History of December

During the month of December the following events have happened in our world's history.

December 01, 1640 - Portugal becomes independent of Spain
December 01, 1821 - Santo Domingo (Dominican Rep) proclaims independence from Spain
December 01, 1913 - 1st drive-up gasoline station opens in Pitts
December 01, 1917 - Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town
December 01, 1918 - Iceland becomes independent state under the Danish crown
December 01, 1922 - 1st skywriting over US - "Hello USA" - by Capt Turner RAF
December 01, 1929 - Bingo invented by Edwin S Lowe
December 01, 1935 - Bernard Schmidt invented Schmidt camera dies
December 01, 1951 - Golden Gate Bridge closed because of high winds
December 01, 1955 - Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to move to back of the bus
December 01, 1958 - Central African Republic established (National Day)
December 01, 1959 - 1st color photograph of Earth from outer space
December 01, 1959 - International Antarctic Treaty signed in Washington
December 01, 1962 - Grey Cup halted by fog resumed next day (Winnipeg 28 Hamilton 27)
December 01, 1967 - Queen Elizabeth inaugurates 98-inch Isaac Newton Telescope
December 02, 1804 - Napoleon becomes 1st French emperor placing crown on his own head
December 02, 1805 - Napoleon defeats Russians & Austrians at Austerlitz
December 02, 1816 - 1st savings bank in US opens as Phila Savings Fund Society
December 02, 1822 - In San Salvador a congress proposes incorporation into US
December 02, 1823 - Pres Monroe declares his doctrine
December 02, 1852 - French monarchy restored; Louis Napoleon becomes emperor
December 02, 1859 - John Brown hung
December 02, 1899 - US & Germany agree to divide Samoa between them
December 02, 1927 - 1st Model A Fords sold for $385
December 02, 1942 - 1st controlled nuclear reaction at University of Chicago
December 02, 1952 - 1st human birth televised to public Denver Co
December 02, 1954 - US Senate censures Joe McCarthy for his conduct
December 02, 1957 - 1st full-scale atomic electric power plant - power generated Pa
December 02, 1961 - 1st OT Grey Cup game (Winnipeg 21 Hamilton 14)
December 02, 1971 - Soviet Mars 3 is 1st to soft land on Mars
December 02, 1971 - United Arab Emirates gains independence from Britain (National Day)
December 02, 1972 - In 1 of their worst trades Yanks get Rich McKinney for Stan Bahnsen
December 02, 1974 - Soyuz 16 launched
December 02, 1975 - Lao People's Democratic Republic founded (National Day)
December 02, 1981 - Moscone Convention Center in SF opens
December 02, 1982 - 1st permanent artificial heart successfully implanted
December 03, 1621 - Galileo invents telescope
December 03, 1678 - Edmund Halley receives MA from Queen's College Oxford
December 03, 1818 - Illinois becomes 21st state
December 03, 1828 - Andrew Jackson elected pres
December 03, 1833 - Oberlin College in Oh 1st truly coeducational college opens
December 03, 1866 - Paid Fire Dept takes over from volunteer companies
December 03, 1933 - Joe Lilliard QBed Chic Cardinals; last NFL black until 1946
December 03, 1947 - Tennessee Williams play `A Streetcar Named Desire ' opens
December 03, 1948 - Pumpkin Papers came to light
December 03, 1950 - Cleve Browns last NFL team with no pass game (beat Phila 13-7)
December 03, 1952 - 1st TV broadcast in Hawaii
December 03, 1954 - Joseph McCarthy condemned by Senate
December 03, 1964 - Police arrests 800 at U of Cal at Berkeley
December 03, 1967 - 1st human heart transplant performed (Capetown South Africa)
December 03, 1967 - 20th Century Ltd famed NY-Chic luxury train final run
December 03, 1973 - Pioneer 10 passes Jupiter (1st fly-by of an outer planet)
December 03, 1979 - 11 die at Riverfront Coliseum Cin at a Who concert
December 03, 1980 - NY Federal jury finds Reps Thompson D-NJ & Murphy D-NY guilty
December 03, 1984 - 2000 die in Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal India
December 03, 1985 - 23rd Shuttle Mission - Atlantis 2 returns to Earth
December 04, 1619 - America's 1st Thanksgiving Day (Va)
December 04, 1680 - A hen in Rome lays an egg imprinted with figure of great comet 1st seen on December 16 1680
December 04, 1682 - 1st Gen Assembly in Penn (Chester)
December 04, 1783 - Washington bids officers farewell at Fraunce's Tavern NYC
December 04, 1909 - 1st Grey Cup game (University of Toronto 26 Toronto Parkdale 6)
December 04, 1912 - Roald Amundsen reaches South pole
