| On December 1, 1630, Roger Williams and his wife boarded the ship Lyon sailing for New England. After fifty-seven days of a storm-wracked voyage, they anchored off Nantasket on February 3, 1631 and arrived in Boston on the 5th. His arrival in America was duly noted by the MA Bay Colony Governor, John Winthrop, in his carefully kept diary. Winthrop described Williams as a "godly minister" and it is certain the young clergyman was welcome in the new colony in Boston. |
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| The largest quake ever recorded in the Northeast was estimated to be a magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale, based on the geological effects. It hit Quebec in 1663, shattering chimneys in Boston, nearly 400 miles away. |
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| In 1817, the first U.S. gas company was incorporated in Baltimore, Md. Rembrandt Peale with others was permitted by ordinance to manufacture and distribute coal gas "to provide for more effectually lighting in the streets, squares, lanes and alleys of the city of Baltimore." The Gas Light Company of Baltimore lighted the first street on Feb 17, 1817. Peale had first used gas to light his Peale's Museum, from which he envisioned the benefits of a company to make gas lighting to city businesses and residences. |
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| In 1825, housewife Hannah Lord Montague (1794-1878) at 139 Third Street, Troy, N.Y. took her scissors and created the first detachable collar on one of her husband's shirts in order to reduce her laundry load to the collar only. Her husband, Orlando Montague, showed-off his wife's invention to other men around town, and soon their wives embraced this new invention. Soon after, merchants followed suit, and manufactured collars in mass quantities for sale to the outside world. Troy, New York, became "Collar City" to the rest of America. |
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| In 1850, the first adding machine with keys was patented by Du Bois Parmelee of New Paltz, New York, which he called a calculator. His adding machine, the first to use depressible keys, proved impractical and was not successful. The first practical adding machine, invented by William Burroughs, would not be patented until more than 40 years later. |
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| In 1861, the kinematoscope - a photographic attempt to show motion - was patented by Coleman Sellers of Philadelphia as an "improvement in exhibiting stereoscopic pictures of moving objects. A series of still pictures with successive stages of action was mounted on blades of a paddle and viewed through slits passed under the lens of a stereoscope revolved at right angles. The pictures were not reflected on a screen, and were visible only in the cabinet. The whole of the picture was not seen at once, but only by degrees as the cylinder revolved. |
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| In 1861, the first peep show machine was patented by Samuel D. Goodale of Cincinnati. He called the machine a Mutoscope which was operated by hand and gave a stereoscopic image. Pictures were fastened by one edge to an axis in such a way that they stood out like spokes. As the shaft rotated, the different images appeared to present an image in motion. They cost between $5.00 and $25.00 a peep. |
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| For the first time in the U.S. an animated photographic picture projection before a theatre audience was presented by Henry R. Heyl using his Phasmatrope. This was a converted projecting lantern in front of which rotated a disc with 16 openings near the edge, each carrying a photographic plate. The series of plates showed dancers, who appeared to move as the rotating disc showed successive positions. The event was the Ninth Annual Entertainment of the Young Men's Society of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Philadelphia, held at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pa. |
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| The premiere of Otello at La Scala on February 5, 1887 created unparalleled excitement among music lovers. Verdi's pen had been idle since the Requiem thirteen years before. His last opera, "Aida," had premiered in 1871. |  |
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| In 1901, a loop-the-loop centrifugal railway was patented by Edwin Prescott of Arlington, Mass. which he had installed at Coney Island in 1900 where it was known as Boynton's Centrifugal Railway. It had a 75-ft incline and a 20-ft-wide loop. He had previously obtained a patent for a roller coaster on August 16, 1898. This patent was to improve on the earlier design, having a purely circular loop, which resulted in an uncomfortable shock to passengers as the car entered the loop. |
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| In 1898 Morgan formed the Federal Steel Company, and in 1901 he united it and various other steel companies to form the vast United States Steel Corporation. He also financed International Harvester and the International Merchant Marine. Morgan was not always praised for such financial wizardry. In 1912 a federal committee investigated his operations. It was thought by many at the time that his consolidation of companies created unfair monopolies. |
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| The Victor recordings by Enrico Caruso were particularly successful. They were often used by retailers to demonstrate Victor phonographs; Caruso's rich powerful low tenor voice highlighted the best range of audio fidelity of the early audio technology while being minimally affected by its defects. |  |
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| Ernst F. W. Alexanderson was a Swedish American engineer and inventor who is best remembered for his pioneering work on the high frequency alternator that made long-distance radio communication possible. In 1916, Alexanderson made another important contribution to radio broadcasting when he unveiled his tuned radio receiver, which allowed for selective tuning. It quickly became an integral part of radio broadcasting. |  |
