1779 – Congress established the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help plan, design and prepare environmental and structural facilities for the U.S. Army.
1791 – Samuel Mulliken of Philadelphia, PA became the first person to receive more than one patent from the U.S. Patent Office. Four patents were issued for his machines: (1) to thresh corn and grain, (2) to break and swingle hemp, (3) to cut polished marble, and (4) to raise the nap on cloths.
1861 – In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas adopted the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America.
1888 – The “Great Blizzard of 1888” started to roar along the Atlantic Seaboard of the U.S., shutting down communication and transportation lines. The storm continued for three days.
1927 – Samuel Roxy Rothafel opened the famous Roxy Theatre in New York City. Boasting an 18-feet by 22-feet screen and 6,200 seats, it cost $10,000,000 to build. Its first feature film was The Loves of Sunya, starring Gloria Swanson and John Boles.
1948 – Reginald Weir of New York City became the first black tennis player to participate in a U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Association tournament.
1964 – Arizona Senator Carl Hayden broke the record for continuous service in the U.S. Senate, completing 37 years and 7 days in the upper chamber.
1968 – Otis Redding posthumously received a gold record for the single (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay. Redding had been killed in a plane crash in Lake Monona in Madison, WI on December 10, 1967.
1990 – Lithuania proclaims its independence from the U.S.S.R., the first Soviet republic to do so.
2011 – A magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off Japan’s northeastern coast, which generated an equally massive series of tsunamis that spread across the Pacific. The quake and tsunamis left roughly 19,000 people dead or missing in Japan; some 340,000 homeless; and crippled the Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.
Chief Writing Wolf 