December 04, 1915 - Panama Pacific International Exposition opens
December 04, 1957 - 1st edition of Chase's Annual Events published
December 04, 1965 - Gemini 7 launched with 2 astronauts
December 04, 1980 - Islanders end 15 game undefeated streak (13-0-2) (Col Rockies)
December 04, 1980 - South Africa grants Transkei independence
December 05, 1492 - Columbus discovers Hispaniola
December 05, 1776 - Phi Beta Kappa 1st American scholastic fraternity founded
December 05, 1791 - Mozart dies
December 05, 1876 - Daniel C Stillson patents pipe wrench
December 05, 1933 - 21st Amendment ratified 18th Amendment (Prohibition) repealed
December 05, 1935 - 1st coml hydroponics operation established Montebello Ca
December 05, 1947 - Joe Wolcott beats Joe Louis
December 05, 1951 - Dragnet premiers
December 05, 1955 - AFL & CIO merge
December 05, 1973 - Paul McCartney releases "Band on the Run" album
December 05, 1974 - Seattle Seahawks formed
December 05, 1978 - Pioneer Venus 1 begins orbiting Venus
December 05, 1982 - University Baptist Church Seattle declares sanctuary for refugees
December 06, 1492 - Haiti discovered by Columbus
December 06, 1534 - Quito Ecuador founded by Spanish
December 06, 1631 - 1st predicted transit of Venus (Kepler) is observed
December 06, 1825 - Pres John Adams suggests establishment of a US observatory
December 06, 1876 - City of Anaheim incorporated for 2nd time
December 06, 1882 - Atmosphere of Venus detected during transit
December 06, 1907 - Coal mine explosions in Monongah WV kills 361
December 06, 1917 - Finland declares independence from Russia (National Day)
December 06, 1921 - Irish Free State gains independence from Britain
December 06, 1957 - 1st US attempt to launch a satellite fails-Vanguard rocket blows up
December 06, 1973 - Gerald Ford becomes 1st unelected VP
December 06, 1977 - South Africa grants Bophuthatswana independence
December 07, 1787 - Delaware becomes 1st state to ratify constitution
December 07, 1842 - NY Philharmonic's 1st concert
December 07, 1912 - George Darwin theorized moon was pulled out of Pacific Ocean dies
December 07, 1935 - Winnipeg Blue Bombers become 1st western team to win Grey Cup
December 07, 1941 - Pearl Harbor attacked (a day that will live in infamy) 1st Japanese submarine sunk by American ship (Ward)
December 07, 1953 - Israel's PM Ben-Gureon retires
December 07, 1960 - France grants Ivory Coast independence (National Day)
December 07, 1972 - Apollo 17 last of Apollo moon series launched
December 07, 1975 - 10th Islander shut-out opponent - Glenn Resch 3-0 vs Sabres
December 07, 1977 - Islander Billy Smith's 10th shut-out opponent - Black Hawks 4-0
December 07, 1978 - Islander's Mike Bossy's 1st career hat trick
December 07, 1979 - Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin 1st woman full prof at Harvard U dies
December 08, 1831 - James Hoban White House designer dies
December 08, 1845 - German amateur astronomer M Hencke discovers 5th asteroid Astra
December 08, 1863 - Fire in Santiago Chile kills 2 000
December 08, 1869 - 20th Roman Catholic ecumenical council Vatican I opens in Rome
December 08, 1886 - American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions
December 08, 1893 - Enlightment of Buddha
December 08, 1913 - Construction starts on Palace of Fine Arts in SF
December 08, 1931 - Coaxial cable patented
December 08, 1940 - 1st NFL championship on natl radio; Bears beat Redskins 73-0
December 08, 1941 - SF 1st blackout at 6:15PM. Also US declares war on Japan
December 08, 1952 - 1st TV acknowledgement of pregnancy (I Love Lucy)
December 08, 1966 - A terrible Yankee trade Roger Maris for Card's Charlie Smith
December 08, 1974 - Soyuz 16 returns to Earth
December 08, 1980 - John Lennon assassinated in NY by David Mark Chapman
December 08, 1982 - Clark Gilles fails in 7th Islander penalty shot
December 08, 1983 - 9th Space Shuttle Mission - Columbia 6 returns to Earth
December 09, 1292 - Sa'di great Persian poet (Orchard Rose Garden) dies
December 09, 1792 - 1st cremation in US
December 09, 1793 - Noah Webster establishes NY's 1st daily newspaper American Minerva
December 09, 1907 - 1st Christmas Seals sold in Wilmington PO
December 09, 1941 - 300 Montgomery opens as new Bank of America HQ
December 09, 1948 - UN Gen Assembly unanimously approves Convention on Genocide
December 09, 1961 - Tanganyika gains independence from Britain
December 09, 1978 - Pioneer Venus 2 drops 5 probes into atmosphere of Venus
