1492		history.netCatholic forces under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella take the town of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain.
1758		The French begin bombardment of Madras, India.
1839		Photography pioneer Louis Daguerre takes the first photograph of the moon.
1861		The USS Brooklyn is readied at Norfolk to aid Fort Sumter.
1863		In the second day of hard fighting at Stone’s River, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., Union troops defeat the Confederates.
1903		President Theodore Roosevelt closes a post office in Indianola, Mississippi, for refusing to hire a Black postmistress.
1904		U.S. Marines are sent to Santo Domingo to aid the government against rebel forces.
1905		After a six-month siege, Russians surrender Port Arthur to the Japanese.
1918		Russian Bolsheviks threaten to re-enter the war unless Germany returns occupied territory.
1932		Japanese forces in Manchuria set up a puppet government known as Manchukuo.
1936		In Berlin, Nazi officials claim that their treatment of Jews is not the business of the League of Nations.
1942		In the Philippines, the city of Manila and the U.S. Naval base at Cavite fall to Japanese forces.
1943		The Allies capture Buna in New Guinea.
1963		In Vietnam, the Viet Cong down five U.S. helicopters in the Mekong Delta. 30 Americans are reported dead.
1966		American G.I.s move into the Mekong Delta for the first time.
1973		The United States admits the accidental bombing of a Hanoi hospital.
1980		President Jimmy Carter asks the U.S. Senate to delay the arms treaty ratification in response to Soviet action in Afghanistan.
1981		British police arrest the “Yorkshire Ripper” serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe.
1999		A severe winter storm hits the Midwestern US; in Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13 ºF and19 inches of snow fell; 68 deaths are blamed on the storm.
2006		A coal mine explosion in Sago, West Virginia, kills 12 miners and critically injures another. This accident and another within weeks lead to the first changes in federal mining laws in decades.

1492 – The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

1788 – Georgia became the 4th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1842 – In Fairmount, PA, the first wire suspension bridge was opened to traffic.

1859 – Erastus Beadle published “The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette.”

1872 – Brigham Young, the 71-year-old leader of the Mormon Church, was arrested on a charge of bigamy. He had 25 wives.

1879 – Thomas Edison began construction on his first generator.

1882 – The Standard Oil Trust agreement was completed and dated. The document transferred the stock and property of more than 40 companies into the control of nine trustees lead by John D. Rockefeller. This was the first example of what became known as a holding company.

1890 – Alice Sanger became the first female White House staffer.

1892 – Ellis Island opened as America’s first federal immigration center. Annie Moore, at age 15, became the first person to pass through.

1893 – The first commemorative postage stamps were issued.

1900 – U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to prompt trade with China.

1900 – The Chicago Canal opened.

1910 – The first junior high school in the United States opened. McKinley School in Berkeley, CA, housed seventh and eighth grade students. In a separate building students were housed who attended grades 9-12.

1917 – Royal Bank of Canada took over the Quebec Bank.

1921 – The first religious broadcast on radio was heard on KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, PA, as Dr. E.J. Van Etten of Calvary Episcopal Church preached.

1921 – DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park opened.

1929 – The United States and Canada reached an agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.

1935 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann went on trial for the kidnap-murder of Charles Lindberghs baby. Hauptmann was found guilt and executed.

1942 – The Philippine capital of Manila was captured by Japanese forces during World War II.

1949 – Jack Benny’s television show aired on CBS for the first time. The show had previously been aired on NBC.

1953 – “The Life of Riley” debuted on NBC-TV.

1955 – Panamanian President Jose Antonio Remon was assassinated.

1957 – The San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merged.

1959 – CBS Radio ended four soap operas. “Our Gal Sunday”, “This is Nora Drake”, “Backstage Wife” and “Road of Life” all aired for the last time.

1960 – U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1965 – “Broadway” Joe Namath signed the richest rookie contract ($400,000) in the history of pro football.

1968 – Fidel Castro announced petroleum and sugar rationing in Cuba.

1971 – In the U.S., a federally imposed ban on television cigarette advertisements went into effect.

1974 – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill requiring all states to lower the maximum speed limit to 55 MPH. The law was intended to conserve gasoline supplies during an embargo imposed by Arab oil-producing countries. Federal speed limits were abolished in 1995.

1983 – The final edition of Garry Trudeau’s comic strip, “Doonesbury”, appeared in 726 newspapers. “Doonesbury” began running again in September 1984.

1983 – The musical “Annie” closed on Broadway at the Uris Theatre after 2,377 performances.

1985 – The Rebels of UNLV beat Utah State in three overtime periods. The final score of 142-140 set a new NCAA record for total points in a basketball game (282). The game took over three hours to play.

1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC. She was the first black woman to head a city of that size and prominence.

1996 – AT&T announced that it would eliminate 40,000 jobs over three years.

1998 – Russia began circulating new rubles in effort to keep inflation in check and promote confidence.

2004 – NASA’s Stardust space probe collected samples from the comet Wild 2. The samples returned to Earth on January 15, 2006.

2008 – The price of oil hit $100 per barrell for the first time.

