May 15

Scott Winters May 15, 2024 1 Comment

A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1862 – The U.S. Congress created the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

1905 – Las Vegas, NV, was founded when 110 acres, in what would later become downtown, were auctioned off.

1911 – The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

1912 – Ty Cobb, of the Detroit Tigers, rushed a heckler during a game and was suspended indefinitely.

1918 – Regular airmail service between New York (NY), Philadelphia (PA), and Washington, DC, began under the direction of the Post Office Department, which later became the U.S. Postal Service.

1926 – Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth were forced down in Alaska after a four-day flight over an icecap. Ice had begun to form on the dirigible Norge.

1926 – The New York Rangers were officially granted a franchise in the NHL. The NHL also announced that Chicago and Detroit would be joining the league in November.

1928 – Walt Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse premiered in their first cartoon, “Plane Crazy”.

1930 – Ellen Church became the first female flight attendant, flying from San Francisco, CA to Cheyenne, WY on a United Airlines flight.

1940 – McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, CA.

1940 – Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the U.S.

1941 – Joe DiMaggio began his historic major league baseball hitting streak of 56 games.

1942 – Gasoline rationing began in the United States. The limit was 3 gallons a week for nonessential vehicles.

1951 – AT&T became the first corporation to have one million stockholders.

1953 – Cubmaster Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, in Manhattan Beach, CA.

1957 – Elvis Presley inhaled a cap that was on one of his teeth. He had to be taken to a Los Angeles, CA, hospital to have it removed from his lung.

1958 – Sputnik III, the first space laboratory, was launched in the Soviet Union.

1963 – The final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9, with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on board, was launched. He became the first American to spend more than a day in space and orbited the Earth 22 times in the Mercury spacecraft named Faith 7.

1970 – President Richard Nixon appointed Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington as America’s first two female generals.

1972 – Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot and paralyzed by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, MD, while campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

1980 – The first transcontinental balloon crossing of the United States took place.

1981 – Canadian TV’s “SCTV” debuted on NBC’s Friday late night schedule as “SCTV 90”.

1990 – Vincent Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Doctor Gachet” was sold for $82.5 million. The sale set a new world record.

1991 – President George Bush took Queen Elizabeth II to a baseball game played by the Oakland A’s and the Baltimore Orioles.

1997 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to deliver urgently needed repair equipment and a fresh American astronaut to Russia’s orbiting Mir station.

1998 – Sonny and Cher received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2010 – Jessica Watson became the youngest person (at the age of 16) to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.

2014 – The National September 11 Memorial Museum was dedicated in New York, NY.

2020 – The White House introduced Operation Warp Speed to accelerate vaccine development for COVID-19.

BIRTHDAYS:

Jasper Johns – 94 years old (1930) – Artist

Wavy Gravy – 88 years old (1936) – Entertainer, peace activist

Lainie Kazan – 84 years old (1940) – Actress (“My Favorite Year”, “The Delta Force”, “Harry and the Hendersons”, “Beaches”, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2”)

K.T. Oslin – 82 years old (1942) – Country singer

Graeham Goble – 77 years old (1947) – Singer (Little River Band)

Brian Eno – 76 years old (1948) – Musician (Roxy Music)

Chazz Palminteri – 72 years old (1952) – Actor (“Analyze This”, “The Usual Suspects”, “A Bronx Tale”, “Mulholland Falls”)

George Brett – 71 years old (1953) – Baseball player

Mike Oldfield – 71 years old (1953) – Musician, composer (“Tubular Bells”)

Lee Horsley – 69 years old (1955) – Actor (TV’s “Matt Houston”)

Dan Patrick – 68 years old (1956) – Former ESPN Sports Center anchor, syndicated radio program host

Giselle Fernández – 63 years old (1961) – TV host (TV’s “Access Hollywood”, “Weekend Today”, “CBS Morning News”, “Dancing With the Stars”)

Emmitt Smith – 55 years old (1969) – Football player (TV’s Season 3 of “Dancing With The Stars”, “All-Stars” season 15)

Desmond Howard – 54 years old (1970) – Football player (Detroit Lions 1999-2002), ESPN college football analyst.

David Charvet – 52 years old (1972) – Singer, actor (TV’s “Baywatch”, “Melrose Place”)

Ahmet Zappa – 50 years old (1974) – Musician

Amy Chow – 46 years old (1978) – Olympic gymnast

David Krumholtz – 46 years old (1978) – Actor (TV’s “Numb3rs”, movies “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle”,”Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay”, “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas”)

Jamie-Lynn Sigler – 43 years old (1981) – Actress (TV’s “The Sopranos”, “Entourage”)