December 10, 1520 - Martin Luther publicly burned papal edict demanding that he recant
December 10, 1817 - Mississippi becomes 20th state
December 10, 1830 - Poet Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst Mass
December 10, 1869 - Women granted right to vote in Wyoming Territory
December 10, 1896 - Alfred Nobel dies; Swedish Nobel Prize ceremony on this date
December 10, 1898 - Spanish-American War ends - US acquires Guam from Spain
December 10, 1901 - 1st Nobel Peace Prizes (to Jean Henri Dunant Fr‚d‚ric Passy)
December 10, 1906 - Pres Theodore Roosevelt (1st American) awarded Nobel Peace Prize
December 10, 1920 - President Woodrow Wilson receives Nobel Peace Prize
December 10, 1923 - Harold Gould (Rhoda
December 10, 1931 - Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize
December 10, 1948 - UN Genl Assembly adopts Universal Declaration on Human Rights
December 10, 1950 - Ralph J. Bunche (1st black American) presented Nobel Peace Prize
December 10, 1958 - 1st domestic (NY-Miami) passenger jet flight-National 707 flew 111
December 10, 1962 - Hunters Point (SF) jitney ends service after 50 years
December 10, 1963 - Zanzibar gains independence from Britain
December 10, 1966 - Israeli hmuel Yosef Agnon wins Nobel Prize for literature
December 10, 1967 - Singer Otis Redding dies in plane crash at 26
December 10, 1975 - Andrei Sakharov's wife Yelena Bonner accepts his Nobel Peace Prize
December 10, 1977 - Soyuz 26 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station
December 10, 1978 - Islanders ends 15 game undefeated streak (12-0-3) to Canadians
December 10, 1982 - Soyuz T-5 returns to Earth 211 days after take-off
December 10, 1984 - South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received his Nobel Peace Prize
December 10, 1986 - Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel accepts 1986 Nobel Peace Prize
December 11, 1816 - Indiana becomes 19th state
December 11, 1888 - French Panama Canal company fails
December 11, 1914 - Stockton Street Tunnel (SF) completed
December 11, 1917 - German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia
December 11, 1932 - Snow falls in SF
December 11, 1936 - King Edward VIII of England abdicates for woman he loves
December 11, 1941 - Japanese occupy Guam
December 11, 1946 - UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) established (Nobel 1965)
December 11, 1953 - KTVA Anchorage becomes Alaska's 1st TV station
December 11, 1954 - USS Forrestal christened in Newport News Va
December 11, 1958 - Upper Volta (now Bourkina Fasso) gains autonomy from France
December 11, 1959 - Yanks trade Marv Thronberry Don Larsen Hank Bauer & Norm Seibern for Roger Maris Kent Hadley & Joe Deaestri
December 11, 1961 - JFK provides US milt helicopters & crews to South Vietnam
December 11, 1970 - John Lennon release an album that contains songs with word "fuck"
December 11, 1975 - 1st class postage rises from 10› to 13›
December 11, 1975 - Great Yankee trade getting Willie Randolph Dock Ellis & Ken Brett from Pirates for George 'Doc' Medich
December 12, 1787 - Penns becomes 2nd state
December 12, 1871 - Jules Janssen discovers dark lines in solar corona spectrum
December 12, 1899 - George F Grant patents golf tee
December 12, 1901 - Marconi receives 1st transatlantic radio signal England to US
December 12, 1921 - Henrietta Leavitt cepheid period-luminosity relation discover dies
December 12, 1937 - 1st mobile TV unit (NYC)
December 12, 1963 - Kenya gains independence from Britain (National Day)
December 12, 1964 - Russia launches Voshkod I 1st multi-crew in space (3 men)
December 12, 1965 - Gale Sayers of Chicago Bears scores 6 TDs ties NFL record
December 12, 1977 - Yanks purchase Andy Messersmith from Braves
December 13, 1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to go around the world
December 13, 1862 - Battle of Fredericksburg Va; South beats North
December 13, 1903 - Wright brothers 1st airplane flight at Kittyhawk
December 13, 1918 - Wilson 1st to make a foreign visit as Pres
December 13, 1920 - Interferometer used to measure 1st stellar diameter (Betelgeuse)
December 13, 1928 - George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" premieres
December 13, 1968 - Playland at the Beach reopens
December 13, 1969 - Billy Martin fired as Twins' manager
December 13, 1974 - Maltese Republic Day
December 13, 1976 - Golden Gate Bridge District starts ferry service to Larkspur
December 13, 1978 - Susan B Anthony dollar 1st US coin to honor a woman issued
