Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1827

The first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., was incorporated.

1844

A 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.

1849

The ship California arrived at San Francisco, carrying the first of the gold-seekers.

1854

Some 50 slavery opponents met in Ripon, Wis., to call for creation of a newpolitical group, which became the Republican Party.

1861

The Territory of Colorado was organized.

1940

The first televised college basketball games were broadcast, by New York City station W2XBS, as Pittsburgh defeated Fordham 57-37 and New York University beat Georgetown 50-27 at Madison Square Garden.

1974

The United States and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.

1986

Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm.

1986

Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.

1991

Allied and Iraqi forces suspended their attacks as Iraq pledged to accept all United Nations resolutions concerning Kuwait.

1993

A gun battle erupted near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.

1993

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh starting a 51-day standoff.

1995

Denver International Airport opened after 16 months of delays and $3.2 billion in budget overruns.

1997

A Turkish military memorandum resulted with collapse of the government in Turkey.

1997

An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 1,100 deaths.

2000

Right-wing Austrian leader Joerg Haider resigned as head of the Freedom Party in an apparent bid to end Austria's international ostracism following his party's rise to power.

2001

The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in the southern Puget Sound, damages Seattle metropolitan area.

2002

During the religious violence in Gujarat India, 97 people are killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in the Gulbarg Society massacre.

2013

Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415.

2023

Two trains collide south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people and leaving 58 missing and 85 injured.