| Letters delivered up to 30 miles cost six cents to mail. For letters up to 150 miles, postage was 12-1/2 cents. And, just like today, letters over 150 miles were not guaranteed to be delivered at all. |  |
Close this window | |
| Captain John Lovewell was born on October 14, 1689 in Dunstable, Massachusetts, which later became Nashua, New Hampshire. Lovewell conducted three expeditions hunting down Indians and being paid for their scalps. In February, 1725, with 87 men, Lovewell hiked along the Merrimack River, past Lake Winnipesaukee, and into the White Mountains. they killed 10 sleeping Indians. They brought back the scalps and collected 1,000 pounds sterling. On the third trip, Lovewell and his men fought the Pequawkets near Fryeburg, Maine, and at Lake Ossipee. |
Close this window |
| Letters delivered up to 30 miles cost six cents to mail. For letters up to 150 miles, postage was 12-1/2 cents. And, just like today, letters over 150 miles were not guaranteed to be delivered at all. | |
Close this window | |
| The Court achieved its current influence in the life of the United States during the tenure of the Chief Justice John Marshall. He was appointed to the office by John Adams in the final days of Adams' presidency. As a political opponent of the Jeffersonian Republicans, Marshall delivered a number of opinions that they found uncongenial, strengthening the Judicial branch at the expense of the Executive branch and asserting the Court's monopoly on the interpretation of the Constitution. Foremost among these cases was Marbury v. Madison. On February 20, 1809 a decision by the Supreme Court stated that the power of the federal government was greater than any individual state. |
Close this window |
| The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) is a comic opera in two acts by Gioacchino Rossini with a libretto (based on the comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais) by Cesare Sterbini. The première (under the title Almaviva, or the Useless Precaution) took place on 20 February 1816, at the Teatro Argentina, Rome. |
Close this window |
| In America, duelling was a tradition of the Southern gentry, which intensified in the early 19th century. Most early anti-duelling legislation sought to deter duelling by barring duellists from public office. Although enactment of anti-duelling legislation lagged, eventually all states and the District of Columbia (1839) passed legislation prohibiting duelling. |
Close this window |
| In 1814 Thomas Jefferson (the United States' only architect-president) proposed that a professional curriculum in architecture be established in the School of Mathematics of the University of Virginia. Unfortunately, the search for an appropriate architect/mathematician was fruitless and the University of Virginia delayed its entrance into the architectural field for many years. Instead, formal architectural education in the United States began in 1865 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, |
Close this window |
| In 1872, Cyrus W. Baldwin received a U.S. patent for a vertical geared hydraulic electric elevator which was installed in the Stephens Hotel hotel in New York City (No. 123,761). The patent described "suspending and operating the elevator carriage from the bottom or platform thereof." Safety devices were included to prevent a fall if the suspending devices should fail. Baldwin also expressed design features to reduce the transfer of sounds to the rest of the building. |
Close this window |
| The Metropolitan Museum of Art first opened on February 20, 1872, housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Robert Lee Jenkins, a railroad executive whose personal art collection seeded the museum, served as its first President, and the publisher George Palmer Putnam came on board as its founding Superintendant. |  |
Close this window | |
| In 1872, Silas Noble and James P. Cooley of Granville, Mass., patented a toothpick manufacturing machine. It was described as an invention which allows "a block of wood, with little waste and in one operation, to be cut up in to toothpicks ready for use." The Noble & Cooley Co. made not only military drums of all sizes, but also toy drums. The company is now the largest and oldest toy drum manufacturer in America. |
Close this window |
| In 1872, Luther Childs Crowell, a prolific inventor of Cape Cod, Mass., received a patent for a machine for manufacturing square-bottom paper bags. As a child, he spent a great deal of time folding pieces of paper, unlike most of his peers who mostly whittled and made things out of wood. In 1867, he took out his first patent for a square-bottom paper bag, and wholesale production began in 1879. It remains the standard paper bag in use throughout the world. |
 |
Close this window |
| Charles Shaler Smith‘s use of a cantilever design for the bridge helped solve the difficult construction challenge of the 275 feet deep gorge of the Kentucky River.When the bridge was completed in 1877, it was not only the first cantilever bridge in North America, but also the highest and longest cantilever in the world. The completed bridge stood 275 feet tall and spanned 1,125 feet. Until the early 20th century, the bridge held the record as the highest bridge over a navigable stream. |
 |
Close this window |
| The International Association was a U.S. professional baseball league that operated in 1877 and 1878. Some historians consider it the first minor league in baseball history; others point out that the league conceived of itself as a rival to the National League, now thought of as the sole major league of the era. |
Close this window |
| Established by an act of congress on April 21, 1862, the Denver Mint opened for business in 1863 as a United States Assay Office. On February 20, 1895, there was new hope for branch mint status when Congress provided for the establishment of a mint at Denver for gold and silver coin production. . During the first year (1906), 167 million coins were produced, including $20 gold (double eagle) coins, $10 gold (eagle) coins, $5 gold (half eagle) coins, and assorted denominations of silver coins. |