December 13, 1981 - Solidarity Day
December 13, 1982 - Devil's 1st hat trick - Steve Tambellini
December 13, 1983 - Islander's Butch Goring scorings 4 goals against Oilers
December 14, 1782 - Charleston SC evacuated by British
December 14, 1799 - George Washington died at Mt Vernon Va
December 14, 1819 - Alabama becomes 22nd state
December 14, 1911 - South Pole 1st reached by Roald Amundsen
December 14, 1927 - Iraq gains independence from Britain but British troops remain
December 14, 1962 - Mariner 2 makes 1st US visit to another planet (Venus)
December 14, 1971 - Golden Gate Bridge lights out all night from power failure
December 14, 1974 - Islander Glenn Resch's 1st shut-out opponent - Kings 3-0
December 14, 1980 - Anders Kailur scored in 6th Islander penalty shot
December 14, 1980 - Yankee catcher Elston Howard dies
December 14, 1985 - Roger Maris dies at 51
December 15, 1612 - Simon Marius namer of Jupiter's 4 inner satellites is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope
December 15, 1791 - Bill of Rights ratified when Va gave its approval
December 15, 1836 - Patent Office burns in Wash DC
December 15, 1859 - G.R. Kirchoff describes chemical composition of sun
December 15, 1877 - Thomas Edison patents phonograph
December 15, 1925 - 1st hockey game at Madison Sq Garden Candiens 3 Americans 1
December 15, 1939 - 1st coml manufacture of nylon yarn Seaford Delaware
December 15, 1944 - Bandleader Major Glenn Miller lost over English Channel
December 15, 1946 - Filchock & Hapes suspended by NFL failed to report bribe attempt
December 15, 1964 - American Radio Relay League founded
December 15, 1965 - 1st rendevous in space: Gemini 6 & Gemini 7 link up
December 15, 1966 - Audouin Dollfus discovers 10th satellite of Saturn Janus
December 15, 1966 - Walt Disney passes away
December 15, 1969 - SF Fire Dept replaces leather helmets with plastic ones
December 15, 1970 - Soviet Venera 7 is 1st spacecraft to land on another planet (Venus)
December 15, 1971 - USSR's Venera 7 becomes the 1st craft to land on Venus
December 15, 1973 - Golf Resort (The Disney Inn) opens
December 15, 1973 - Pirates of Caribbean opens
December 15, 1980 - Free agent Dave Winfield signs with Yankees
December 15, 1984 - USSR launches Vega 1 for rendezvous with Halley's Comet
December 15, 1985 - Sylvester Stallone & Brigitte Nielson wed
December 16, 1689 - English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution
December 16, 1773 - Big Tea Party in Boston Harbor Indians welcome
December 16, 1857 - Earthquake in Naples Italy
December 16, 1893 - Anton Dvorak's "New World Symphony" premieres
December 16, 1905 - Variety covering all phases of show business 1st published
December 16, 1907 - Great White Fleet sails from Hampton Downs on it's World Cruise
December 16, 1909 - US pressure forces Nicaraguan Pres Jos‚ Santos Zelaya from office
December 16, 1911 - South Pole 1st reached by Norwegian Roald Amundsen
December 16, 1944 - Battle of the Bulge began
December 16, 1965 - Gemini VI returns to Earth
December 16, 1983 - Yogi Berra named Yankee manager for 2nd time
December 17, 1538 - Pope Paul III excommunicated England's King Henry VIII
December 17, 1777 - France recognizes independance of the 13 colonies
December 17, 1790 - Aztec calendar stone discovered in Mexico City
December 17, 1791 - NYC traffic regulation creates 1st one-way street
December 17, 1792 - Opening of 1st legislative assembly of Lower Canada in Quebec city
December 17, 1843 - Charles Dickens's classic: A Christmas Carol published
December 17, 1852 - 1st Hawaiian cavalry organized
December 17, 1860 - Anaheim Township created in LA County
December 17, 1875 - Violent bread riots at Montreal
December 17, 1903 - At 10:35AM 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight by Wright Bros
December 17, 1920 - Japan receives League of Nations mandate over Pacific islands
December 17, 1933 - 1st professional NFL football game: Chicago Bears vs NY Giants
December 17, 1944 - M-OceanView streetcar resumes service & is extended to Market St
December 17, 1954 - 1st fully automated railroad freight yard - Gary In
December 17, 1959 - 1st movie opening simultaneously in major cities - On The Beach
December 17, 1975 - 1st time Islanders shut-out Rangers 3-0 - Billy Smith's 5th
December 17, 1979 - Budweiser rocket car reaches 1190 kph (record for wheeled vehicle)
December 18, 1737 - Antonio Stradivari violin maker dies
December 18, 1787 - NJ becomes 3rd state
December 18, 1813 - British take Fort Niagara in the War of 1812
December 18, 1849 - William Bond obtains 1st photograph of moon through a telescope
December 18, 1865 - 13th Amendment ratified slavery abolished
December 18, 1898 - Auto speed record set -- 63 kph
December 18, 1915 - Pres Wilson widowed the year before marries Edith Bolling Galt
December 18, 1932 - Chicago Bears beat Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in 1st NFL playoff game
December 18, 1945 - Uruguay joined UN
December 18, 1956 - Japan admitted to the UN
December 18, 1958 - 1st test project of Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equip
December 18, 1958 - 1st voice from space: recorded Christmas message by Eisenhower
December 18, 1958 - Niger gains autonomy within French Community (National Day)
December 18, 1961 - India annexes Portuguese colonies of Goa Damao & Diu
December 18, 1965 - Borman & Lovell Splash down in Atlantic ends 2 week Gemini VII
December 18, 1969 - Britain abolished death penalty
December 18, 1971 - 1st Candlelight Processional
December 18, 1971 - Diana Lynn dies at 45
December 18, 1972 - US began its heaviest bombing of North Vietnam
December 18, 1973 - Soyuz 13 launched into earth orbit for 8 days
December 18, 1974 - SF Visitors Center at City Hall opens
December 18, 1980 - Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin suffered a fatal heart attack at 76
December 18, 1985 - UN Security Council unanimously condemns `acts of hostage-taking'
December 19, 1686 - Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Defoe)
December 19, 1732 - Benjamin Frankin begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack"
December 19, 1741 - Vitus Bering Dutch navigator & explorer died
December 19, 1776 - Thomas Paine publishes his 1st `American Crisis' essay
December 19, 1777 - Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge Pa for the winter
December 19, 1842 - US recognized independence of Hawaii
December 19, 1843 - Charles Dickens publishes `A Christmas Carol ' in England
December 19, 1859 - Grading started for Market Street RR
December 19, 1861 - Battle of Black Water
December 19, 1889 - Bishop Museum founded in Hawaii
December 19, 1907 - 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek Penn
December 19, 1932 - British Broadcasting Corp. began transmitting overseas
December 19, 1933 - Electric Home & Farm Authority Inc authorized
December 19, 1946 - War broke out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacked French
December 19, 1950 - Gen. Eisenhower named NATO commander
December 19, 1957 - The Music Man starring Robert Preston opens on Broadway
December 19, 1962 - Street signs in Golden Gate Park approved by Park Commission
December 19, 1971 - NASA launches Intelsat 4 F-3 for COMSAT Corp
December 19, 1972 - Apollo 17 returns to Earth
December 19, 1974 - Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st VP
December 19, 1977 - Nellie Tayloe Ross 1st woman governor dies at 101
December 19, 1984 - Fire at the Wilberg Mine in central Utah killed 27 people
December 19, 1986 - USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile
December 20, 1606 - Va Co settlers leave London to establish Jamestown
December 20, 1699 - Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed - Sept 1 to Jan 1
December 20, 1790 - 1st successful US cotton mill (Pawtucket RI)
December 20, 1803 - Louisiana Purchase was formally transferred from France to US
December 20, 1812 - Sacagawea Shoshone interpreter for Lewis & Clark dies
December 20, 1820 - Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21 & 50
December 20, 1850 - Hawaiian PO established
December 20, 1860 - SC becomes 1st state to secede from US
December 20, 1864 - Union Gen. Sherman continued his `march to the sea.' Savannah Ga
December 20, 1879 - Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park
December 20, 1883 - Intl cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls
December 20, 1892 - Phileas Fogg completes around world trip according to Verne
December 20, 1892 - Pneumatic automobile tire patented
December 20, 1919 - Canadian National Railways established (longest on continent with more than 50 000 kilometers of track in US & Canada)
December 20, 1922 - 14 republics formed USSR
December 20, 1929 - Mt Davidson dedicated as city park
December 20, 1939 - Radio Australia starts shortwave service
December 20, 1944 - Battle of Bastogne Nazis surrounded 101st Airborne (NUTS!)
