May 1st
Today in America's Present Past
1718 | Spanish missionaries established Mission San Antonio de Valero (now known as the Alamo) in San Antonio, Texas.
1764 | Architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe was born.
1778 | War of Independence: The Battle of Crooked Billet in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
1848 | Phi Gamma Delta is founded at Jefferson College.
1852 | Frontier leader Calamity Jane was born.
1866 | “Memphis Massacre” starts.
1867 | Howard University is formed.
1880 | “Garret Mountain May Day” riot in Paterson, New Jersey.
1894 | “May Day” riots in Cleveland, Ohio.
1912 | Entrepreneur Winthrop Rockefeller was born.
1918 | Entertainer Jack Paar was born.
1919 | “May Day” riots linked to the conviction of Eugene Debs.
1923 | Novelist Joseph Heller is born.
1931 | Empire State Building opens in New York City, New York.
1939 | Batman first appears in a comic book.
1939 | Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings earns a Pulitzer Prize.
1943 | WWII: Food rationing begins.
1950 | Composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
1954 | Auto firms Hudson Motor and Nash-Kelvinator merge to create American Motors.
1960 | Cold War: America’s U2 plane piloted by Gary Powers is shot down by the Soviet Union over Sverdlovsk.
1961 | Novelist Harper Lee earns a Pulitzer Prize.
1963 | James Whittaker is the first American to summit Mount Everest.
1967 | Musician Tim McGraw was born.
1969 | Director Wes Anderson was born.
1970 | A national Student Strike starts.
2023 | Entertainer Gordon Lightfoot died.