| At first Massachusetts notes were accepted at par with specie, which was predominately the Spanish American silver 8 reales, called a Spanish "dollar" by the colonists. In Massachusetts the Spanish dollar was valued at 6 shillings. In 1690 for every 6s of paper money one could obtain a Spanish silver dollar. As more paper money was put into circulation individuals would no longer accept the paper as equal to specie. |
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| Although France recognized the sovereignity of the United States in 1778 Spain did not do so until after the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended hostilities and returned to Spain the North American territories ceded to Great Britain in 1763. |
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| The Whig Party formed out of the National Republican Party, the leaders of which were John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. They were nationalists, supported internal improvements and moral reforms, and desired gradual westward expansion in congruence with economic growth and modernization. In 1836, the Whigs factioned off, but generally united against Jackson's policies of the last eight years. They especially disliked Martin Van Buren, Jackson's hand-chosen successor. |
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| On February 3rd, 1861, 2nd Lieutenant George Bascom brought a detachment of 54 men to this site to confront Cochise regarding the kidnapping of the boy and livestock. Cochise was the leader of the Chiricahua Apache, who were believed to be the ones who conducted the kidnapped. However, the Chiricahua Apaches and Cochise were innocent of this crime. Instead, it was most likely the work of Coyotero or White Mountain Apaches that merely crossed the country of the Chiricahua Apache. Bascom accused Cochise of the kidnapping he and his people did not commit. Bascom had Cochise, his brother, two nephews, a woman, and two children arrested until the return of the boy and livestock. Insulted and infuriated, Cochise escaped the trap. |
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| As a boy almost 15 yrs old, Thomas Edison (1847-1931), became the first publisher of a newspaper produced and sold on a moving train. Already obsessed with telegraphy, he worked out the logistics of getting advance news. His weekly "Grand Trunk Herald", a single sheet measuring 7-in. x 8-in., included local news and advertisements for his fathers store and sold 200 copies a week. |  |
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| In February 1876, the Chicago Tribune had announced Spalding 's opening of a "large emporium in Chicago where he will sell all kinds of baseball goods and turn his place into the headquarters for the Western Ball Clubs." His company, eventually named A.G. Spalding & Brothers, emerged as the era's dominant sporting-goods firm. Spalding proved a skilled businessman, capitalizing on his fame as a ballplayer. His motto, "Everything is possible to him who dares," guided his company's growth. |
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| In 1879, the first practically usable incandescent filament electric light bulb was demonstrated to an audience of 700 by its inventor Joseph Wilson Swan at the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne. Following his successful demonstration, Swan established the world's first electric light bulb factory at Benwell in the western subburbs of Newcastle. Later, Swan's bulbs were used to light up Mosley Street in the Newcastle city centre, the first street in the world to be lit by electric light. |
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| When P.T. Barnum wanted big, he knew where to go: London Zoo, in England, where a 20-year-old elephant named Jumbo had been on display for all his life. Captured from Central Africa as a baby, he'd grown up to a hefty 7 tons and 11.5 feet high. The London Zoo, on the other hand, was more than happy to get Jumbo out of the way, and the $10,000 price probably helped convince them as well. Jumbo was shipped to America, along with his lifelong caretaker and trainer, Matthew Scott. He truly became Barnum's Prize Elephant, the focal point of the Barnum Circus, and was seen by millions. |
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| The Dirigo was a four-masted steel barque built in 1894 by Arthur Sewall & Co., Bath, ME, to the design of J.F. Waddington, Liverpool, at a total cost of $157.000. She was the first steel sailing vessel built in the U.S., and the Sewall shipyard was the only yard in the country to switch from building wooden sailing vessels to building steel ones. |  |
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| Major League owners met to discuss the impact of wartime regulations on the 1942 season. Later, it was agreed that each team would be granted fourteen night games with one exception in Washington who was granted twenty-one. It was also determined that two All-Star Games would be played (one with a military All-Star team) and that all curfews for night games would be set with no inning to start after 12:50. |
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| This movie, and Saludos Amigos (1942) were created by Disney in order to gain better relations with South American countries during WWII. Clarence Nash provided the voice of Donald Duck in the Spanish-dubbed version, giving Donald a charming American accent that complements Jose Carioca's Brazilian and Panchito's Northern Mexican ones. This was the first time Walt Disney had attempted the technique of combining animation with live actors since the Alice Comedies in the 1920s. |
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| Dragnet aired weekly from 1952 to 1959 and starred Jack Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday and Ben Alexander as Officer Frank Smith. Using a revolutionary approach to television drama, Webb, as director, lifted authentic events from real LAPD cases, exploring the evils of a crime ridden society. |  |
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| "The Winter Dance Party Tour" was planned to cover 24 cities in a short 3 week time frame and Holly would be the biggest headliner. Waylon Jennings, a friend from Lubbock, Texas and Tommy Allsup would go as backup musicians. Ritchie Valens, probably the hottest of the artists at the time, The Big Bopper, and Dion and the Belmonts would round out the list of performers. After the tour bus developed heating problems, Buddy Holly decided to charter a plane for himself and his guys. The plane took off and, in whiteout conditions, crashed killing all aboard. |
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| Dee, Brigati and the group began working with Roulette producer Henry Glover on new compositions. The first collaboration was "Peppermint Twist", which was released by Roulette in November, 1961, and it took off immediately for the top of the charts. A few weeks later, the group was recorded "live" at the Peppermint Lounge and Roulette rushed-released an LP from the recordings entitled "Doin' The Twist At The Peppermint Lounge". |
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| "Meet the Beatles!" was The Beatles first "official" album in America, released on January 20, 1964 by Capitol Records, the sister company within EMI to their British label, Parlophone. Just ten days earlier Chicago's Vee-Jay Records released Introducing... The Beatles, which had been delayed for release from the previous summer. |  |
