TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JAN 3
1496 Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine
1521 Martin Luther is Excommunicated by Pope Leo X from the Roman Catholic Church for failing to recant parts of his Ninety-five Theses which started the Protestant Reformation
1777 General George Washington defeats the British led by British General Lord Charles Cornwallis, at Princeton, New Jersey.
1823 Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River in Texas.
1861 Delaware rejects a proposal that it join the South in seceding from the Union.
1871 Oleomargarine patented by Henry Bradley, Binghamton NY
1876 1st free kindergarten in US opens in Florence MA
1888 1st wax drinking straw patented, by Marvin C Stone in Washington DC
1916 Three armored Japanese cruisers are ordered to guard the Suez Canal.
1920 The New York Yankees acquired Babe Ruth and so began the “curse of the Bambino” that haunted the Boston Red Sox until 2004.
1920 The last of the U.S. troops depart France.
1924 King Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus is uncovered near Luxor, Egypt
1925 Mussolini dissolves Italian parliament/becomes dictator
1931 Hundreds of farmers storm a small town in depression-plagued Arkansas demanding food.
1938 The March of Dimes was established by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The organization fights poliomyelitis. The original name of the organization was the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
1946 President Harry S. Truman calls on Americans to spur Congress to act on the on-going labor crisis.
1957 1st electric watch introduced, Lancaster PA
1958 Edmund Hillary reaches South Pole overland
1959 Alaska is admitted into the Union as the 49th and largest state.
1961 The United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
1977 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs incorporate Apple Computer, Inc
1985 President Ronald Reagan condemns a rash of arson attacks on abortion clinics.
1994 35-foot-tall Chief Wahoo, trademark of Indians on top of Stadium since 1962, is taken down, to be moved to Jacob’s Field
1994 More than 7 million people receive South African citizenship that had previously been denied under Apartheid policies.
1999 Israeli authorities detained, and later expelled, 14 members of Concerned Christians. Israili officials claimed that the Denver, CO-based cult was plotting violence in Jerusalem to bring about the Second Coming of Christ.
2004 NASA’s Spirit rover landed on Mars. The craft was able to send back black and white images three hours after landing.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