December 20, 1963 - Berlin Wall opened for 1st time to West Berliners
December 20, 1968 - Author John Steinbeck dies in NY at 66
December 20, 1976 - Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley dies at 74
December 20, 1976 - Israel's PM Yitzhak Rabin resigns
December 20, 1977 - 1st Space walk made by G. Grechko from Salyut
December 20, 1982 - Arthur Rubinstein pianists dies in Geneva Switzerland at 95
December 20, 1983 - Islanders scored 11 goals against Penguins
December 21, 1375 - Boccaccio author of Decameron dies
December 21, 1620 - Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
December 21, 1790 - Samuel Slater opens 1st textile factory in US in Rhode Island
December 21, 1909 - U of Coopenhagen rejects Cook's claim that he was 1st to North Pole
December 21, 1913 - 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in NY World
December 21, 1929 - 1st group hospital insurance plan effected Dallas Tx
December 21, 1933 - Human blood serum 1st prepared
December 21, 1937 - 1st feature-length cartoon with color & sound premieres (Snow White)
December 21, 1952 - Broadway Tunnel opens in SF
December 21, 1954 - Dr Sam Sheppard's wife Marilyn was murdered
December 21, 1968 - Apollo 8 (Frank Borman Jim Lovell Bill Anders) 1st manned moon voyage
December 21, 1973 - Israel Egypt Syria Jordan US & USSR meet in Geneva
December 21, 1976 - 20th Islander shut-out opponent - Billy Smith 3-0 vs Bruins
December 21, 1984 - Islander Kelly Hrudy's 1st shut-out win - Whalers 1-0
December 22, 1772 - Moravian missionary constructs 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny
December 22, 1783 - Washington resigns his milt commission
December 22, 1850 - Hawaiian PO established
December 22, 1919 - US deports 250 alien radicals
December 22, 1937 - Lincoln Tunnel opened to traffic
December 22, 1964 - Lockheed SR-71 spy aircraft reaches 3 530 kph (record for a jet)
December 22, 1983 - Islanders scored 3 shorthanded goals against Caps
December 22, 1984 - Bernhard Goetz shoots 4 teenagers on a subway train
December 23, 1569 - St Philip of Moscow martyred by Ivan the Terrible
December 23, 1672 - Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea a satellite of Saturn
December 23, 1690 - John Flamsteed observes Uranus but doesn't realize its undiscovered
December 23, 1783 - Washington resigns as US Army's commander-in-chief
December 23, 1913 - US Federal Reserve system authorized
December 23, 1920 - Ireland divided into two parts each with its own parliament
December 23, 1947 - Transistor invented by Bardeen Brattain & Shockley in Bell Labs
December 23, 1948 - PM Tojo 6 other Japanese hung for war crimes by US
December 23, 1968 - Borman Lovell & Anders 1st men to orbit moon
December 23, 1972 - Earthquake destroys central Managua Nicaragua
December 23, 1972 - Islanders end 15 games winless streak
December 23, 1973 - 6 Persian Gulf nations double their oil prices
December 23, 1975 - Congress passes Metric Conversion Act
December 23, 1978 - Islanders scored 7 goals in one period against the Rangers Trottier scores 8 pts vs Rangers 5 goals-NHL rec 6 pts in 1 pd
December 23, 1986 - Rutan & Yeager make 1st around-the-world flight without refueling
December 24, 1524 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama dies in Cochin India
December 24, 1582 - Vasco daGama Day
December 24, 1814 - Treaty of Ghent signed ending War of 1812 (This news did not arrive until after Battle of New Orleans)
December 24, 1818 - Silent Night composed by Franz Gruber sung next day
December 24, 1851 - Fire devastates Library of Congress in Wash destroys 35 000 volumes
December 24, 1865 - Several Confederate veterans form the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski Tn
December 24, 1871 - Giuseppe Verdi's `Aida' premiere in Cairo at Suez canal opening
December 24, 1906 - 1st radio program broadcast in Brant Rock Mass
December 24, 1906 - Reginald A. Fessenden became 1st to broadcast music over radio
December 24, 1910 - Luisa Tetrazzini sings to 250 000 people at Lotta's Fountain
December 24, 1920 - Enrico Caruso gave his last public performance
December 24, 1936 - 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered Berkeley Ca
