Discover what happened on May 15 in history, along with notable events that shaped entertainment, business, and American culture.
What Happened on May 15 in History?
Important events on this day include the founding of Las Vegas, the debut of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, and the opening of the first McDonald’s restaurant.
MAY 15 – 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.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS ON MAY 15:
Jasper Johns – 96 years old (1930) – Painter and sculptor
Anna Maria Alberghetti – 90 years old (1936) – Italian-American actress and singer
Diane Nash – 88 years old (1938) – Civil rights movement activist
Lainie Kazan – 86 years old (1940) – Actress and singer
Don Nelson – 86 years old (1940) – Basketball player and coach
Bill Alter – 82 years old (1944) – Police officer and politician
Kathleen Sebelius – 78 years old (1948) – Politician, 44th Governor of Kansas
Frank L. Culbertson Jr. – 77 years old (1949) – Captain, pilot, and astronaut
Frank Wilczek – 75 years old (1951) – Mathematician and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
Chazz Palminteri – 74 years old (1952) – Actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
George Brett – 73 years old (1953) – Baseball player and coach
Diana Liverman – 72 years old (1954) – English-American geographer and academic
Dan Patrick – 70 years old (1956) – Television anchor and sportscaster
Meg Gardiner – 69 years old (1957) – American-English author and academic
Kevin Von Erich – 69 years old (1957) – Football player and wrestler
Jason Graae – 68 years old (1958) – Musical theater actor
Ruth Marcus – 68 years old (1958) – Journalist
Ron Simmons – 68 years old (1958) – Football player and wrestler
Beverly Jo Scott – 67 years old (1959) – American-Belgian singer-songwriter
Rob Bowman – 66 years old (1960) – Director and producer
Giselle Fernández – 65 years old (1961) – Mexican-American television journalist
Laura Hillenbrand – 59 years old (1967) – Journalist and author
John Smoltz – 59 years old (1967) – Baseball player and sportscaster
Emmitt Smith – 57 years old (1969) – Football player and sportscaster
Desmond Howard – 56 years old (1970) – Football player and sportscaster
Rod Smith – 56 years old (1970) – Football player
Ahmet Zappa – 52 years old (1974) – Musician and writer
Ray Lewis – 51 years old (1975) – Football player and sportscaster
Torraye Braggs – 50 years old (1976) – Basketball player
Ryan Leaf – 50 years old (1976) – Football player and coach
Tyler Walker – 50 years old (1976) – Baseball player
Amy Chow – 48 years old (1978) – Gymnast and pediatrician
David Krumholtz – 48 years old (1978) – Actor
Ryan Max Riley – 47 years old (1979) – Skier
Robert Royal – 47 years old (1979) – Football player
Josh Beckett – 46 years old (1980) – Baseball player
Jamie-Lynn Sigler – 45 years old (1981) – Actress and singer
Thomas Brown – 40 years old (1986) – Football player
David Adams – 39 years old (1987) – Baseball player
Michael Brantley – 39 years old (1987) – Baseball player
Brian Dozier – 39 years old (1987) – Baseball player
Mark Fayne – 39 years old (1987) – Ice hockey player
Susan Soonkyu Lee – 37 years old (1989) – Korean-American singer and entertainer
Chase Hudson – 24 years old (2002) – Internet celebrity, singer, actor
DAYS OF THE YEAR FOR MAY 15:
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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.
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