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| The first man in the history of the U.S. military service to shoot down an enemy airplane was Lt. Stephen W. Thompson. Since his U.S. squadron had not yet started flying missions, Thompson visited a nearby French bombing squadron to observe preparations for a combat flight. A French observer became ill and Thompson was invited to replace him. Once inside German territory, Thompson's Breguet bomber was attacked and Thompson shot down an Albatross fighter over Saarbrucken. |
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| Charges brought in 1918 by Reds owner Garry Herrmann and manager Christy Mathewson against Hal Chase for betting against his team and throwing games in collusion with gamblers are dismissed by National League president John Heydler. Heydler decides Chase's sometimes indifferent play was due to "carelessness." |  |
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| DeWitt Wallace conceived of the idea of a magazine containing condensed articles from many popular magazines while recovering from World War I injuries. DeWitt and his Canadian-born wife Lila Wallace (born Lila Bell Acheson) published the first issue on February 5, 1922, starting out of their own home. It was available by mail for 10˘ a copy. |
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| "The General" is generally regarded as one of the greatest of all silent comedies and undoubtedly the best train film ever made. The Civil War adventure-epic classic was made toward the end of the silent era. Posters describing the slapstick film heralded: "Love, Locomotives and Laughs." However, Keaton's picture received both poor reviews by critics and weak box-office results. |  |
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| After an appearance on Rudy Vallee’s "Fleischmann Hour" in 1931, Cantor's radio career began to soar. By the early 30s, Eddie Cantor had become the highest-rated star on radio. For seven years, his "Chase & Sanborn Hour" on NBC garnered immense ratings. Cantor was the second most recognizable person in America—second only to President Roosevelt, for whom he created the March of Dimes to help in the fight against polio. |  |
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| NWF was founded when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt convened the first North American Wildlife Conference to stimulate public interest in the management and development of America's natural resources. Even then, America's land, water and wildlife were threatened. Recognizing the link between the people's health, the environment, and our quality of life, conference participants set out to protect them all. |
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| In "Modern Times," the still-silent Tramp, with his familiar small Derby hat, mustache, large boots, baggy pants, tight jacket and cane makes his last screen appearance. Filmed between 1932 and 1936, it was directed, written, scored, and produced by Chaplin himself - and he also starred in his own 'one-man show' with his current wife and kindred spirit Paulette Goddard. |  |
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| "Tuxedo Junction", which sold 115,000 copies in the first week, "In the Mood", and "Pennsylvania 6-5000", all appeared on the RCA Victor Bluebird label. In early 1940, Down Beat Magazine announced that Miller had topped all other bands in its Sweet Band Poll, and capping off this seemingly sudden rise to the top, there was, of course, Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" radio series for Chesterfield cigarettes which aired three times a week over CBS. |
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| Evelyn had two number one hits ("A Little Bird Told Me" and "Powder Your Face With Sunshine") and three other top ten hits ("Dance With a Dolly With a Hole In Her Stockings" "Chickory Chick" and Brush Those Tears From Your Eyes - actually the flip side of A Little Bird Told Me). |  |
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| "Peter Pan" is the fourteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and was originally released to theaters on February 5, 1953 by RKO Radio Pictures. This would be the final Disney animated feature released through RKO, as Walt Disney established his own distribution company, Buena Vista Distribution, by the end of 1953. Disney’s studio started the story development and character designs in the early-1940s, and intended "Peter Pan" as a follow-up to "Bambi," but World War II forced the project to be put on hold. |
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| The Fontane Sisters were a trio (Bea, Geri and Margi Rosse) from New Milford, New Jersey. They were featured on a radio show done by Perry Como and Como's later television program. In 1949 they were signed by RCA Records, and did some recordings as backup to Como. In 1951 they had a minor hit with "The Tennessee Waltz," of which bigger recordings were done by Patti Page. In 1954 they switched to Dot Records, where they had 18 songs in the Billboard Hot 100, 10 in the top 40. In 1954, “Hearts of Stone” was their only number one hit. |
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| Russell grabbed a career-high 51 rebounds vs. Syracuse (Feb. 5, 1960), making him one of two players ever (Wilt Chamberlain) to grab more than 50 boards in a game. Bill Russell's legacy: Defense wins championships. Before Bill Russell brought his marvelous defensive and shot blocking skills to basketball, the game focused primarily on offense. But Russell initiated a defensive mentality that remains a focal part of championship basketball at every level. Without a doubt, Russell was the greatest defensive center in the history of basketball. |
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| "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" was at the top for two weeks. It was the group’s first #1 tune and the first #1 tune from the pen of a New York Brill Building songwriter who worked right down the hall from Neil Sedaka. She became a huge star in her own right with several #1 singles and albums in the 1970s. Her name: Carole King. |  |
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| "My Love" was Clark's second #1 hit in the US. She was the first British solo act to have two #1 singles in The States. Her first #1 was "Downtown," released the previous year. Clark hated the song but recorded it anyway -- then tried to stop its release. |  |
