Today in History - Famous Events

🏰 On this day in History - March 16, 2026

1979 CBS-TV airs "Wings Over the World" with Paul McCartney

1974 1st performance at new Grand Ole Opry House at Opryland in Nashville

1912 Mrs William Howard Taft plants 1st cherry tree in Wash DC

1872 1st FA Cup Final: Wanderers-Royal Engineers 1-0 in Bolton

1897 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of The Devil's Foot" (BG)

1975 "Lieutenant" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC after 9 performances

1953 AL rejects Bill Veeck's request to move St Louis Browns to Baltimore

1958 Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship

1930 USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) floated out to become a natl shrine

1190 Crusades begin massacre of Jews of York England

1896 Premiere of Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen"

1869 Hiram R Revels makes 1st official speech by a black in the Senate

1871 1st fertilizer law enacted

1935 Hitler orders German rearmament, violating Versailles Treaty

1969 Peter Stone & Sherman Edward's "1776," premieres in NYC

1995 Manhattan upsets 4th seeded Okla 77-67

1881 Barnum & Bailey Circus debuts

1521 Magelhaes' fleet discovers Zamal (Samar)

1836 Texas approves a constitution

1907 1st 1st-class cricket game between NSW & Western Australia

1977 US president Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland

1944 Vichy Internal minister Pucheu sentenced to death

1994 Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on Nancy Kerrigan

1915 Brit battle cruisers Inflexible & Irresistible hit mines in Dardanelle

1861 Confederate government appoints commissioners to Britain

1969 "1776" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 1217 performances

1994 Moravcik forms Slovakia government

1967 Pirate Radio Station 333 (Radio Britain) ship breaks down

1945 Allies secure Iwo Jima

1957 Toronto Maple Leafs tie NHL record 37 points beating NY Rangers 14-1

1988 US sends 3000 soldiers to Nicaragua's neighbor Honduras

1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" published

1988 Federal grand jury indicts North & Poindexter in Iran-Contra affair

1920 1 Acre Park also known as Baby Park in the Bronx renamed Melrose Park

1933 Hitler names Hjalmar Shaft, president of Bank of Germany

1964 Paul Hornung & Alex Karras reinstated in NFL after 1 year suspension

1190 Jews of York England commit mass sucide rather than submit to baptism

1969 Boston Bruins scores a NHL record 8 goals in 1 period

1919 Frank Wedekind's "Elius Erweckung," premieres in Hamburg

1952 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship

1970 WNIN TV channel 9 in Evansville, IN (PBS) begins broadcasting

1975 US Mariner 10 makes 3rd & final fly-by of Mercury

1978 Amoco Cadiz spills 223,000 tons of crude oil off French coast

1997 NJ Devils' Dave Andreychuk is 26th NHL to score 500 goals

1862 Battle at Pound Gap Kentucky: Confederates separate battles

1931 Genootschap Onze Taal (Our Language) organizes (Neth)

1827 1st US black newspaper, "Freedom's Journal" (NYC), begins publishing

1969 Viasa DC-9 crashes at Maracaibo's Grano de Oro airport, killing 155

1997 Donna Andrews wins LPGA Welch's/Circle K Championship

1894 Jules Massenet's opera "Tha‹s," premieres in Paris

1985 Denny McLain, pitcher; convicted of racketeering, sentenced to 25 yrs

1968 My Lai massacre occurs (Vietnam War); 450 die

1980 Joanne Carner wins LPGA Honda Civic Golf Classic

1968 Robert F Kennedy announces presidential campaign

1815 Willem I proclaimed king of the Netherlands, including Belgium

1955 President Eisenhower upheld the use of atomic weapons in case of war

1952 1870 mm rain in Cilaos, R‚union (world record)

