie Daniels stop Detroit with a 5-hit, 41 win in the new park. This is a switch for Daniels, who had lost the last games played at both Ebbets Field, in 1957, and Griffith Stadium, last year. |  |
| Close this window | |
| In 1963 U.S. President John F. Kennedy named Churchill the first Honorary Citizen of the
United States. Churchill was too ill to attend the White House ceremony, so his son and grandson accepted the
award for him.
Others named honorary U.S. citizens are Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa) 1966, William Penn (1984), Hannah Callowhill Penn, second wife of William Penn (1984), and Marquis de la Fayette (2002). |
 |
| Close this window |
| Many Americans concluded the 'ticket' was from British Railways, and 'ride' was the town of 'Ryde' on the Isle of Wight. McCartney confessed to his biographer (Barry Miles) that they were partly right. Paul had a cousin who ran a bar in Ryde and he and John had visited them there. Paul later mentioned that although the song was primarily about a girl riding out of the life of the narrator, they were conscious of the potential for a double meaning. |
 |
| Close this window |
| The most eagerly awaited event in the editorial cycle at TIME Magazine is always the selection
of the cover. After the Peanuts made the cover of TIME magazine, an advertising agent for the Coca-Cola company who had seen the Schulz documentary called Mendelson. The agent asked if Mendelson had thought about creating a Peanuts Christmas special. Mendelson fibbed that he had; the following day, he and Schulz came up with the story. A Charlie Brown Christmas is the longest-running cartoon special in history, airing every year since its debut in 1965. Whimsical, melancholy, and ultimately full of wonder, it is a holiday favorite for countless families. |
 |
| Close this window |
| The Righteous Brothers had three more big hits in 1965 on Spector's Philles label ("Just Once in My Life," "Unchained Melody," and "Ebb Tide"), all employing similar dense orchestral arrangements and swelling vocal crescendos. By 1966 the duo had left Philles for a lucrative deal with Verve. Medley, already an experienced hand in the producer's booth, reclaimed the producer's chair, and the Righteous Brothers had another number one hit with their first Verve outing, "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration." Its success must have been a particularly bitter blow for Spector, given that Medley successfully emulated the wall-of-sound orchestral ambience of the Righteous Brothers' Philles singles down to the smallest detail, even employing the same Mann-Weil writing team that had contributed to "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." |
 |
| Close this window |
| The Boeing 737 is the world's best selling commercial jet with well over 3,000 planes manufactured from 1966 through today. Ordered by Lufthansa and United in 1965 and first flown on April 9, 1967, the 737 entered service a year later |  |
| Close this window | |
| President Johnson declared a national day of mourning on April 9—the day Martin Luther King,
Jr., was buried. Many who had heard Dr. King speak on April 3 recalled his eerily prophetic words:
I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. On April 11, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. |
 |
| Close this window |
| British-assembled Concorde prototype 002 (G-BSST) makes its first flight from Filton to Fairford, piloted by Brian Trubshaw and John Cochrane, assisted by flight engineer Brian Watts. |  |
| Close this window | |
| Jule Styne and Bob Merrill team up to write the score for Sugar, starring Tony Roberts, Robert Morse, Elaine Joyce and Cyril Ritchard. "Sugar" is the hilarious story of two out-of-work musicians, forced to don disguises and join an all-girl band Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators. The situation is complicated when they find themselves attracted to Sugar, a blonde, ukulele player. |  |
| Close this window | |
| The Swedish quartet ABBA generated high charting hits for an entire decade, and for years trailed only the Volvo motor company as Sweden's biggest export. Comprised of two romantic couples—Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog, and Benny Andersson and Frida Lyngstad—ABBA formed in the early 1970s and scored their first success with "Waterloo" in 1974. From that point on, ABBA blazed a trail in pop sales history with "Dancing Queen," "Voulez Vous," "Take a Chance on Me" |
 |
| Close this window |
| Pressed into service on Opening Day when scheduled starter Jerry Reuss pulls a calf muscle, Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela shuts out the Astros 20 on five hits in his first ML start. |  |
| Close this window | |
| As a song, Michael Jackson undertook the composition of "Billie Jean" quite personally, drawing upon actual circumstances. In about 1981, during a Jacksons tour, a woman known later to be a stalker had accused Jackson of not claiming the paternity of one of her fraternal twins. She went so far as to call herself "Billie Jean Jackson", and to claim she was married to the singer. The woman was later sent to an insane asylum. Later, in a 1996 interview, Jackson said that he had known a lot of figurative "Billie Jeans" who had been Jackson 5 groupies. "Every girl claimed that their child was related to one of my brothers", the singer said. |
 |
| Close this window |
| At Milwaukee, Tom Seaver of the White Sox sets a major-league record by making the 15th of his 16 opening day starts. Seaver works six 2/3 innings in beating the Brewers, 42, and upping his overall record is 7-2 for opening day starts. The Brewers will beat Seaver in next year's opener. The victory is his 298th. |  |
| Close this window | |
| Cutting Crew signed to Siren Records at the end of 1985, and the first fruit of the relationship was the stunning "(I Just) Died In Your Arms", which took Europe and Britain by storm, and reached number four in the UK national charts. The second single, "I've Been In Love Before", was released to coincide with the release of the album, "Broadcast". |
 |
| Close this window |
| From 1959 to 1996, Hill won 86 races in drag boats and dragsters. Sandwiched between his
first 10 years of drag racing on land and the six years he raced on water was an eight-year stint racing motorcycles.
