521 – Magellan discovers Guam
1646 – Born in London, Joseph Jenckes arrived in Lynn Massachusetts around 1643. Three years later he was awarded the first patent in North America by the General Court of Massachusetts, for the scythe, an agricultural tool used for clearing grass and reaping crops. The basic scythe design remained in use for over 300 years before being overtaken by modern machinery to do the same tasks.
Edgar Allen Poe, thrown out of West Point
1831 – Edgar Allen Poe removed from West Point military academy. West Point’s library publication recounts Poe’s tenure from July 1830 to February 1831 as “short, yet tumultuous.” “His emotional instability coupled with deep personal problems, such as his constant need for funds and a lack of time to devote to poetry more than his deficiency in military aptitude, cut short his cadetship,” the library publication said.
1853 – Giuseppe Verdi’s Opera “La Traviata,” premieres in Venice
1886 – First US alternating current power plant starts, Great Barrington, MA
1896 – First auto in Detroit, Charles B King rides his “Horseless Carriage”
1921 – Police in Sunbury, Pennsylvania issue an edict requiring women to wear skirts at least 4 inches below the knee
1930 – Clarence Birdseye develops a method for quick freezing food
1940 – First US telecast from an airplane, NYC, of course
1950 – Silly Putty invented
1981 – Walter Cronkite signs-off as anchorman of “CBS Evening News”
1991 – Following Iraq’s capitulation in the Persian Gulf conflict,Bush (39) told Congress that “aggression is defeated. The war is over”
1997 – Picasso’s painting Tête de Femme is stolen from a London gallery and is recovered a week later.
2007 – Former White House aide I. Lewis Libby, Jr. is found guilty on four of five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice trial.
Birthdays
1475 – Michelangelo, Italian painter (d. 1564)
1923 – Ed McMahon, Detroit Mich, Johnny Carson’s sidekick
1925 – Wes Montgomery, American musician (d. 1968)
1947 – Rob Reiner, Bronx NY, actor/director (All in the Family, Stand By Me)
Divorces
1964 – Actress Elizabeth Taylor’s 4th divorce from entertainer Eddie Fisher
Deaths
1836 – Davy Crockett, killed in battle at 49
1836 – Jim Bowie, American pioneer and soldier (b. 1796)
1842 – Constanze Mozart, wife of W.A. Mozart (b. 1763)
1900 – Gottlieb Daimler, designed first motorcycle, dies at 65
1932 – John Philip Sousa, US composer (Stars & Stripes Forever), dies at 77
1986 – Georgia O’Keefe, US painter, wife of Alfred Steiglitz, dies at 98
1985 – Eric Sloane, US artist, dies at 80
Edited from various sources including historyorb.com, the NYTimes.com Wikipedia and other internet searches