#historical-anniversaries

#historical-anniversaries

Today is Thursday, Feb. 19, the 50th day of 2026. There are 315 days left in the year. Today in history: On Feb. 19, 1878, inventor Thomas Edison was issued a patent for the phonograph. Also on this date: In 1473, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland. In 1847, the first rescuers reached members of the Donner Party, who had been snowbound in the Sierra Nevada near the California-Nevada border for nearly four months.

Today is Sunday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2026. There are 361 days left in the year. Today in history: On Jan. 4,2010, the Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world at 2,717 feet tall, opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Also on this date: In 1853, New Yorker Solomon Northup regained his freedom after being kidnapped in Washington, D.C., and forced into slavery in 1841; he would later tell his story in his memoir, Twelve Years a Slave.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Today is Thursday, Dec. 25, the 359th day of 2025. There are six days left in the year. This is Christmas Day. Today in history: On Dec. 25, 2009, passengers aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 foiled an attempt to blow up the plane as it was landing in Detroit by seizing Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (OO'-mahr fah-ROOK' ahb-DOOL'-moo-TAH'-lahb), who tried to set off explosives in his underwear. (Abdulmutallab later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.)

Today is Monday, Dec. 15, the 349th day of 2025. There are 16 days left in the year. Today in history: On Dec. 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge between Gallipolis (gal-ih-puh-LEES'), Ohio, and Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people. Also on this date: In 1791, the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, went into effect following ratification by Virginia.

In 1965, the United States launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Cmdr. James A. Lovell aboard on a two-week mission. (While Gemini 7 was in orbit, its sister ship, Gemini 6A, was launched on Dec. 15 on a one-day mission; the two spacecraft were able to rendezvous within a foot of each other.) In 1969, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark of the Black Panther Party were shot and killed during a raid by Chicago police.

Also on this date: In 1792, the cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid by President George Washington during a ceremony in the District of Columbia. In 1932, President Herbert Hoover and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes laid the cornerstone for the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington. In 1943, Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner.