March 221457 - Gutenberg Bible became the first printed book. 1622 - Indians attacked a group of colonist in the James River area of Virginia. 347 residents were killed. 1630 - The first legislation to prohibit gambling was enacted. It was in Boston, MA. 1638 - Anne Hutchinsoon, a religious dissident, was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1719 - Frederick William abolished serfdom on crown property in Prussia. 1733 - Joseph Priestly invented carbonated water (seltzer). 1765 - The Stamp Act was passed. It was the first direct British tax on the American colonists. It was repealed on March 17, 1766. 1775 - Edmund Burke presented his 13 articles to the English parliament. 1790 - Thomas Jefferson became the first U.S. Secretary of State. 1794 - The U.S. Congress banned U.S. vhttps://on-this-day.comessels from supplying slaves to other countries. 1822 - New York Horticultural Society was founded. 1841 - Englishman Orlando Jones patented cornstarch. 1871 - William Holden of North Carolina became the first governor to be removed by impeachment. 1872 - Illinois became the first state to require sexual equality in employment. 1873 - Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico. 1874 - The Young Men's Hebrew Association was organized in New York City. 1882 - The U.S. Congress outlawed polygamy. 1888 - The English Football League was established. 1894 - The first playoff competition for the Stanley Cup began. Montreal played Ottawa. 1895 - Auguste and Louis Lumiere showed their first movie to an invited audience in Paris. 1901 - Japan proclaimed that it was determined to keep Russia from encroaching on Korea. 1902 - Great Britain and Persia agreed to link Europe and India by telegraph. 1903 - Niagara Falls ran out of water due to a drought. 1903 - In Columbia, the region near Galera De Zamba was devastated by a volcanic eruption. 1904 - The first color photograph was published in the London Daily Illustrated Mirror. 1905 - Child miners in Britain received a maximum 8-hour workday. 1906 - France lost the first ever rugby game ever played against Britain. 1907 - Russians troops completed the evacuation of Manchuria in the face of advancing Japanese forces. 1907 - In Paris, it was reported that male cab drivers dressed as women to attract riders. 1910 - In Liberia, a telegraph cable linked Tenerife and Monrovia. 1911 - Herman Jadlowker became the first opera singer to perform two major roles in the same day at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. 1915 - A German zeppelin made a night raid on Paris railway stations. 1919 - The first international airline service was inaugurated on a weekly schedule between Paris and Brussels. 1933 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill legalizing the sale and possession of beer and wine containing up to 3.2% alcohol. 1934 - The first Masters golf championship began in Augusta, GA. 1935 - In New York, blood tests were authorized as evidence in court cases. 1935 - Persia was renamed Iran. 1941 - The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington began operations. 1943 - The Dutch workweek was extended to 54 hours. 1943 - Obligatory work for woman ends in Belgium. 1945 - The Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt. 1946 - The British granted Transjordan independence. 1946 - The first U.S. built rocket to leave the earth's atmosphere reached a height of 50-miles. 1947 - The Greek government imposed martial law in Laconia and southern Greece. 1948 - The United States announced a land reform plan for Korea. 1948 - "The Voice of Firestone" became the first commercial radio program to be carried simultaneously on both AM and FM radio stations. 1954 - The first shopping mall opened in Southfield, Michigan. 1954 - The London gold market reopened for the first time since 1939. 1956 - Perry Como became the first major TV variety-show host to book a rock and roll act on his program. The act was Carl Perkins. 1960 - A.L. Schawlow & C.H. Townes obtained a patent for the laser. It was the first patent for any laser. 1965 - U.S. confirmed that its troops used chemical warfare against the Vietcong. 1972 - The U.S. Senate passed the Equal Rights Amendment. It was not ratified by the states. 1974 - The Viet Cong proposed a new truce with the U.S. and South Vietnam. The truce included general elections. 1975 - Walt Disney World Shopping Village opened. Disney movies, music and books 1977 - The Dutch Den Uyl government fell. 1977 - Comedienne Lily Tomlin made her debut on Broadway in "Lily Tomlin on Stage" in New York. 1977 - Indira Ghandi resigned as the prime minister of India. 1978 - Karl Wallenda, of the Flying Wallendas, fell to his death while walking a cable strung between to hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1979 - The National Hockey League (NHL) voted to accept 4 WHA teams, the Oilers, Jets, Nordiques & Whalers. 1980 - People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was founded by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco. 1981 - U.S. Postage rates went from 15-cents to 18-cents an ounce. 1981 - RCA put its Selectra Vision laser disc players on the market. 1981 - A group of twelve Green Berets arrived in El Salvador. This brought the total number of advisors to fifty-four. 1981 - The first Mongolian entered space aboard the Russian Soyuz 39. 1982 - The Space Shuttle Columbia was launched into orbit on mission STS-3. It was the third orbital flight for the Columbia. 1987 - A barge loaded with 32,000 tons of refuse left Islip, NY, to find a place to unload. After being refused by several states and three countries space was found back in Islip. 1988 - The Congress overrode U.S. President Reagan's veto of a sweeping civil rights bill. 1989 - Oliver North began two days of testimony at his Iran-Contra trial in Washington, DC. 1989 - The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee reported the class gap was widening. 1990 - A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, found Captain Hazelwood not guilty in the Valdez oil spill. 1991 - Pamela Smart, a high school teacher, was found guilty in New Hampshire of manipulating her student-lover to kill her husband. 1992 - A Fokker F-28 veered off a runway at New York's LaGuardia airport and into Flushing Bay, killing 27 people. 1993 - Cleveland Indians pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews were killed in a boating accident in Florida. Bob Ojeda was seriously injured in the accident. 1993 - Intel introduced the Pentium-processor (80586) 64 bits-60 MHz-100+ MIPS. 1995 - Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returned to Earth after setting a record for 438 days in space. 1997 - Tara Lipinski, at 14 years and 10 months, became the youngest women's world figure skating champion. 2002 - The U.S. Postal Rate Commission approved a request for a postal rate increase of first-class stamps from 34 cents to 37 cents by June 30. It was the first time a postal rate case was resolved through a settlement between various groups. The groups included the U.S. Postal Service, postal employees, mailer groups and competitors. 2002 - A collection of letters and cards sent by Princess Diana of Wales sold for $33,000. The letters and cards were written to a former housekeeper at Diana's teenage home. 2017 - In Jerusalem, the tomb of Jesus reopened after a restoration project. 2018 - The New York Stock Exchange announced that their first woman head would be Stacey Cunningam. |