A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
1795 – The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
1812 – The New Madrid earthquake that was centered in New Madrid, Missouri, was felt in Michigan and all along the East Coast.
1853 – Five pairs of horses arrived in Grand Rapids, MI from Kalamazoo, drawing the boiler for the steam boat “Michigan”.
1882 – The last bare-knuckle fight for the heavyweight boxing championship took place in Mississippi City.
1893 – Elisha Gray patented a machine called the tel-autograph that automatically signed autographs to documents.
1922 – DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace offered 5,000 copies of “Reader’s Digest” magazine for the first time.
1935 – The classic board game Monopoly was created.
1936 – The U.S. Vice President’s flag was established by executive order.
1940 – Walt Disney’s second full length animated film, “Pinocchio”, premiered at the Center Theatre in Manhattan.
1943 – The U.S. government announced that shoe rationing would go into effect in two days.
1964 – The Beatles arrived in the U.S. for the first time. The performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show” two days later.
1981 – The television miniseries, “Elvis and Me” (based on Priscilla Presley’s book), began airing on ABC.
1984 – Space Shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart made the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
1984 – At a lavish party at the Museum of Natural History in New York, NY, Michael Jackson made his way into the Guinness Book of World Records for selling 25 million copies of his album “Thriller”. The invitations were printed on white gloves.
1985 – “Sports Illustrated” released its annual swimsuit edition. It was the largest regular edition in the magazine’s history at 218 pages.
1985 – “New York, New York” became the official anthem of New York City.
1988 – The TV show “America’s Most Wanted”, hosted by John Walsh, debuted on Fox.
1994 – Satellite images showed that Lake Superior had completely frozen over. The center of the lake showed a very thin layer of ice that covered the water. High winds the following day broke up the thin ice, exposing the open water.
1999 – NASA’s Stardust space probe was launched. The mission was to return comet dust samples from comet Wild 2. The mission was completed on January 15, 2006 when the return capsule returned to Earth.
2000 – California’s legislature declared that February 13 would be “Charles M. Schulz Day” to honor the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip.
2008 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis launched with the mission of delivering the Columbus science laboratory to the International Space Station.
2014 – The Opening Ceremonies began for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
2014 – Jay Leno said goodbye after hosting the “Tonight Show” for 22 years.
2018 – The U.S. Mint and the National Park Service launched the “America the Beautiful” quarters program coin honoring Picture Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan.
2021 – Sarah Thomas became the first woman to referee a Super Bowl.
BIRTHDAYS:
Gay Talese – 94 years old (1932) – Journalist and memoirist
Eric Foner – 83 years old (1943) – Historian, author, and academic
Karen Joy Fowler – 76 years old (1950) – Author
Robert Brazile – 73 years old (1953) – Football player
Rolf Benirschke – 71 years old (1955) – Football player and game show host
Robert Smigel – 66 years old (1960) – Actor, producer, and screenwriter
James Spader – 66 years old (1960) – Actor and producer
Garth Brooks – 64 years old (1962) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
David Bryan – 64 years old (1962) – Keyboard player and songwriter
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper – 63 years old (1963) – Naval officer and astronaut
Chris Rock – 61 years old (1965) – Actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
Sully Erna – 58 years old (1968) – Singer-songwriter and musician
Essence Atkins – 54 years old (1972) – Actress
Robyn Lively – 54 years old (1972) – Actress
Juwan Howard – 53 years old (1973) – Basketball player and coach
Wes Borland – 51 years old (1975) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
Ashton Kutcher – 48 years old (1978) – Model, actor, producer, and entrepreneur
Milt Palacio – 48 years old (1978) – American-Belizean basketball player and coach
Sam J. Miller – 47 years old (1979) – Author
Mikey Erg – 46 years old (1980) – Drummer, guitarist, and vocalist
Scott Feldman – 43 years old (1983) – Baseball player
Trey Hardee – 42 years old (1984) – Decathlete
Jeremy Meeks – 42 years old (1984) – Model and actor
Josh Hennessy – 41 years old (1985) – Ice hockey player
Bernard James – 41 years old (1985) – Basketball player
Tina Majorino – 41 years old (1985) – Actress
Deborah Ann Woll – 41 years old (1985) – Actress
Matthew Stafford – 38 years old (1988) – Football player
Nick Calathes – 37 years old (1989) – American-Greek basketball player
Isaiah Thomas – 37 years old (1989) – Basketball player
Morris Claiborne – 36 years old (1990) – Football player
Dalilah Muhammad – 36 years old (1990) – Hurdler
Gabbie Hanna – 35 years old (1991) – Internet personality and singer-songwriter
Javon Hargrave – 33 years old (1993) – Football player
Riley Barber – 32 years old (1994) – Ice hockey player
R. J. Hampton – 25 years old (2001) – Basketball player
Shedeur Sanders – 24 years old (2002) – Football player
TODAY IS:
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For additional information check out websites like: www.on-this-day.com, www.born-today.com, www.famousbirthdays.com, www.daysoftheyear.com, and www.nationaldaycalendar.com.
