February 25th
Today in America's Present Past
1643 | Indian Wars: Colonists killed 120 Algonquins in the “Pavonia Massacre.”
1799 | Congress: Authorizes the first purchase of timberland.
1799 | William Dawes, one of the three “Midnight Riders,” died.
1804 | POTUS: Thomas Jefferson was nominated for president.
1809 | General George Washington Cullom was born.
1828 | POTUS: President John Quincy Adams’ son, John, marries at the White House.
1836 | Entrepreneur Samuel Colt patents the first revolving multi-shot revolver firearm.
1837 | Entrepreneur Thomas Davenport patents the first electric printing press.
1841 | SCOTUS: Justice Philip Barbour died.
1847 | University of Iowa is chartered.
1854 | Entrepreneur Charles Lang Freer was born.
1855 | William “Bill the Butcher” Poole is shot in the Bowery versus John Morrissey gang feud.
1860 | Cleric and writer Chauncy Allen Goodrich died.
1862 | Congress: Legal Tender Act authorizing a paper dollar is enacted.
1862 | Congress: Creates the Comptroller of Currency, creating a national bank system.
1870 | Civil Rights: The first African-American U.S. Senator, Republican Hiram R. Revels, is sworn in.
1875 | Indian Wars: The Kiowa leader Lone Wolf Guipago surrendered at Fort Sill.
1879 | Congress: Passage of the first Timberland Protection Act.
1888 | Political John Foster Dulles was born.
1901 | Entrepreneur J.P. Morgan Sr. completes the merger that becomes U.S. Steel.
1908 | The first railway tunnel under the Hudson River opens.
1913 | Paterson, New Jersey “Silk Strike.”
1913 | The 16th Amendment takes effect.
1919 | Oregon becomes the first state to tax gasoline.
1933 | The first U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Roger, was launched.
1935 | Entertainer Sally Jessy Raphael was born.
1940 | TV: The first televised hockey game is broadcast, featuring the Rangers defeating the Canadians.
1940 | Author Mary Mills Patrick died.
1946 | Civil Rights: Columbia, Tennessee, race riots start.
1947 | WWII: The Allied Council, the U.S.-dominated body governing free Europe after the war, abolished the State of Prussia.
1949 | Wrestler Ric Flair was born.
1950 | Physician George Minot died.
1957 | Gangster Bugs Moran died.
1971 | Actor Sean Astin was born.
1973 | Entertainer Justin Jeffre was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan.
1975 | Cleric Elijah Muhammad died.
1982 | TV: The final “Lawrence Welk Show” episode airs.
1983 | Author Tennessee Williams died.
1989 | Boxer Mike Tyson bests Frank Bruno for the heavyweight boxing title.
1991 | Gulf War: An Iraqi Scud missile strikes a US barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28.
1995 | Entertainer Frank Sinatra performs publicly for a final time in Palm Desert, California.
2013 | Physician C. Everett Koop died.
2017 | Author Bill Paxton died.