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| The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, starring the folk singing, comedy duo Tom and Dick Smothers, premiered on CBS in February 1967. A variety show scheduled opposite the top rated NBC programme, Bonanza, the Comedy Hour attracted a younger, hipper, and more politically engaged audience than most other video offerings of the 1960s. |  |
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| Commander Alan Shepard and Lunar Module Pilot Ed Mitchell landed at Fra Mauro. There wasn't, Shepard said later, any really flat ground close at hand; there were either craters or sloping ground wherever he looked; but he had no trouble finding a crater-free, LM-sized patch that was only 30 meters from his target. The only problem with the landing spot was that it was on an eight degree slope; and, for 24 of the next 33 hours the astronauts had to contend with a tilting floor that threatened to dump Shepard over onto Mitchell's side of the spacecraft. |
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| This is about the death of Buddy Holly. "The Day The Music Died" is February 3, 1959, when Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash after a concert. McLean wrote the song from his memories of the event. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album was a huge influence, and McLean has said in numerous interviews that the song represented the turn from innocence of the '50s to the darker, more volatile times of the '60s - both in music and politics. |
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| In a basketball game in the 1974 regional boys' tournament in Sweden, 13-year-old Mats Wermelin scored 272 points to lead his team to victory. Final score: 272-0. |
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| Mariner 10 was the first mission to use the gravitational attraction of one planet to reach another, the first mission with two planetary objectives, and (to date) the only mission ever to perform up close imaging and science at Mercury. The vehicle's first planetary encounter was with Venus on November 3, 1973 and flyby on February 5, 1974. Mariner 10 took some 4,000 photos of Venus, which revealed a nearly round planet enveloped in smooth cloud layers. |
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| MacGregor caught the attention of Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary while performing on a national tour. Impressed with her double-octave range, Yarrow invited her to join him on a national tour as a backup vocalist. His next step was putting her voice on vinyl: Mary was heard singing backup on Yarrow's Love Songs album. Her blossoming vocal talent led to her first solo endeavor, produced by Yarrow, the fateful "Torn Between Two Lovers." |
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| February 5, 1981, in Brisbane Australia, Paul Squires and Geoff Ross created the world's largest Jell-O. It was 7,700 gallons ($14,000 worth) of pink Jell-O . |
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| In an article in "Time magazine" one of the group members said they were looking for a song just to close off the album and did not think "Africa" would do as well as it did. The album won a Grammy for Album Of The Year. |  |
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1631 Rhode Island, founder, Roger
Williams arrives in Boston from England
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1663 Great earthquake in New England
More ...
1817 First US gas company incorporated, Baltimore
(coal gas for street lights)
More ...
1825 Hannah Lord Montague of New York creates
first detachable shirt collar
More ...
1850 Adding machine employing depressible keys
patented, New Paltz NY
More ...
1861 Kinematoscope patented by Coleman Sellers,
Philadelphia PA
More ...
1861 Samuel Goodale of Cincinnati, OH patented
the moving picture peep show machine
More ...
1870 First motion picture shown to a theater audience,
Philadelphia
More ...
1887 Verdi's opera "Otello" premiered
at La Scala
More ...
1901 Loop-the-loop centrifugal RR (roller coaster)
patented by Ed Prescot
More ...
1901 Pierpont Morgan forms US Steel Corp
More ...
1916 Enrico Caruso recorded "O Sole Mio"
for the Victor Talking Machine Company
More ...
1916 Alex Anderson successfully tested the multiple
tuned antenna
More ...
1917 The new constitution of Mexico, allowing
for sweeping social changes, was adopted.
1918 First US pilot to down an enemy airplane,
Stephen W Thompson
More ...
1919 NL president John Heydler dismisses charges
against Hal Chase
More ...
1921 Yankees purchase 20 acres in the Bronx for
Yankee Stadium
1922 Reader's Digest magazine first published
More ...
1927 Buster Keaton's movie "The General"
released
More ...
1931 Eddie Cantor appears on Rudy Vallee’s
"The Fleischmann Hour"
More ...
1931 Maxine Dunlap becomes first US women to earn
a glider pilot license
1936 National Wildlife Federation forms
More ...
1937 First Charlie Chaplin talkie, "Modern
Times", is released
More ...
1940 Glenn Miller & his Orchestra record "Tuxedo
Junction"
More ...
1949 "A Little Bird Told Me" by Evelyn
Knight topped the charts.
More ...
1953 "Peter Pan" by Walt Disney opens
at Roxy Theater, NYC
More ...
1955 "Hearts of Stone" by the Fontane
Sisters topped the charts
More ...
1960 Boston Celtic Bill Russell becomes first in NBA
to get 50 rebounds in a game
More ...
1961 The Shirelles "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"
topped the charts
More ...
1966 "My Love" by Petula Clark topped
the charts
More ...
1967 "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"
premieres on CBS (later ABC, NBC)
More ...
1971 US Apollo 14 - 3rd manned expedition to moon
- lands near Fra Mauro
More ...
1972 "American Pie" by Don McLean topped
the charts
More ...
1974 Mats Wermelin, Sweden, leads his team
to a 272-0 basketball win
More ...
1974 US Mariner 10 returns first close-up photos
of Venus's cloud structure
More ...
1977 "Torn Between Two Lovers" by Mary
MacGregor topped the charts
More ...
1981 Largest Jell-O made (9,246 gallons of watermelon-flavor)
in Brisbane
More ...
1983 "Africa" by Toto topped the charts
More ...
1989 Kareem Abdul-Jabar becomes first NBA player
to score 38,000 points
1996 State record low temperature of -25°
in Greene, RH