| Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate chamber in Rome by Brutus and fellow conspirators. After first trying to defend himself against the murderous onslaught, Caesar saw Brutus with a knife and asked "Et tu, Brute?" (You too, Brutus?) Caesar then gave up the struggle and was stabbed to death. |  |
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| While exploring the islands in the area and looking for gold to loot, Columbus' men traveled to the islands of Hispaniola (now divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Cuba, and many other smaller islands. On the return trip, the Santa Maria was wrecked and the captain of the Pinta sailed off on his own to try to beat Columbus back. Columbus returned to Spain in the Nina, arriving on March 15, 1493. |
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| For the small group of California natives, that cool, overcast day in March 1812 was a forerunner of massive change. They stood there in astonishment as a large sailing ship came to anchor in the little cove beneath their quiet bluff top settlement. For the next few days, they continued to watch as some twenty-five Russians and eighty Alaskans came ashore, set up a temporary camp, and began building houses and a sturdy wooden stockade - the colony and fortification of Ross. The Kashaya people assembled to watch the spectacle had no way of knowing that thei r hunting and gathering lifestyle would be changed forever. These Russians had come to hunt sea otter, to grow wheat and other crops for the Russian settlements in Alaska, and to trade with Spanish California. |
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| From its founding in 1817 until the legislature made its first appropriation to the institution in 1867, the university was supported entirely from its Federal Land Grant endowment and the fees derived from students. During its early years, state government actually mismanaged and then misappropriated the funds from the Congressional land grants intended to support the university. Under university president James Angell’s leadership, the state was persuaded to fund the university through a “mill tax,” a fixed percentage of the state property tax. |
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| When the National Association of Base Ball Players permitted professionalism for 1869, George Wright and probably George Ellard organized a fully professional team: ten men on salary for eight months, March 15 to November 15. Wright played center field and coordinated the team defense, a novelty. Younger brother and shortstop George Wright, new to the team in 1869, was its best player, maybe the best of his time. |  |
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| In 1892, an escalator design was patented in the U.S. by inventor Jesse W. Reno of New York City. It was built and opened in Sep 1895 as a new Coney Island amusement ride, a conveyor belt that moved people up a 25 degree slope. The first escalator-type patent issued in the U.S. on August 9, 1859, was held by Nathan Ames of Saugus, MA, which had steps mounted on an inclined endless belt or chain. The Otis Elevator Company registered the U.S. trademark Escalator on May 29, 1901. |
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| The first official use of a lever type voting machine, known then as the "Myers Automatic Booth," occurred in Lockport, New York in 1892. Four years later, they were employed on a large scale in the city of Rochester, New York, and soon were adopted statewide. By 1930, lever machines had been installed in virtually every major city in the United States, and by the 1960’s well over half of the Nation’s votes were being cast on these machines. |
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| Cy Young retired in 1911, after 22 seasons, at the age of 44. He had pitched three no-hitters in his career including a perfect game. He remains baseball's all time leader in wins (511), loses (316), innings (7,354+), complete games (749) and hits allowed (7092). He even saved 17 games in career, leading the league twice (1896 & 1903). |  |
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| Woodrow Wilson held the first formal presidential press conference in 1913 and saw it as a vehicle for uniting public opinion behind his programs. He hoped the press would be his partner (not adversary) in this endeavor. He also thought that the press from around the nation might channel the concerns of their readers to the White House. Wilson would not agree to be quoted, he spoke off the record, and only reporters were allowed in the room. |
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| American Legion is an organization of U.S. war veterans. It was founded in Paris on March 1517, 1919, by delegates from combat and service units of the American Expeditionary Force. A national charter was granted to it by the U.S. Congress on September 16, 1919; the charter was later amended to admit veterans of World War II (1942), the Korean War (1950), the Vietnam War (1966), etc. |
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| USS Nautilus, a 2730-ton Narwhal class cruiser submarine, was built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Commissioned in July 1930 as USS V-6 (SC-2), she was renamed Nautilus in February 1931 and redesignated SS-168 in July 1931. Her keel was laid down on 10 May 1927 by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard of Vallejo, California. She was launched on 15 March 1930 sponsored by Miss Joan Keesling, and commissioned on 1 July 1930 with Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Doyle, Jr. in command. Prior to World War II, she was mainly operated in the Pacific, based at Pearl Harbor and at San Diego. |