 |
Close this window |
| Open for just 257 days in 1915, San Francisco's Panama Pacific International Exposition saw more than 18,000,000 visitors pass the turnstiles to marvel at the 635 acre site, including over 400,000 people on closing day (greater than the then population of the city). Built on what is today the Marina District of San Francisco, the PPIE cost over $17,000,000 ($280,000,000 today) to construct and operate, yet still managed to generate a considerable profit, a rarity for world's fairs. |
 |
Close this window |
| The first Red Sox Sunday game actually played in Boston was a 7-3 loss to Philadelphia at Braves Field on April 28, 1929 |  |
Close this window | |
| Mikkelson was the wife of a Norwegian whaling captain, and in 1935 she became the first female to visit Antarctica when she went ashore at Vestfold Hills. |  |
Close this window | |
| In 1937, the first a successful automobile-airplane combination was complete and ready for testing.The first flight took place the next day, February 21, 1937. Built by the Westerman Arrowplane Corporation of Santa Monica, Cal., the vehicle was dubbed the Arrowbile, and claimed a top air-speed of 120 mph and 70 mph on a highway. Designed by aeroengineer Waldo Dean Waterman , it evolved from the prototype Arrowplane, a project to design a simple, easy to fly, low cost airplane. The Studebaker Corporation, which supplied the 100 hp engines, eventually took delivery of five Arrowbiles. |
 |
Close this window |
| Paricutin is famous is because people were able to observe it forming from its very beginning. It is the famous "volcano that grew out of a cornfield". It was not really a very dangerous eruption for people, but it was quite destructive of their agricultural lands, livestock, and way of life. The eruption lasted from 1943 until 1952, produced a large cinder and ash cone, and covered an area about 8 kilometers by 8 kilometers with slow-moving lava flows. |
 |
Close this window |
| Detective Comics #27 hit the stands in In May, 1939. In it we saw the first appearance of Batman. While Superman was pure and clean, Batman was grim and gritty. The first incarnation of Batman and Robin has been reprinted in its entirity by DC Comics and Kitchen Sink Press. It was both a Sunday strip and a daily strip which told separate stories. For much of its run it was drawn by Bob Kane and written by Jack Schiff. |
 |
Close this window |
| Ozzie Nelson proposed a show of his own to network CBS and sponsor International Silver--a show
in which the Nelsons would play themselves. Early in its run, the radio Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet jettisoned
music for situation comedy. Ozzie Nelson himself directed and co-wrote all the episodes, as he would most of the video
shows.
Their sons, David and Ricky, did not join the cast until five years after the radio series began. The two boys felt frustrated at hearing themselves played by actors and continually requested they be allowed to portray themselves. On February 20, 1949, David and Ricky made their first appearance on the show in an episode called "Invitation To Dinner." |
 |
Close this window |
| On February 20, 1951 Ashford became an umpire in the Southwestern International League, the first black professional umpire. He went on to umpire in the Pacific Coast League for many years before being hired by the American League in 1961, and on April 1, 1966 he became the first black Major League umpire. |  |
Close this window | |
| “The African Queen” is a marvelous film of romance, adventure, love and human character all set in lush location filming in Ceylon. It follows the adventures of a crusty dyed-in-the-wool bachelor, Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) and his nemesis, Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn), in World War I Africa. The pair struggle against the climate, the river, the bugs, the Germans and, most of all, against each other. And in the end, love and strength of character overcome all. |
 |
Close this window |
| In 1953, St. Louis baseball fans almost lost their beloved team to Milwaukee or Houston. The Cardinals would have moved to either of those cities if a man, better known for beer than for baseball, had not rescued the team. |  |
Close this window | |
| The U.S. Court of Appeals rules that organized baseball is a sport and not a business, affirming the 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling. This effectively dismisses the antitrust suits of Jack Corbett and former Dodger farm hand Walter Kowalski. The $300,000 suit of Corbett, the owner of the Texas League El Paso club, is based on his belief that he lost money when ML baseball prohibited him from signing several players suspended for participation in the Mexican League. Kowalski's $150,000 suit is based on the general principles of the antitrust and restraint-of-trade laws. |
Close this window |
| This was used in the film "Calamity Jane," in which Doris Day played the title lead opposite the late Howard Keel. It won the 1953 Academy Award winner for Best Song. Doris Day recorded this in less than 15 minutes. The liner notes from her A Day at the Movies compilation tell how she rode her bicycle to the studio, did one take and the musical director was "grinning from ear to ear." |  |
Close this window | |
| After seriously considering the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and team-owned Wrigley Field in Los Angeles (capacity of 22,000), the Dodgers struck a lease deal with the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission to play games in the 100,000-seat Memorial Coliseum. O’Malley paid $600,000 in rent for a two-year lease at the Coliseum, plus an initial $300,000 to convert the field for baseball use. |
Close this window |
| "Teen Angel" was written by Mark's sister Jeannie, who was a member with her two sisters of the vocal group The Dinning Sisters. It was about the tragic death of the narrator's girlfriend who stalls her car on a railway track. In the UK, BBC DJs refused to play this as it was too morbid, so it only reached #37 in the British charts. |  |