In 1988, with backing from Super Shops and Pennzoil, Hill won his first of 13 NHRA national events when he defeated Joe Amato in the final at the Mac Tools Gatornationals. The two faced each other in four final rounds that year with Hill winning three of them. A month later, he would run the first four at an IHRA race at Texas Motorplex. His third of four wins that year in five finals came in October at the inaugural Supernationals in Houston, where he won his semifinal match with a national record 4.990 and a ran a 4.936 in the final. |
 |
| Close this window |
| Ocean's period of greatest success began with Suddenly in 1984 and its main single "Caribbean Queen". The song's title and lyrics were changed for different regions, such that the song is also known as "African Queen" or "European Queen". The album's title track also became a hit. His 1986 album Love Zone also sold very well, with hit singles "When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going" and "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)." His 1988 album Tear Down These Walls had another number one single, "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car". |
 |
| Close this window |
| Henderson continued to steal bases -- except for injury-torn 1987, he led the league every year from 1980-91 -- but leg injuries ranging from hamstring strains ("my hammies," he called them) to a sprained knee to frostbite slowly began to limit his playing time. All the same, more laurels started rolling in. His inevitable eclipse of Lou Brock's career steal record came with steal #939 on May 1, 1991 against New York at the Oakland Coliseum. During the celebratory ceremony he held his base aloft and told a packed crowd, Brock included: "Today I am the greatest of all time." A year later (to the day) he became the first player ever to reach 1,000 steals. |
 |
| Close this window |
| A crowd of 80,227 saw the Rockies rout the Montreal Expos 11-4 at Mile-High Stadium. Bryn Smith got the first franchise win with seven scoreless innings against his former team, and Eric Young hit the first franchise homer leading off the bottom of the first inning. (Ironically, Young would hit only two more homers that year, both in the last home game of the season.) |
 |
| Close this window |
| After his debut album, 'Born Into The '90s', had gone silver, the follow-up, '12 Play' went platinum. 'Your Body's Callin'', the first single from '12 Play', became R. Kelly's first UK Top 20 single early in 1994 and this was followed by 'She's Got That Vibe' which peaked at No.3. 'Bump'n'Grind' completed the hat-trick with a No.8 chart position in 1995. |
 |
| Close this window |
 |
|||
1833 First tax-supported public library (Peterborough
NH)
More ...
1866 Civil Rights Bill of 1866 was passed by Congress
More ...
1869 Hudson Bay Company cedes its territory to
Canada
More ...
1872 S.R. Percy of New York City received a patent
for dried milk.
1905 The first aerial ferry bridge went into operation
-- in Duluth, Minnesota.
More ...
1912 First exhibition baseball game at Fenway
Park (Red Sox vs Harvard)
More ...
1913 Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field opens, Phillies
win 1-0
More ...
1928 Mae West's NYC debut in a daring new play
"Diamond Lil"
More ...
1939 Marian Anderson sings before 75,000 at Lincoln
Memorial
More ...
1945 NFL requires players to wear long stockings
1949 "Cruising Down the River" by Blue
Barron topped the charts.
More ...
1950 Bob Hope hosted a "Star-Spangled Review"
on NBC-TV.
More ...
1953 "The House of Wax" in 3-D premieres
More ...
1955 "Ballad of Davy Crockett" by Bill
Hayes topped the charts
More ...
1957 Suez Canal cleared for all shipping
More ...
1959 NASA names first 7 astronauts for Project
Mercury
More ...
1960 Theme from "A Summer Place" by
Percy Faith topped the charts.
More ...
1962 JFK throws out first ball at Washington DC's
new Stadium
More ...
1963 British statesman Winston Churchill was made
an honorary U.S. citizen
More ...
1965 Beatles "Ticket to Ride" is released
in UK
More ...
1965 "TIME" magazine featured a cover
with the entire "Peanuts" gang.
More ...
1966 "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration"
by the Righteous Brothers topped the charts
More ...
1967 First Boeing 737 rolls out
More ...
1968 Martin Luther King Jr, buried in Atlanta,
GA
More ...
1969 Maiden flight of the British-assembled Concorde
More ...
1972 "Sugar" opens at Majestic Theater
NYC for 506 performances
More ...
1974 Phil Brooks received a patent for a disposable
syringe.
1977 "Dancing Queen" by ABBA topped
the charts
More ...
1979 Longest doubles ping-pong match of 101 hours
begins
1981 Los Angeles Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela's
first start, beats Astros 2-0
More ...
1983 "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson
topped the charts
More ...
1985 White Sox pitcher Tom Seaver starts a record
15th opening day game
More ...
1987 Wayne Gretzky - record 6 assists in a Stanley Cup game
1987 "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" by
Cutting Crew topped the charts
More ...
1988 Eddie Hill becomes first to drag race a quarter
mile in under 5 seconds
More ...
1988 "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car"
by Billy Ocean topped the charts
More ...
1989 Rickey Henderson steals his 800th career
base in New York's 4-3 loss to Cleveland
More ...
1990 World's largest bunny hop at Radio City Music
Hall (broken 2002)
1991 Release of Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0
1993 Colorado Rockies 1st home game & 1st
victory, 11-4 over Montréal Expos
More ...
1994 "Bump n' Grind" by R. Kelly topped
the charts
More ...