December 24, 1943 - FDR appoints Gen Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces
December 24, 1951 - Libya gains independence from Italy
December 24, 1966 - Luna 13 lands on moon
December 24, 1968 - Apollo 8 astronauts read Old Testament Book of Genesis passages
December 24, 1970 - Walt Disney's "The Aristocats" is released
December 24, 1980 - Americans remembered Iran hostages by shining lights for 417 seconds
December 25, 0336 - 1st recorded celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25 took place in Rome
December 25, 1066 - William the Conqueror was crowned king of England
December 25, 1758 - Halley's comet 1st sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch during return
December 25, 1776 - Washington crosses Delaware & surprises Hessians
December 25, 1818 - Silent Night by Franz Joseph Gruber & Joseph Mohr sung for 1st time
December 25, 1868 - Despite bitter opposition Pres Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion (the Civil War)
December 25, 1926 - Hirohito became emperor of Japan
December 25, 1931 - NY's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio
December 25, 1939 - Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer
December 25, 1941 - Japan announces surrender of British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong
December 25, 1963 - Walt Disney's "The Sword In The Stone" is released
December 25, 1968 - Frank Borman's Christmas reading while orbiting moon
December 25, 1977 - Charlie Chaplin died in Switzerland at 88
December 25, 1977 - Israeli PM Menachem Begin met in Egypt with Egyptian Pres Sadat
December 25, 1983 - 1st live telecast of Christmas Parade
December 26, 1492 - 1st Spanish settlement in New World founded by Columbus
December 26, 1773 - Expulsion of tea ships from Phila
December 26, 1848 - 1st gold seekers arrive in Panama en route to SF
December 26, 1860 - Maiden voyage of 1st steamship owned by 1 man (C Vanderbilt)
December 26, 1865 - James Mason patents 1st American coffee percolator
December 26, 1917 - Fed govt took over operation of American RR for duration of WW I
December 26, 1919 - Yanks & Red Sox reach agreement on transfer of Babe Ruth
December 26, 1925 - 1st East-West football game at Ewing Park before 25 000 fans
December 26, 1933 - US foreswears armed intervention in Western Hemisphere
December 26, 1972 - Harry Truman 33rd US Pres dies at 88
December 26, 1973 - Soyuz 13 returns to Earth
December 27, 1741 - Prussian forces took Olmutz Czechoslovakia
December 27, 1825 - 1st public railroad using steam locomotive completed in England
December 27, 1831 - Darwin begins his voyage onboard HMS Beagle
December 27, 1850 - Hawaiian Fire Department established
December 27, 1867 - Ontario & Quebec legislatures held 1st meeting
December 27, 1903 - Sweet Adaline a barbershop quartet favorite is 1st sung
December 27, 1927 - Show Boat opens in NYC
December 27, 1927 - Stalin's faction wins All-Union Congress in USSR Trotsky expelled
December 27, 1932 - Radio City Music Hall opens in NY
December 27, 1934 - 1st youth hostel opened Northfield Mass
December 27, 1941 - Japan bombs Manila even though it was declared an `open city'
December 27, 1945 - International Monetary Fund established-World Bank founded
December 27, 1947 - 1st `Howdy Doody' show (Puppet Playhouse) telecast on NBC
December 27, 1968 - Apollo 8 returns to Earth
December 27, 1972 - LA Kings start Islanders on 12 game losing streak
December 27, 1972 - Lester Pearson Canadian PM (Nobel-1956)
December 27, 1979 - Soviet troops invade Afghanistan
December 27, 1983 - Propane gas fire devastated 16 square blocks of Buffalo
December 27, 1985 - Terrorists kill 20 & wound 110 attacking El Al at Rome & Vienna airports. President Reagan blamed Libyaner Moammar Gadhafi
December 28, 1669 - William Semple patents chewing gum
December 28, 1832 - John Calhoun became the 1st Vice-president to resign
December 28, 1846 - Iowa becomes 29th state
December 28, 1890 - Battle of Wounded Knee SD - Last major conflict with Indians
December 28, 1902 - Trans-Pacific cable links Hawaii to US
December 28, 1908 - Earthquake strikes Messina Italy; 80 000 die
December 28, 1912 - SF Municipal Railway starts operation at Geary St. (MUNI)
December 28, 1915 - SF City Hall dedicated by Mayor James Rolph