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Annie Moore Revisited

When Ellis Island officially opened its doors on January 1, 1892, the first person registered at the immigration station was a young Irish girl named Annie Moore.

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“Fourteen-year-old Annie” and her two brothers, Anthony, 11, and Phillip, 7, departed from Cobh, Ireland, formerly Queenstown (County Cork) on December 20, 1891, aboard the S.S. Nevada, three of the 148 steerage passengers. The trip took a total of 12 days including Christmas Day. The Nevada arrived in New York on Thursday evening, December 31st. The Moore children were coming to America to reunite with their parents, Matthew and Julia, who had come first. 

Since that day Annie’s story had become lost to time, and what remained were a mix of truths and myths that would be thought of and taught in our schools as facts.

For the complete article, go to: anniemoore.net

0404 – The last gladiator competition was held in Rome.

1622 – The Papal Chancery adopted January 1st as the beginning of the New Year (instead of March 25th).

1772 – The first traveler’s checks were issued in London.

1785 – London’s oldest daily paper “The Daily Universal Register” (later renamed “The Times” in 1788) was first published.

1797 – Albany became the capital of New York state, replacing New York City.

1801 – The Act of Union of England and Ireland came into force.

1801 – Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi became the first person to discover an asteroid. He named it Ceres.

1804 – Haiti gained its independence.

1808 – The U.S. prohibited import of slaves from Africa.

1840 – The first recorded bowling match was recorded in the U.S.

1863 – U.S. President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the rebel states were free.

1887 – Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India in Delhi.

1892 – Ellis Island Immigrant Station formally opened in New York.

1892 – Brooklyn and New York merged to form the single city of New York.

1894 – The Manchester Ship Canal was officially opened to traffic.

1895 – In Battle Creek, MI, C.W. Post created his first usable batch of Monks Brew (later called Postum). It was a cereal-based substitute for caffeinated drinks.

1898 – Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were consolidated into New York City.

1900 – Hawaii asked for a delegate to the Republican national convention.

1900 – Nigeria became a British protectorate with Frederick Lagard as the high commissioner.

1901 – The Commonwealth of Australia was founded. Lord Hopetoun officially assumed the duties as the first Governor-General.

1902 – The first Tournament of Roses (later the Rose Bowl) collegiate football game was played in Pasadena, CA.

1909 – The first payments of old-age pensions were made in Britain. People over 70 received five shillings a week.

1913 – The post office began parcel post deliveries.

1924 – Frank B. Cooney received a patent for ink paste.

1926 – The Rose Bowl was carried coast to coast on network radio for the first time.

1930 – “The Cuckoo Hour” was heard for the first time on the NBC-Blue Network, which later became ABC Radio.

1934 – Alcatraz Island officially became a Federal Prison.

1934 – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) began operation.

1936 – The “New York Herald Tribune” began microfilming its current issues.

1937 – The First Cotton Bowl football game was played in Dallas, TX. Texas Christian University (T.C.U.) beat Marquette, 16-6.

1939 – The Hewlett-Packard partnership was formed by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard.

1942 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued a declaration called the “United Nations.” It was signed by 26 countries that vowed to create an international postwar World War II peacekeeping organization.

1945 – France was admitted to the United Nations.

1956 – Sudan gained its independence.

1958 – The European Economic Community (EEC) started operations.

1959 – Fidel Castro overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista, and seized power in Cuba.

1968 – Evel Knievel, stunt performing daredevil, lost control of his motorcycle midway through a jump of 141 feet over the ornamental fountains in front of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

1971 – Tobacco ads representing $20 million dollars in advertising were banned from TV and radio broadcast.

1973 – Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Norway joined the EEC.

1975 – The magazine “Popular Electronics” announced the invention of a person computer called Altair. MITS, using an Intel microprocessor, developed the computer.

1979 – The United States and China held celebrations in Washington, DC, and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

1981 – Greece joined the European Community.

1984 – AT&T was broken up into 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement with the U.S. Federal government.

1986 – Spain and Portugal joined the European Community (EC).

1987 – A pro-democracy rally took place in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square (China).

1990 – David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City’s first black mayor.

1992 – The ESPN Radio Network was officially launched.

1992 – In Kuala, Lumpur, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Petronas Towers took place.

1993 – Czechoslovakia split into two separate states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The peaceful division had been engineered in 1992.

1994 – Bill Gates, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft and Melinda French were married.

1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.

1995 – Frederick West, an alleged killer of 12 women and girls, was found hanged in his jail cell in Winston Green prison, in Birmingham. West had been under almost continuous watch since his arrest in 1994, but security had reportedly been relaxed in the months preceding the apparent suicide.

1995 – The World Trade Organization came into existence. The group of 125 nations monitors global trade.

1998 – A new anti-smoking law went into effect in California. The law prohibiting people from lighting up in bars.

1999 – The euro became currency for 11 Member States of the European Union. Coins and notes were not available until January 1, 2002.

1999 – In California, a law went into effect that defined “invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal of family activity.”

2001 – The “Texas 7,” rented space in an RV park in Woodland Park, CO.

2007 – Binney & Smith Company became Crayola LLC under its parent company Hallmark.

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