Discover what happened on March 21 in history, along with notable celebrity birthdays and fun Days of the Year to celebrate.
What Happened on March 21 in History?
Important events on this day include the founding of Twitter, the closing of Alcatraz prison, and the opening of the very first Taco Bell restaurant.
MARCH 21 – TODAY IN HISTORY:
1788 – Almost the entire city of New Orleans, LA, was destroyed by fire. 856 buildings were destroyed.
1790 – Thomas Jefferson reported to President George Washington as the new Secretary of State.
1851 – Yosemite Valley was discovered in California.
1859 – In Philadelphia, PA, the first Zoological Society was incorporated.
1906 – Ohio passed a law that prohibited hazing by fraternities after two fatalities.
1908 – A passenger was carried in a bi-plane for the first time by Henri Farman of France.
1910 – The Senate granted ex-President Theodore Roosevelt a yearly pension of $10,000.
1925 – The state of Tennessee enacted the Butler Act. It was a law that made it a crime for a teacher in any state-supported public school to teach any theory that was in contradiction to the Bible’s account of man’s creation.
1928 – President Calvin Coolidge gave the Congressional Medal of Honor to Charles Lindbergh for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
1939 – The song “God Bless America” was recorded by Kate Smith.
1946 – The Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington. Washington was the first black player to join a National Football League team since 1933.
1953 – The Lake Michigan car ferry, the S.S. Badger, made its first big lake crossing (from Ludington, MI to Manitowoc, WI). The S.S. Badger is still in operation.
1962 – Glen Bell opened the very first Taco Bell restaurant in Downing, CA.
1963 – Alcatraz Island, the federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, CA, closed.
1965 – NASA launched Ranger 9, the last in a series of unmanned lunar explorations.
1965 – More than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., began a march from Selma to Montgomery, AL.
1966 – In New York, NY, demolition work began to clear thirteen square blocks for the construction of the original World Trade Center.
1970 – The first Earth Day proclamation was issued by the Major of San Francisco, CA, Joseph Alioto.
1972 – The Supreme Court ruled that states could not require one year of residency for voting eligibility.
1976 – Singer Claudine Longet, formerly the wife of Andy Williams, shot her boyfriend, world skiing champion Spider Sabich. Sabich had tried to throw her and her three children out of his house. Longet was arrested for manslaughter.
1980 – President Jimmy Carter announced to the U.S. Olympic Team that they would not participate in the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow as a boycott against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.
1980 – On the TV show “Dallas”, Larry Hagman’s character, J.R. Ewing, was shot, which led to eight months of speculation over “Who Shot J.R.?”.
1982 – The movie “Annie” opened in theaters.
1984 – Part of Central Park in New York, NY, was renamed Strawberry Fields in honor of John Lennon.
1989 – Dick Clark announced that after 33 years he would no longer be hosting the show “American Bandstand”.
1989 – “Sports Illustrated” reported allegations tying baseball player Pete Rose to baseball gambling.
1990 – The television show “Normal Life”, with Moon Unit & Dweezil Zappa, premiered on CBS.
1990 – Tony Orlando received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
1990 – The television show “Sydney”, starring Valerie Bertinelli, premiered on CBS.
1994 – Steven Spielberg won his first Oscars. They were for best picture and best director for “Schindler’s List.”
1994 – Wayne Gretzky tied Gordie Howe’s NHL record of 801 goals.
1994 – Bill Gates of Microsoft and Craig McCaw of McCaw Cellular Communications announced a $9 billion plan that would send 840 satellites into orbit to relay information around the globe.
1995 – The TV show “NewsRadio” debuted on NBC. It ran until May of 1999.
1997 – The movie “Liar, Liar”, starring Jim Carrey, premiered in theaters.
1999 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
2000 – Phillip Morris and R.J. Reynolds were found guilty of misrepresenting the danger of cigarettes. A California jury ordered the firms to pay $1.7 million in damages to an ex-smoker dying of cancer and to her husband.