Close this window | |
| “Godspeed, John Glenn. You’re cleared for orbit.” In 1962, John Glenn piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first U.S. manned orbital mission. Launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, he completed three-orbits around the earth, at a maximum altitude of approx. 162 miles and an orbital velocity of approx. 17,500 mph. He spotted Perth, Australia, when that city's residents greeted him by switching on their house lights in unison. Glenn returned to space 36 years later, making 134 more orbits as a crew member of the space shuttle Discovery. |
 |
Close this window |
| Ranger 8 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight. The spacecraft carried six television cameras, an optical earth sensor and high-gain antenna for optimum communications, and solar panels to provide power, as well as additional engineering equipment. The telecommunications equipment converted the composite video signal from the camera transmitters into an RF signal for subsequent transmission through the spacecraft high-gain antenna. |
 |
Close this window |
| Gary Lewis is the son of comedian Jerry Lewis, who lived two doors down from producer Snuff Garrett's house. The recording session that produced this was financed by Gary's mother, Patty Lewis. Gary Lewis and the Playboys had 7 Top-10 hits in two years (1964-66) before breaking up as a result of Gary being drafted into the army. |  |
Close this window | |
| Initially known as the Osmond Brothers, they recorded the catchy "One Bad Apple", which topped the US charts for five weeks. Before long, they became a national institution, and various members of the family including Donny Osmond, Marie Osmond and Little Jimmy Osmond enjoyed hits in their own right. |  |
Close this window | |
| This song is about a guy who had a crush on a sweet, innocent girl in his homeroom in high school. Years later, he's looking through a girly magazine and sees his homeroom crush as the centerfold. |  |
Close this window | |
| On February 20, 1992, he appeared on CNN's Larry King Live and announced his intention to run if his supporters could get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. With such declared policies as balancing the federal budget and enacting electronic direct democracy via "electronic town halls," he became a potential candidate and soon polled roughly even with the major party candidates. |  |
Close this window | |
| At the time of the arrest at a park in Vienna, Virginia, Robert Philip Hanssen, age 56, was clandestinely placing a package containing highly classified information at a pre-arranged, or "dead drop," site for pick-up by his Russian handlers. Hanssen had previously received substantial sums of money from the Russians for the information he disclosed to them. He was accused of spying for Russia for more than 15 years. |
 |
Close this window |
 |
|||
1725 10 sleeping Indians scalped
by whites in New Hampshire
More ...
1792 President George Washington signed the Postal
Service Act
More ...
1809 Supreme Court rules federal government power
greater than any state
More ...
1816 Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville"
premieres in Rome
More ...
1839 Congress prohibits dueling in District of
Columbia
More ...
1865 MIT establishes first US collegiate architectural
school
More ...
1872 Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus
Baldwin
More ...
1872 Metropolitan Museum of Art opens (New York
NY)
More ...
1872 Silas Noble & JP Cooley patents toothpick
manufacturing machine
More ...
1872 Luther Crowell received a patent for a machine
for manufacturing paper bags
More ...
1877 First cantilever bridge in US completed,
Harrodsburg KY
More ...
1877 International Association (minor baseball
league) organizes
More ...
1895 Congress authorizes a US mint at Denver CO
More ...
1901 First territorial legislature of Hawaii convenes
1915 Panamá-Pacific International Exposition
opens in San Francisco
More ...
1929 Red Sox announce they will play Sunday games
at Braves Field
More ...
1935 Karoline Mikkelson is first woman on Antarctica
More ...
1937 First automobile/airplane combination tested,
Santa Monica CA
More ...
1943 New volcano Paricutin erupts in farmer's
corn patch (México)
More ...
1944 Batman & Robin comic strip premieres
in newspapers
More ...
1949 Future teen singing idol, Ricky Nelson, began
performing on his parents' Radio show
More ...
1951 First black umpire in organized baseball
certified (Emmett Ashford)
More ...
1952 "The African
Queen", opened in NYC
More ...
1953 August A Busch buys the Cardinals for $3.75
million
More ...
1953 US Court of Appeals rules that Organized
Baseball is a sport
More ...
1954 "Secret Love" by Doris Day topped
the charts
More ...
1958 Los Angeles Coliseum Committee approves 2-year
pact allows Dodgers to use facility
More ...
1960 "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning topped
the charts
More ...
1962 John Glenn is first American to orbit Earth
More ...
1965 The Ranger 8 spacecraft crashes on the moan
after completing mission
More ...
1965 "This Diamond Ring" by Gary Lewis
& the Playboys topped the charts
More ...
1971 "One Bad Apple" by the Osmonds
topped the charts
More ...
1971 Bruin Phil Esposito is NHL's quickest to
score 50 goals in a season
1981 The space shuttle Columbia cleared the final
major hurdle to its maiden launch as the spacecraft fired its three engines
in a 20-second test
1982 "Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band
topped the charts
More ...
1987 David Hartman quits ABC's "Good Morning
America", after 11 years
1989 Total eclipse of the Moon
1992 Ross Perot says he'll run for President on
Larry King Show
More ...
1993 Florida Marlins open their first spring training
camp
1998 US movie box office hits quickest $1 billion
for year (51 days)
2001 The government announced the arrest of veteran
FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen
More ...