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| Bernard Fantus, director of therapeutics at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois (US), established the first hospital Blood bank in the United States. In creating a hospital laboratory that could preserve and store donor Blood, Fantus originated the term 'Blood bank.' |
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| Billboard began publishing an album chart in 1945. Initially only five positions long, the album chart was not published on a weekly basis, sometimes three to seven weeks passing before it was updated. With the explosion of rock and roll music, Billboard premiered a weekly albums chart on March 24, 1956. The position count varied anywhere from ten to thirty albums. |
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| The Yankees at Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Giants at Lakewood, New Jersey and the Dodgers at Bear Mountain, New York. At Bear Mountain, NY, Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher spoke about his 1945 edition of "Dem Bums". Augie Galan will start at 1B, rookie Tommy Brown at SS, and Bill Hart at 3B. Also shown are Morrie Aderholt, Frenchy Bordagaray, catcher Ray Hayworth, pitchers Vic Lombardi and Ben Chapman and coach Chuck Dressen. |
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| New York City hired an official rainmaker to ease a prolonged drought. The rainmaker, a Dr. Wallace E. Howell of Mount Washington Observatory, was paid $100 a day to create rain. |
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| By 1948, Starr made her “Your Hit Parade” breakthrough with “You Were Only Foolin’ (While I Was Falling in Love).” Subsequent hits like “Hoop-Dee-Doo,” “Oh, Babe!” and “I’ll Never Be Free” framed her in an emerging vein of the popular market that also looked back to traditional country and folk. In 1952, “Wheel of Fortune” became Starr’s biggest hit and one of the signature songs of the ’50s pop sound. Several years afterwards, “Comes A-Long A-Love” topped the British charts. |
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| "Don't/I Beg of You" was recorded on January 7, 1958. Later in the month, he began recording and filming “King Creole.” |  |
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| By the late 1950s people were growing aware of severe damage occurring to the reefs along the Florida Keys. Seashells, corals, sponges, sea horses, and other marine life were being hammered, chiseled, and even dynamited from the reefs to provide souvenirs for tourists. In the spring of 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed the adjacent Federally-controlled area of the reefs as the Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve. Florida Governor Leroy Collins later changed the name of the park to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in recognition of John Pennekamp's efforts to save marine life. |
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| When Kitt Peak National Observatory was dedicated on March 15, 1960, the ground-breaking ceremony took place for what would become the world's largest and most sophisticated telescope for studying the sun. The telescope incorporates a tower rising nearly 100 feet above the ground from which a shaft slants two hundred feet to the ground where a tunnel continues an additional three hundred feet into the mountain. The structure supporting the heliostat mirror had to be so rigid that even when a 25-mile-an-hour wind slammed against it the image of the sun at the end of the 780 foot optical path would not deflect by more that 1/60th of an inch. Additionally, to avoid the thermal effects on the optical path, the air inside the structure would have to be maintained at a temperature equal to the air outside. |
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| Donald Jackson captured four Canadian titles and a bronze medal at the 1960 Winter Olympics. In 1962, en route to winning gold at the World Figure Skating Championships, he both attempted and landed the first triple lutz in international competition. |  |
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| The record books are indeed heavy with Chamberlain's accomplishments. He was the only NBA player to score 4,000 points in a season. He set NBA single-game records for most points (100), most consecutive field goals (18) and most rebounds (55). Perhaps his most mind-boggling stat was the 50.4 points per game he averaged during the 1961-62 season--and if not that, then perhaps the 48.5 minutes per game he averaged that same year. |
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| The Voting Rights Act removed the right of states to impose restrictions on who could vote in elections. Johnson explained how: "Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes." The Act was sent to Congress by President Lyndon Johnson on March 17, 1965. |
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| Opening in 1965, the first T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant was located at First Avenue and 63rd Street in New York City and featured red and white stripes, a blue exterior and its name -- T.G.I. Friday’s. Inside were wooden floors, Tiffany-style lamps, bentwood chairs and striped tablecloths. The bar area, with its brass rails and stained glass, contributed to the classic ambiance. First year revenues totaled $1 million. |
