Discover what happened on March 12 in history, along with notable celebrity birthdays and fun Days of the Year to celebrate.
What Happened on March 12 in History?
Important events on this day include Juliette Gordon Low founding the Girl Scouts, Tim Berners-Lee proposing the system that became the World Wide Web, and the Detroit Red Wings retiring Gordie Howe’s number 9.
MARCH 12 – TODAY IN HISTORY:
1755 – The steam engine was used for the first time in North Arlington, NJ.
1789 – The U.S. Post Office was established.
1884 – The State of Mississippi authorized the first state-supported college for women. It was called the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College.
1884 – Nine Grand Rapids, MI manufacturing plants burned in a fire. Included were the Bissell Carpet Sweeper plant on Mill Street, the Grand Rapids Felt Boot Factory, and the Spencer & Powers Iron Works.
1863 – President Jefferson Davis delivered his State of the Confederacy address.
1889 – Almon B. Stowger applied for a patent for his automatic telephone system.
1894 – Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time in Vicksburg, MS by local soda fountain operator Joseph A. Biedenharn.
1906 – The Supreme Court ruled that corporations must yield incriminating evidence in anti-trust suits.
1912 – Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts to empower girls, build courage, confidence, character, and to make the world a better place. The original name was the Girl Guides.
1923 – Dr. Lee DeForest demonstrated phono-film. It was his technique for putting sound on motion picture film.
1930 – Ghandi began his 200-mile march to the sea that symbolized his defiance of British rule over India.
1933 – President Franklin Roosevelt presented his first Presidential address to the nation. It was the first of the “Fireside Chats”.
1959 – The U.S. House joined the Senate in approving the statehood of Hawaii.
1966 – Bobby Hull, of the Chicago Blackhawks, became the first National Hockey League player to score 51 points in a single season.
1972 – The Detroit Red Wings retired Number 9 to honor Gordie Howe.
1974 – The television show “Wonder Woman” debuted on ABC. It later moved to CBS.
1985 – Larry Bird, of the Boston Celtics, scored a club-record 60 points against the Atlanta Hawks.
1985 – Former President Richard Nixon announced that he planned to drop Secret Service protection and hire his own bodyguards. It was an effort to lower the deficit by $3 million.
1989 – About 2,500 veterans and supporters marched at the Art Institute of Chicago to demand that officials remove an American flag placed on the floor as part of an exhibit.
1989 – Tim Berners-Lee, an English software engineer, submitted a “vague, but exciting” proposal to his boss about a system for managing information. His plan would later be known as the World Wide Web. Today, roughly half the world is online and nearly 2 billion websites exist.
1993 – Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female U.S. Attorney General.
1994 – A photo of the Loch Ness monster by Marmaduke Wetherell was confirmed to be a hoax. The photo was actually a toy submarine with a head and neck attached.
1997 – Police in Los Angeles, CA arrested Mikail Markhasev for the shooting of Bill Cosby’s 27 year old son, Ennis. Markhasev was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
1998 – Astronomers cancelled a warning that a mile-wide asteroid might collide with Earth. They said calculations had been off by 600,000 miles. Oops!
1998 – Korn served a cease-and-desist demand to a Michigan assistant principal, the high school, and the school district who suspended a student for wearing a T-shirt that had the band’s name on it.
2001 – The Motion Picture Academy threatened to expel any member who tried to scalp Oscar tickets.
2002 – U.S. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge unveiled a color-coded system for terror warnings.
2002 – Conoco and Phillips Petroleum stockholders approved a proposed merger worth $15.6 billion.
2003 – In Utah, Nine months after being abducted, Elizabeth Smart was found in Sandy, UT with her alleged kidnappers, Brian Mitchell and his wife, Wendy Barzee. She had been taken on June 5, 2002, Mitchell was a drifter and had previously worked at the Smart home.
2008 – The New York Yankees sign Billy Crystal to a one day contract. He wore number 60 in spring training, two days before he actually turned 60.
2008 – The streaming service Hulu was launched in the United States.
2009 – It was announced that the Sears Tower in Chicago, IL, would be renamed Willis Tower.
2009 – Bernie Madoff pleaded guilty in New York, NY to scamming $18 billion, the largest in Wall Street’s history.
2010 – In the U.S., Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad.
