1766 – After 4 months of widespread protest in America, the British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, a taxation measure enacted to raise revenue for a standing British army in America.
1813 – David Melville of Newport, Rhode Island patented the gas streetlight.
1837 – Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th U.S. President, the only president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms, only president to be married in the White House and the first president to have a child born in the White House, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey.
1852 – In New York City, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo joined with several other investors to start a shipping and banking company to take advantage of the demand for gold shipments across the nation from California.
1902 – Enrico Caruso recorded 10 arias for the Gramophone Company. The recording session took place in Milan, Italy and earned Caruso $500.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AZL1xjq_a8
1910 – The Pipe of Desire became the first opera by an American composer, Frederick Shepherd Converse, performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
1918 – Faith, the first seagoing ship made of concrete, launched from Redwood City, CA.
1925 – The worst tornado in U.S. history passed through eastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southern Indiana, killing 695 people and injuring some 13,000 others, in what became known as the “Tri-State Tornado.”
1931 – Schick, Inc. displayed the first electric shaver in Stamford, CT.
1937 – A natural gas explosion at Consolidated School of New London, Texas killed nearly 300 of the school’s children.
1954 – RKO Pictures became the first motion picture studio to be owned by an individual, when it was sold to Howard Hughes for $23,489,478.
1959 – Bill Sharman of the Boston Celtics began what was to be the longest string of successful consecutive free throws (56 in a row) to set a new National Basketball Association record.
1962 – France and Algeria sign a truce to end 7 years of war and 130 years of French colonial rule.
1969 – The U.S. began a bombing campaign in Cambodia.
1985 – The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) announced plans to merge with Capital Cities Communications to form Cap Cities/ABC. The $3.5 billion merger was the 11th largest corporate merger in U.S. history.
1986 – The U.S. Treasury Department announced that a clear, polyester thread was to be woven into bills in an effort to thwart counterfeiters.
Chief Writing Wolf 