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| The U.S. launched its first operational weather satellite, ESSA-1 to provide cloud-cover photography to the U.S. National Meteorological Center for preparation of operational weather analyses and forecasts. The spacecraft was an 18-sided polygon, 42-in. diameter, 22-in. high and weight 305-lb. It was made of aluminum alloy and stainless steel, then covered with 9100 solar cells. The solar cells served to charge the 63 batteries. A camera could be pointed at some point on Earth every time the satellite rotated along its axis. ESSA-1 was able to view the weather of each area of the globe, photographing a given area at the exact same local time each day. |
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| Three days after its takeoff, the unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft landed safely on the moon in the Ocean of Storms. It was the first ever soft landing on another celestial body, and opened the way for manned trips to the moon. On striking the surface, the Soviet probe ejected a 250-lb capsule which then rolled upright and unfolded four spring actuated petals to steady itself. A TV camera with a revolving mirror system enabled Luna 9 to take pictures, including panoramic views of the lunar landscape and closer views of nearby rocks, which were transmitted back to earth until February 6 when the batteries ran out and contact with the spacecraft was lost. |
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| Lyricist Shelley Pinz wrote the words after reading a newspaper article about an elder UK street musician who used a tambourine to collect money as he performed in front of a bank. The cellos and drums had to be re-recorded as the original production was marred by excessive echo. |  |
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| "Crocodile Rock" was the first of many #1 singles by Elton John in the US. His first in the UK came in 1976 with Kiki Dee ("Don't Go Breaking My Heart"). His first solo #1 in the UK was "Sacrifice" in 1990. |  |
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| Chic was a group led by bass player Bernard Edwards and guitarist Nile Rodgers. Both were very successful writers and producers, combining to work on hits for Sister Sledge and Diana Ross. Edwards went on to produce for The Power Station, Joe Cocker, and Robert Palmer, while Rodgers has worked with Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and Madonna. |  |
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| John Sharples has been a Ventriloquist, Children’s Magician, Singer, Fire-eater, and much more. When he was 20 he broke the world record for non stop disco dancing by dancing for 15 days 11 hours. A year later he broke his own record, by another 5 hours! The record stayed in the Guinness book for 7 years! |
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| Launch had been set for January 29, 1984 but slipped five days while the orbiter was still in the Orbiter Processing Facility to allow changeout of Challenger's three auxiliary power units. This was a precautionary measure following the STS-9 fires. February 3 launch occurred as scheduled with no delays. The mission featured the first untethered spacewalks, which were performed by astronauts McCandless and Stewart using Manned Maneuvering Units (MMU). |
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| Co-written by Bolton, this is in the style of the Soul songs of the '60s and '70s that often lamented the loss of a lover . This was Bolton's first #1 hit. He had another with "When A Man Loves A Woman" in 1991. This won the 1989 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. |  |
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| The scheduled February 2, 1995 launch was postponed on the day before due to the failure of one of Discovery's on-board Inertial Measurement Units (IMU). This was the first Shuttle flight with a female pilot and the second flight carrying a Russian cosmonaut. One of Discovery's primary objectives was a rendezvous with the Russian Mir Space Station, in a dress rehearsal for an upcoming docking mission. |  |
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1690 First paper money in America
issued (colony of Massachusetts)
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1783 Spain recognized U.S. independence
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1815 World's first commercial cheese factory established,
in Switzerland
1836 Whig Party holds its first national convention
(Albany NY)
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1861 Apache Chief Chochise was arrested in Arizona
by the U.S. Army for raiding a ranch
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1862 Thomas Edison - first time a newspaper
had been printed on a train!
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1876 Albert Spalding starts sporting
goods manufacturing company
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1879 First incandescent light bulb demonstration
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1882 Circus owner PT Barnum buys his world famous
elephant Jumbo
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1894 First US steel sailing vessel, Dirigo, launched,
Bath, ME
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1942 Baseball owners agree to permit each club
up to 14 night games in 1942
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1945 Walt Disney's "The 3 Caballeros"
released
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1952 The first episode of the TV program "Dragnet"
was copyrighted
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1959 A plane crash claimed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens
and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson
More ...
1962 "Peppermint Twist - Part I" by
Joey Dee & the Starliters topped the charts
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1964 "Meet the Beatles" album goes Gold
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1966 First operational weather satellite, ESSA-1
launched (US)
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1966 First soft landing on the Moon (Soviet Luna
9)
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1968 "Green Tambourine" by the Lemon
Pipers topped the charts
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1973 "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John
topped the charts
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1979 "Le Freak" by Chic topped the
charts
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1982 Greatest helicopter lift, 125,145 lbs, Podmoscovnoe,
USSR
1982 John Sharples of England finishes disco dancing
371 hours
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1984 10th Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 4
is launched
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1990 "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You"
by Michael Bolton
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1995Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, first female
Shuttle pilot
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1996 State record low temperature of -47°
in Elkader, Iowa