2011 – A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melted and exploded and released radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after Japan’s earthquake.
2020 – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer closed all of the state’s public and private schools. They would remained closed for three weeks through April 5 to combat the spread of a rising number of coronavirus cases
2020 – The United States suspended travel from Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020 – The NHL and Major League Baseball suspended operations. The NCAA also cancelled its men’s basketball tournament.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS ON MARCH 12:
George Ariyoshi – 100 years old (1926) – Lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Hawaii
Vern Law – 96 years old (1930) – Baseball player and manager
Andrew Young – 94 years old (1932) – Pastor and politician, 14th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Barbara Feldon – 93 years old (1933) – Actress
Johnny Rutherford – 88 years old (1938) – Race car driver and sportscaster
Dean Cundey – 80 years old (1946) – Cinematographer and film director
Liza Minnelli – 80 years old (1946) – Actress, singer and dancer
Frank Welker – 80 years old (1946) – Voice actor and singer
Mitt Romney – 79 years old (1947) – Businessman and politician, 70th Governor of Massachusetts
Kent Conrad – 78 years old (1948) – Politician
James Taylor – 78 years old (1948) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
Rob Cohen – 77 years old (1949) – Director, producer, and screenwriter
Mary Catherine Lamb – 77 years old (1949) – Textile artist
Dale Murphy – 70 years old (1956) – Baseball player
Marlon Jackson – 69 years old (1957) – Singer-songwriter and dancer
Luenell – 67 years old (1959) – Comedian and actress
Jason Beghe – 66 years old (1960) – Actor
Courtney B. Vance – 66 years old (1960) – Actor and painter
Julia Campbell – 64 years old (1962) – Actress
Chris Sanders – 64 years old (1962) – Illustrator and voice actor
Darryl Strawberry – 64 years old (1962) – Baseball player and minister
Titus Welliver – 64 years old (1962) – Actor
Candy Costie – 63 years old (1963) – Swimmer
Steve Finley – 61 years old (1965) – Baseball player
David Daniels – 60 years old (1966) – Countertenor
Grant Long – 60 years old (1966) – Basketball player and sportscaster
Tammy Duckworth – 58 years old (1968) – Thai-American colonel, pilot, and politician
Aaron Eckhart – 58 years old (1968) – Actor and producer
Jake Tapper – 57 years old (1969) – Journalist and author
Dave Eggers – 56 years old (1970) – Author and screenwriter
Rex Walters – 56 years old (1970) – Basketball player and coach
Isaiah Rider – 55 years old (1971) – Basketball player and rapper
Deron Quint – 50 years old (1976) – Ice hockey player
Ramiro Corrales – 49 years old (1977) – Soccer player
Brent Johnson – 49 years old (1977) – Ice hockey player
Casey Mears – 48 years old (1978) – Race car driver
Charlie Bell – 47 years old (1979) – Basketball player and coach
Rhys Coiro – 47 years old (1979) – Actor
Becky Holliday – 46 years old (1980) – Pole vaulter
Holly Williams – 45 years old (1981) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
Lili Bordán – 44 years old (1982) – Hungarian-American actress
Samm Levine – 44 years old (1982) – Actor and comedian
Jaimie Alexander – 42 years old (1984) – Actress
Jessica Hardy – 39 years old (1987) – Swimmer
Maxwell Holt – 39 years old (1987) – Volleyball player
Chris Seitz – 39 years old (1987) – Soccer player
Tyler Clary – 37 years old (1989) – Swimmer
Dont'a Hightower – 36 years old (1990) – Football coach and former player
Marvin Jones – 36 years old (1990) – Football player
Jerami Grant – 32 years old (1994) – Basketball player
Tyler Patrick Jones – 32 years old (1994) – Actor
Carsen Edwards – 28 years old (1998) – Basketball player
Mecole Hardman – 28 years old (1998) – Football player
Max Duggan – 25 years old (2001) – Football player
Malina Weissman – 23 years old (2003) – Actress and model
DannyLux – 22 years old (2004) – Singer-songwriter
DAYS OF THE YEAR FOR MARCH 12:
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For additional information check out websites like: www.on-this-day.com, www.born-today.com, www.famousbirthdays.com, www.daysoftheyear.com, and www.nationaldaycalendar.com.
