1803 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled itself to be the final interpreter of all constitutional issues.

1835 – “Siwinowe Kesibwi” (The Shawnee Sun) was issued as the first Indian language monthly publication in the U.S.

1839 – Mr. William S. Otis received a patent for the steam shovel.

1857 – The Los Angeles Vinyard Society was organized.

1857 – The first shipment of perforated postage stamps was received by the U.S. Government.

1863 – Arizona was organized as a territory.

1866 – In Washington, DC, an American flag made entirely of American bunting was displayed for the first time.

1868 – The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson due to his attempt to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The U.S. Senate later acquitted Johnson.

1886 – Thomas Edison and Mina Miller were married.

1900 – New York City Mayor Van Wyck signed the contract to begin work on New York’s first rapid transit tunnel. The tunnel would link Manhattan and Brooklyn. The ground breaking ceremony was on March 24, 1900.

1903 – In Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an area was leased to the U.S. for a naval base.

1925 – A thermit was used for the first time. It was used to break up a 250,000-ton ice jam that had clogged the St. Lawrence River near Waddington, NY.

1938 – The first nylon bristle toothbrush was made. It was the first time that nylon yarn had been used commercially.

1942 – The U.S. Government stopped shipments of all 12-gauge shotguns for sporting use for the wartime effort.

1942 – The Voice of America (VOA) aired for the first time.

1945 – During World War II, the Philippine capital of Manilla, was liberated by U.S. soldiers.

1946 – Juan Peron was elected president of Argentina.

1956 – The city of Cleveland invoked a 1931 law that barred people under the age of 18 from dancing in public without an adult guardian.

1980 – NBC premiered the TV movie “Harper Valley P.T.A.”

1981 – Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Britain’s Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.

1983 – The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1100 mark for the first time.

1983 – A U.S.congressional commission released a report that condemned the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

1987 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, of the Los Angeles Lakers, got his first three-point shot in the NBA.

1987 – An exploding supernova was discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.

1988 – The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a $200,000 award to Rev. Jerry Falwell that had been won against “Hustler” magazine. The ruling expanded legal protections for parody and satire.

1989 – Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced Salman Rushdie to death for his novel “The Satanic Verses”. A bounty of one to three-million-dollars was also put on Rushidie’s head.

1989 – A United Airlines 747 jet rips open in flight killing 9 people. The flight was from Honolulu to New Zealand.

1992 – “Wayne’s World” opened in U.S. theaters.

1992 – Tracy Gold began working on the set of “Growing Pains” again. She had left the show due to anorexia.

1994 – In Los Angeles, Garrett Morris was shot during a robbery attempt. He eventually recovered from his injury.

1997 – The U.S. The Food and Drug Administration named six brands of birth control as safe and effective “morning-after” pills for preventing pregnancy.

1997 – Dick Enberg received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 – In southeast China, a domestic airliner crashed killing all 64 passengers.

2007 – The Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution expressing “profound regret” for the state’s role in slavery.

2008 – Cuba’s parliament named Raul Castro president. His brother Fidel had ruled for nearly 50 years.

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KILKENNY

February 22nd

1855 – The U.S. Congress voted to appropriate $200,000 for continuance of the work on the Washington Monument. The next morning the resolution was tabled and it would be 21 years before the Congress would vote on funds again. Work was continued by the Know-Nothing Party in charge of the project.

1859 – U.S. President Buchanan approved the Act of February 22, 1859, which incorporated the Washington National Monument Society “for the purpose of completing the erection now in progress of a great National Monument to the memory of Washington at the seat of the Federal Government.”

1885 – The Washington Monument was officially dedicated in Washington, DC. It opened to the public in 1889.

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1630 – Quadequine introduced popcorn to English colonists at their first Thanksgiving dinner.

1784 – “Empress of China”, a U.S. merchant ship, left New York City for the Far East.

1819 – Spain ceded Florida to the United States.

1855 – The U.S. Congress voted to appropriate $200,000 for continuance of the work on the Washington Monument. The next morning the resolution was tabled and it would be 21 years before the Congress would vote on funds again. Work was continued by the Know-Nothing Party in charge of the project.

1859 – U.S. President Buchanan approved the Act of February 22, 1859, which incorporated the Washington National Monument Society “for the purpose of completing the erection now in progress of a great National Monument to the memory of Washington at the seat of the Federal Government.”

1860 – Organized baseball’s first game was played in San Francisco, CA.

1865 – In the U.S., Tennessee adopted a new constitution that abolished slavery.

1879 – In Utica, NY, Frank W. Woolworth opened his first 5 and 10-cent store.

1885 – The Washington Monument was officially dedicated in Washington, DC. It opened to the public in 1889.

1892 – “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, by Oscar Wilde, was first performed.

1920 – The first dog race track to use an imitation rabbit opened in Emeryville, CA.

1923 – The first successful chinchilla farm opened in Los Angeles, CA. It was the first farm of its kind in the U.S.

1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.

1954 – ABC radio’s popular “Breakfast Club” program was simulcast on TV for the first time.

1969 – Barbara Jo Rubin became the first woman to win a U.S. thoroughbred horse race.

1973 – The U.S. and Communist China agreed to establish liaison offices.

1984 – The U.S. Census Bureau statistics showed that the state of Alaska was the fastest growing state of the decade with an increase in population of 19.2 percent.

1994 – The U.S. Justice Department charged Aldrich Ames and his wife with selling national secrets to the Soviet Union. Ames was later convicted to life in prison. Ames’ wife received a 5-year prison term.

1997 – Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut and colleagues announced that an adult sheep had been successfully cloned. Dolly was actually born on July 5, 1996. Dolly was the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell.

2002 – In the Philippines, An MH-47E Chinook helicopter crashed into the ocean. All 10 men aboard were killed.

2010 – A copy of “Action Comics #1” sold at auction for $1 million. The comic featured the introduction of Superman.

2010 – Walmart announced it was acquiring the video streaming company Vudu, Inc.

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