TODAY IN HISTORY

On This Day in:

1541 – The city of Santiago, Chile was founded.

1554 – Lady Jane Grey was beheaded after being charged with treason. She had claimed the throne of England for only nine days.

1733 – Savannah, GA, was founded by English colonist James Oglethorpe.

1870 – In the Utah Territory, women gained the right to vote.

1878 – Frederick W. Thayer patented the baseball catcher’s mask.

1879 – The first artificial ice rink opened in North America. It was at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY.

1880 – The National Croquet League was organized in Philadelphia, PA.

1892 – In the U.S., President Lincoln’s birthday was declared to be a national holiday.

1907 – A collision of the steamer Larchmont and a schooler resulted in the death of more than 300 people. The incident occurred off New England’s Block Island.

1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded.

1912 – China’s boy emperor Hsuan T’ung announced that he was abdicating, ending the Manchu Ch’ing dynasty. Subsequently, the Republic of China was established.

1915 – The cornerstone of the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, DC.

1918 – All theatres in New York City were shut down in an effort to conserve coal.

1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge made the first presidential political speech on radio.

1924 – “The Eveready Hour” became radio’s first sponsored network program. The National Carbon Company was the first sponsor of a network show.