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| Although Beamon had won twenty-two out of twenty-three meets he'd entered in 1968, he wasn't generally considered the Olympic favorite. That honor was shared by Ter-Ovanesyan and Boston. Beamon had a history of inconsistency and he was prone to fouling. Beamon had not only become the first man to jump more than 28 feet--he had gone beyond 29 feet. The length was officially announced as 8.90 meters, which converts into 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches. That shattered the world record of 27 feet, 4 3/4 inches set by Ralph Boston in 1965. |
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| "Dizzy" was a rare Pop song with strings. The Beatles used strings on their 1965 hit "Yesterday," but it wasn't until the Disco era when strings became common in Pop. Roe wrote this with Freddie Weller. Weller went on to become a Country singer after a spell as one of Paul Revere's Raiders. In 1962, Roe had his first, and only other US #1 hit with "Shelia," which he wrote when he was 14. He had anther hit in 1970 with "Jam Up Telly Tight," then started recording Country songs. |
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| "Black Water" was The Doobies' first #1 hit. They had another in 1979 with "What A Fool Believes." They continued the Louisiana-swamp rock feel of earlier songs like "Toulouse Street" and "Black Eyed Cajun Woman." "Black Water" is about the Mississippi River. |
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| At first, this was not released in the US. Since the album was not out yet, radio stations there started playing import copies of the single. This led Queen's record company to release it in America, about 3 months after it came out in England. |  |
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| Founding member Paul Kantner found his role had diminished in the early 1980s and released a solo album. In 1985 when, following much acrimony over ownership of the band's name, Kantner was paid off and took with him half of the group's moniker. In defiance Kantner's former band performed as Starship Jefferson, but shortly afterwards became Starship. The new line-up added Denny Baldwin on drums and recorded Knee Deep In The Hoopla in 1985, which became their most successful album since Red Octopus. Two singles from the album, "We Built This City" and "Sara", both reached number 1 in the USA. |
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| In June 1988, at the CPSU's XIXth Party Conference, Gorbachev launched radical reforms meant to reduce party control of the government apparatus. He proposed a new executive in the form of a presidential system, as well as a new legislative element, to be called the Congress of People's Deputies. Elections to the Congress of People's Deputies were held throughout the USSR in March and April 1989. On March 15, 1990, Gorbachev was elected as the first executive President of the Soviet Union with 59% of the Deputies' votes being an unopposed candidate. |
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44 BC Julius Caesar was assassinated
More ...
1493 Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after
first new world voyage
More ...
1812 First Russian settlement in California, Russian
River
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1867 Michigan becomes first state to tax property
to support a university
More ...
1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings become the first
pro baseball team
More ...
1892 First escalator patented by inventor Jesse
W Reno (New York NY)
More ...
1892 New York State unveils automatic ballot booth
(voting machine)
More ...
1912 Pitcher Cy Young retires from baseball with
511 wins
More ...
1913 First Presidential press conference (Woodrow
Wilson)
More ...
1919 The American Legion was founded in Paris
More ...
1930 First streamlined submarine of US navy, USS
Nautilus, launched
More ...
1937 First blood bank is established (Chicago
IL)
More ...
1945 Billboard publishes its first album chart
(King Cole Trio is #1)
More ...
1945 Dodgers open spring training at Bear Mountain
NY
More ...
1950 New York City hired Dr Wallace E Howell as
the city's official "rainmaker"
More ...
1952 "Wheel of Fortune" by Kay Starr
topped the charts
More ...
1958 "Don't/I Beg of You" by Elvis Presley
topped the charts
More ...
1960 Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve established
(first underwater park)
More ...
1960 National Observatory at Kitt Peak, Arizona
dedicated
More ...
1962 Donald Jackson of Canada, is first to land
a triple lutz ice skate jump
More ...
1962 Wilt Chamberlain is first to score 4,000
points in an NBA season
More ...
1965 LBJ asks congress to ensure everybody's right
to vote
More ...
1965 TGIFriday's first restaurant opens in New
York NY
More ...
1968 Bob Beamon sets indoor long jump record (27'
2.75")
More ...
1969 "Dizzy" by Tommy Roe topped the
charts
More ...
1975 "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers
topped the charts
More ...
1980 "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
by Queen topped the charts
More ...
1986 "Sara" by Starship topped the charts
More ...
1990 Mikhail S Gorbachev becomes president of
the Soviet Congress
More ...
1994 William Hartman was issued a patent for a
method and apparatus for painting highway markings - the stripes etc
1999 Pluto again becomes outermost planet