1900 AL meets in Chicago, Ban Johnson announces that an AL team will be in

1984 South-Africa & Mozambique sign non attack treaty

1833 Susan Hayhurst becomes 1st US woman grad of a pharmacy college

1988 North-Ireland Protestant fires on Catholic funeral, 3 killed

1971 KDCD TV channel 18 in Midland, TX (IND) suspends broadcasting

1940 German air raid on British fleet base Scapa Flow

1966 Gemini 8 launched with Armstrong & Scott, aborted after 6.5 orbits

1731 Treaty of Vienna: Emperor Charles VI of England & Netherlands

1822 Composer Gioacchino Rossini marries Spanish soprano

1943 Elin K (No) & Zaanland (Neth) torpedoed & sinks

1939 NHL record 10 goals in 1 period-NY Rangers (7), NY Americans (3) & a record 26 points in the 3rd period

1956 US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright

1527 Battle at Khanua: Mogol Emperor Babur beats Rajputen

1916 US & Canada sign migratory bird treaty

1517 Pope Leo X signs 5th Council of Lateranen

1660 English Long Parliament disbands

1802 US army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)

1962 1st launching of Titan 2-rocket

1876 Nelly Saunders & Rose Harland fight 1st female boxing match (NY)

1966 Man From Uncle star David McCallum receives huge welcome in London

1997 Stuart Appleby wins Honda Golf Classic

1910 Barney Oldfield sets land speed record of 131.7 mph at Daytona

1996 Mike Tyson KOs Frank Bruno in 2nd round

1991 NJ Net coach Bill Fitch is 4th coach to win 800 NBA games

1995 Dow-Jones hits record 4069.15

1830 London's re-organised police force (Scotland Yard)

1834 HMS Beagle anchors at Berkeley Sound, Falkland Islands

1521 Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches Philippines

1941 Dmitri Shostakovitch receives the Stalin Prize

1976 British premier Harold Wilson resigns

1946 "Would-Be Gentleman" closes at Booth Theater NYC after 77 performances

1957 Patty Berg wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship

1991 Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Munich won by Kristi Yamaguchi

1929 WHP-AM in Harrisburg PA begins radio transmissions

1995 Mississippi formally abolishes slavery & ratifies 13th Amendment

1915 Federal Trade Commission organizes

1900 Chicago, KC, Minn, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleve & Buffalo

1995 Miss House of Representatives ratifies 13th Amendement-slavery ends

1641 General court declares RI a democracy & adopts new constitution

1949 KFMB TV channel 8 in San Diego, CA (CBS) begins broadcasting

1955 Josephine Kroesen appointed as 1st Dutch female judge

1956 US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A Jenkins

1983 Smallest crowd at Cleveland Coliseum (Cavs vs Nets-1,814)

1957 9th Emmy Awards: Phil Silvers Show, Robert Young & Loretta Young

1861 Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union

1972 John & Yoko are served with deportation papers

1865 Battle of Averasboro NC (1,500 casualities)

1950 1st annual National Book Awards

1970 New English Bible published

1978 US Senate accepts Panama Canal treaty

1995 World best 7th wkt stand 461 by Bhupinder Singh Jr & P Dharmani

1802 Law signed to establish US Milt Academy (West Point, NY)

1079 Iran adopts solar Hijrah calendar

1992 Matt Keough, in the dugout, is hit flush in the head by a batted ball

1882 US Senate ratifies treaty establishing the Red Cross

1978 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1947 Convair Liner, 1st US twin-engine pressurized airplane, tested

1964 KCOY TV channel 12 in Santa Maria, CA (CBS) begins broadcasting

1939 Germany occupies Czechoslovakia

1934 Congress passes Migratory Bird Conservation Act

1991 Members of Irish Gay & Lesbian Organization march in NYC parade

1959 Iraq & USSR sign economic/technical treaty

1923 Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Der Unbestechliche," premieres in Vienna

1978 Soyuz 26 returns to Earth

1938 No‰l Coward's musical "Operette," premieres in London

1916 James Barries' "Kiss for Cinderella," premieres in London

1939 Hungary annexes republic of Karpato-Ukraine

1911 Stanley Cup: Ottawa Senators beat Port Arthur (Ont) 13-4

1829 Ohio authorizes high school night classes

1991 NY Lotto pays $33.3 million to one winner (#s are 18-21-32-33-35-38)

1962 US Super-Constellation disappears above Pacific Ocean, kills 167

1937 All but one senior fouls out of a scrimmage game between seniors & sophomores, but he holds on to win the game 35-32

1971 13th Grammy Awards: Bridge over Troubled Water, Carpenters win

1991 7 of Reba McEntire band members are killed in a plane crash

1922 Sultan Fuad I crowned king of Egypt, England recognizes Egypt

1900 Sir Arthur Evans finds old city of Knossus

1922 WKY-AM in Oklahoma City OK begins radio transmissions

1690 French king Louis XIV sends troops to Ireland

1621 Native American chief visits colony of Plymouth Mass

1941 Blizzard hits North Dakota & Minnesota killing 60

1918 Geoffrey O'Hara's "K-K-K-Katy" song published

1984 Gunmen kidnap William Buckley, CIA station chief in Beirut

1830 New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever (31 shares traded)

1978 Red Brigade kidnaps former premier Aldo Moro in Italy, 5 killed

1730 Willem Charles Henry Friso installed as viceroy of Drenthe

1345 Holy spirit glides above fire: "the miracle of Amsterdam" (legend)

1792 Murder attempt on King Gustavus III by count Ankarstrom at opera

1926 Robert Goddard launches 1st liquid fuel rocket, goes 184' (56 meters)

1997 Toshiba Senior Golf Classic

1877 Charles Bannerman completes 1st Test cricket century, 165 v Eng

1938 Temple defeats Colorado to win 1st NIT

1941 National Gallery of Art opens in Wash DC

1986 Chris Johnson wins LPGA GNA/Glendale Federal Golf Classic

1985 Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson taken hostage in Beirut

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