Today in History – March 12

1455 – First record of Johannes Gutenberg’s Bible, letter dated this day by Enea Silvio Piccolomini refers to the bible printed a year before

1664 – 1st naturalization act in American colonies

1664 – New Jersey becomes an English colony

1755 – 1st steam engine in America installed, to pump water from a mine

1773 – Jeanne Baptiste Pointe de Sable founded settlement now known as Chicago

1850 – 1st US $20 gold piece was issued

1884 – Mississippi established 1st US state college for women

1894 – Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time in a candy store in Vicksburg, Mississippi

1912 – Girl Guides (Girl Scouts) was formed in Savannah, by Juliette Gordon Low

1916 – French airship mistakenly attacked and sank British submarine D3 with loss of all hands

1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam failed, killing over 600 people

1933 – FDR conducted his 1st “fireside chat”

1945 – New York was 1st to prohibit discrimination by race & creed in employment

1951 – Comic strip “Dennis the Menace,” 1st appeared in the British comic magazine The Beano’

1959 – US House joined Senate in approving Hawaii statehood

1963 – Beatles performed as a trio, John Lennon was ill with a cold

1965 – “Wooly Bully” single was released by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

1969 – 11th Grammy Awards: “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” by Glen Campbell won best record

1969 – 120 cannabis joints were found at George & Patti Harrison’s home

1971 – The Allman Brothers Band recorded their live album “Live at Fillmore East” on this date and the following day

1973 – Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In last aired on NBC-TV

1974 – Ted Bundy victim Donna Manson disappeared from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington (body never found)

1980 – Jury found John Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering 33 in Chicago

1985 – Larry Bird scored Boston Celtic record 60 points

1987 – “Les Miserables” opened at Broadway/Imperial NYC for 4000+ performances

2003 – Elizabeth Smart was found after having been missing for 9 months.

2018 – British Prime Minister Theresa May said Russia was “highly likely” to have poisoned a Russian spy and his daughter on March 4 with nerve agent


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