February 11




1752 - The Pennsylvania Hospital opened as the very first hospital in America.

1808 - Judge Jesse Fell experimented by burning anthracite coal to keep his house warm. He successfully showed how clean the coal burned and how cheaply it could be used as a heating fuel.

1812 - The term "gerrymandering" had its beginning when the governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, signed a redistricting law that favored his party.

1858 - A French girl, Bernadette Soubirous, claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary near Lourdes.

1878 - The first U.S. bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, was formed.

1929 - The Lateran Treaty was signed. Italy now recognized the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City.

1936 - Pumping began the process to build San Francisco's Treasure Island.

1937 - General Motors agreed to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union, thereby ending the current sit-down strike against them.

1940 - NBC radio presented "The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street" for the first time.

1943 - General Dwight David Eisenhower was selected to command the allied armies in Europe.

1945 - During World War II, the Yalta Agreement was signed by U.S. President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

1957 - The NHL Players Association was formed in New York City.

1958 - Ruth Carol Taylor was the first black woman to become a stewardess by making her initial flight.

1960 - Jack Paar walked off while live on the air on the "Tonight Show" with four minutes left. He did this in response to censors cutting out a joke from the show the night before.

1968 - The new 20,000 seat Madison Square Garden officially opened in New York. This was the fourth Garden.

1972 - McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. and Life magazine canceled plans to publish an autobiography of Howard Hughes. The work turned out to be fake.

1979 - Nine days after the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran (after 15 years in exile) power was seized by his followers.

1982 - ABC-TV’s presentation of "The Winds of War" concluded. The 18-hour miniseries cost $40 million to produce and was the most-watched television program in history at the time.

1984 - The tenth Space Shuttle mission returned to Earth safely.

1989 - Rev. Barbara C. Harris became the first woman to be consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church.

1990 - Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.

1990 - In Tokyo, Japan, James "Buster" Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in the tenth round to win the heavyweight championship.

1993 - Janet Reno was appointed to the position of attorney general by U.S. President Clinton. She was the first female to hold the position.

2000 - The space shuttle Endeavor took off. The mission was to gather information for the most detailed map of the earth ever made.

2000 - Great Britain suspended self-rule in Northern Ireland after the Irish Republican Army (IRA) failed to begin decommissioning (disarming) by a February deadline.

2002 - The six stars on NBC's "Friends" signed a deal for $24 million each for the ninth and final season of the series.