2000 – The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Food and Drug Administration had overstepped its regulatory authority when it attempted to restrict the marketing of cigarettes to youngsters.
2001 – Nintendo released Game Boy Advance.
2005 – After four years, the reality television show “The Osbournes” ended its run on MTV.
2006 – The social media site Twitter was founded. It is now called “X”.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS ON MARCH 21:
Walter Gilbert – 94 years old (1932) – Physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
Tom Flores – 89 years old (1937) – Football player and coach
Kathleen Widdoes – 87 years old (1939) – Actress
Amina Claudine Myers – 84 years old (1942) – Singer-songwriter and pianist
Janet Daley – 82 years old (1944) – American-English journalist and author
Rose Stone – 81 years old (1945) – Singer-songwriter and keyboard player
Scott Fahlman – 78 years old (1948) – Computer scientist and academic
Ron Oden – 76 years old (1950) – Minister and politician, 19th Mayor of Palm Springs
Conrad Lozano – 75 years old (1951) – Bass player
Russell Thompkins Jr. – 75 years old (1951) – Singer-songwriter
Mike Dunleavy Sr. – 72 years old (1954) – Basketball player, coach, and executive
Steve Sheppard – 72 years old (1954) – Basketball player
Bob Bennett – 71 years old (1955) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
Dick Beardsley – 70 years old (1956) – Runner
Brad Hall – 68 years old (1958) – Comedian, director, and screenwriter
Robert Sweet – 66 years old (1960) – Drummer and producer
Kassie DePaiva – 65 years old (1961) – Actress
Kim Turner – 65 years old (1961) – Hurdler
Matthew Broderick – 64 years old (1962) – Actor
Rosie O'Donnell – 64 years old (1962) – Actress, producer, and talk show host
Mark Waid – 64 years old (1962) – Author
Shawon Dunston – 63 years old (1963) – Baseball player
Share Pedersen – 63 years old (1963) – Bass player
Thomas Frank – 61 years old (1965) – Author, historian and political analyst
Cynthia Geary – 61 years old (1965) – Actress
Al Iafrate – 60 years old (1966) – Ice hockey player
DJ Premier – 60 years old (1966) – DJ and producer
Mirela Rupic – 59 years old (1967) – Costume and fashion designer
Andrew Copeland – 58 years old (1968) – Singer and musician
Scott Williams – 58 years old (1968) – Basketball player and sportscaster
Jonah Goldberg – 57 years old (1969) – Journalist and author
Cenk Uygur – 56 years old (1970) – Turkish-American political activist
Large Professor – 53 years old (1973) – Rapper and producer
Laura Allen – 52 years old (1974) – Actress
Michale Graves – 51 years old (1975) – Singer-songwriter
Rachael MacFarlane – 50 years old (1976) – Voice actress and singer
Kevin Federline – 48 years old (1978) – Dancer and television personality
Aaron Hill – 44 years old (1982) – Baseball player
Tarence Kinsey – 42 years old (1984) – Basketball player
Ryan Callahan – 41 years old (1985) – Ice hockey player
Sonequa Martin-Green – 41 years old (1985) – Actress
Adrian Peterson – 41 years old (1985) – Football player
Scott Eastwood – 40 years old (1986) – Actor
Erik Johnson – 38 years old (1988) – Ice hockey player
Ryann Krais – 36 years old (1990) – Runner and heptathlete
Darius Miller – 36 years old (1990) – Basketball player
Alex Nimo – 36 years old (1990) – Liberian-American soccer player
Chiney Ogwumike – 34 years old (1992) – Basketball player
Jasmin Savoy Brown – 32 years old (1994) – Actress
RJ Cyler – 31 years old (1995) – Actor
Nick Mullens – 31 years old (1995) – Football player
Miles Bridges – 28 years old (1998) – Basketball player
Jace Norman – 26 years old (2000) – Actor
DAYS OF THE YEAR FOR MARCH 21:
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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.