December 28, 1950 - Chinese troops cross 38th Parallel into South Korea
December 28, 1978 - 30th hat trick in Islander history - Mike Bossy
December 28, 1985 - Warring Lebanese Moslem and Christian leaders sign peace agreement
December 29, 1170 - Archbishop Thomas A Becket murdered by King Henry II supporters
December 29, 1845 - Texas becomes 28th state
December 29, 1848 - Gas lights installed at White House for 1st time
December 29, 1851 - 1st Young Men's Christian Association chapter opened in Boston
December 29, 1864 - Fire Dept celebrates 1st annual ball
December 29, 1890 - Federal troops massacre 300 captive Sioux at Wounded Knee SD
December 29, 1911 - SF Symphony formed
December 29, 1916 - Death of Rasputin
December 29, 1921 - William Lyon Mackenzie King succeeded Arthur Meighen as Canadian PM
December 29, 1931 - Identification of heavy water publicly announced HC Urey
December 29, 1937 - Pan Am starts SF to Auckland New Zealand service
December 29, 1949 - 1st UHF television station operating regular basis Bridgeport Ct
December 29, 1949 - Hungary nationalized its industries
December 29, 1952 - 1st transistorized hearing aid offered for sale Elmsford NY
December 29, 1975 - 11 killed 75 hurt by terrorist bomb at LaGuardia Airport in NYC
December 29, 1983 - US announced withdrawal from UNESCO
December 29, 1984 - Blues took 27 shots against Islanders in 1 period
December 30, 1809 - Wearing masks at balls forbidden in Boston
December 30, 1817 - 1st coffee planted in Hawaii
December 30, 1853 - Gadsden Purchase 45 000 sq miles by Gila River from Mexico for $10 million. Area is now southern Arizona & New Mexico
December 30, 1903 - 602 die as flames swept through Iroquois Theater in Chicago
December 30, 1916 - Grigori Rasputin Russian monk advisor to tsarina is assassinated
December 30, 1922 - USSR organized as a federation
December 30, 1924 - Edwin Hubble announces existence of other Milky Way systems
December 30, 1935 - Italian bombers destroyed Swedish Red Cross unit in Ethiopia
December 30, 1938 - Electronic television system patented VK Zworykin
December 30, 1971 - Long Island NHL franchise purchased (NY Islanders)
December 30, 1972 - Pres Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam & announces peace talks
December 30, 1975 - Democratic Republic of Madagascar founded
December 31, 1384 - John Wycliffe English religious reformer died
December 31, 1600 - British East India Company chartered
December 31, 1719 - John Flamsteed 1st Astronomer Royal dies at 73
December 31, 1744 - James Bradley announces discovery of earth's motion of nutation
December 31, 1775 - Battle of Qu‚bec
December 31, 1805 - End of French Republican calendar
December 31, 1852 - Future Pres & Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes marry
December 31, 1857 - Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as new capital of Canada
December 31, 1862 - Pres Lincoln signs an act admitting West Virginia to the Union
December 31, 1862 - Union ironclad ship "Monitor" sank at Cape Hatteras NC
December 31, 1879 - Cornerstone laid for Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US)
December 31, 1879 - Edison gives public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
December 31, 1890 - Ellis Is opens as a US immigration depot
December 31, 1921 - Last SF firehorses retired
December 31, 1943 - NYC's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater
December 31, 1944 - 48 people die in a train accident in Ogden Utah
December 31, 1946 - Pres Truman officially proclaims end of WW II
December 31, 1951 - 1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical announced
December 31, 1958 - Willie Shoemaker 1st jockey to win national riding championship 4X
December 31, 1961 - Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion
December 31, 1974 - Free agent pitcher Catfish Hunter signs $3 million Yank contract
December 31, 1974 - US citizens allowed to buy & own gold for 1st time in 40 years
December 31, 1981 - Lt Rawlings stages coup in Ghana
December 31, 1984 - Bernhard Goetz surrenders to police in NH
December 31, 1984 - Rajiv Gandhi took office as India's 6th PM
December 31, 1999 - Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama