TODAY IN HISTORY:
1738 – The Methodist Church was established.
1764 – Bostonian lawyer James Otis denounced “taxation without representation” and called for the colonies to unite in demonstrating their opposition to Britain’s new tax measures.
1830 – The first passenger railroad service in the U.S. began service.
1844 – Samuel F.B. Morse formally opened America’s first telegraph line. The first message was sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD. The message was “What hath God wrought?”
1878 – The first American bicycle race was held in Boston, MA.
1883 – After 14 years of construction the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to traffic.
1899 – The first public garage was opened by W.T. McCullough.
1913 – The U.S. Department of Labor entered into its first strike mediation. The dispute was between the Railroad Clerks of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
1930 – Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly from England to Australia.
1931 – B&O Railroad began service with the first passenger train to have air conditioning throughout. The run was between New York, NY and Washington, DC.
1935 – The Cincinnati Reds played the Philadelphia Phillies in the first major league baseball game at night. The switch for the floodlights was thrown by President Franklin Roosevelt.
1950 – Nate “Sweetwater” Clifton of The Harlem Globetrotters became the first African American player in the NBA when the New York Knicks purchase his contract.
1954 – The first moving sidewalk in a railroad station was opened in Jersey City, NJ.
1958 – United Press International was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
1962 – American astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American astronaut to orbit the Earth. He orbited the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
1962 – The officials of the National Football League ruled that halftime of regular season games would be cut to 15 minutes.
1967 – California Governor Ronald Reagan greeted Charles M. Schulz at the state capitol in observance of the legislature-proclaimed “Charles Schulz Day.”
1974 – Muhammad Ali scored a TKO over Richard Dunn in Munich to retain his heavyweight title.
1974 – After nine seasons on TV, NBC aired the final “Dean Martin Show”.
1976 – Supersonic Concorde service began between Paris and London and Washington, DC.
1980 – The International Court of Justice issued a final decision calling for the release of the hostages taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.
1984 – The Detroit Tigers won a record 17th consecutive road games.
1989 – The movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” opened in theaters.
1991 – The movie “Thelma and Louise” opened in theaters with Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon in the title roles and directed by Ridley Scott.
1999 – Mike Tyson was released from a Maryland jail, having served 3-1/2 months for assaulting two motorists after a collision.
2000 – A Democratic Party event for Al Gore in Washington brought in $26.5 million. The amount set a new record, which had just been set the previous month by Republicans for Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
2001 – Temba Tsheri, 16, became the youngest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2006 – Taylor Hicks won TV’s “American Idol” Season 4.
2007 – Congress approved the first minimum wage hike in nearly a decade. The measure upped the $5.15 per hour minimum wage by 70 cents before the end of the summer. Wages were boosted another 70 cents the next year, and the minimum wage would be $7.25 by the summer of 2009.
2011 – NASA announced the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) spacecraft. It is intended to facilitate exploration of the Moon, asteroids and Mars.
BIRTHDAYS:
Tommy Chong – 82 years old (1938) – Comedian, actor (Cheech and Chong, “Up in Smoke”, “Nice Dreams”, “Half Baked”, TV’s “That ’70s Show”)
Bob Dylan – 79 years old (1941) – Musician, singer (Traveling Wilburys)
Gary Burghoff – 77 years old (1943) – Actor (Played Radar O’Reilly on TV’s “”M*A*S*H””)
Patti LaBelle – 76 years old (1944) – Singer (“Lady Marmalade”)
Priscilla Presley – 75 years old (1945) – Elvis Presley’s ex-wife, actress (TV’s “Dallas”, “Naked Gun” movies)
Waddy Wachtel – 73 years old (1947) – Musician, composer, record producer
Jim Broadbent – 71 years old (1949) – Actor (“Iris”, “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”, “The Young Victoria”, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe”, “Gangs of New York”, “Moulin Rouge”)
Alfred Molina – 67 years old (1953) – Actor (“Spider Man 2”)
Rosanne Cash – 65 years old (1955) – Singer
Kristin Scott Thomas – 60 years old (1960) – Actress (“Under the Cherry Moon”, “The English Patient”)
Joe Dumars – 57 years old (1963) – Basketball player (Detroit Pistons 1985-1999, President of Basketball Operations for the Detroit Pistons 2000-2014)
Vivian Trimble – 57 years old (1963) – Keyboardist (Luscious Jackson)
John C. Reilly – 55 years old (1965) – Actor (“Chicago”, “Gangs of New York”, “The Hours”, “Walk Hard”, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”, “The Aviator”, “Magnolia”, “Boogie Nights”, “Carnage”, “Step Brothers”)
Erin Close – 53 years old (1967) – Actor (TV’s “Nashville”, “Without a Trace”)
Rich Robinson – 51 years old (1969) – Musician (The Black Crowes)
Brad Penny – 42 years old (1978) – Baseball player (Detroit Tigers 2011)
TODAY IS:
Aviation Maintenance Technician Day
For additional information check out websites like: www.on-this-day.com, www.born-today.com, www.famousbirthdays.com, and www.daysoftheyear.com.
