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February in History
1
February 1884
The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
1
February 1893
Thomas Edison opened the first film studio to produce films for peepshow
machines in New Jersey.
2
February 1801
The first parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
assembled.
2
February 1848
The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-US War.
2
February 1852
Britain's first men's public flushing toilets opened on Fleet Street,
London.
Summer 2001: Boston's first public flushing toilets opened.
3
February 1690
The first paper money in America was issued in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony.
3
February 1913
The 16th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, authorizing the
power to impose and collect income tax.
3
February 1919
The League of Nations held its first meeting in Paris, with US President
Wilson chairing.
4
February 1194
Richard I, King of England (Richard the Lionheart, of Robin Hood fame),
was freed from captivity in Germany.
5 February 1972
After many hijacking incidents, airlines in the United States began
mandatory inspection of passengers and luggage.
8
February 1725
Catherine I succeeded her husband, Peter the Great, to become Empress of
Russia.
8
February 1740
The 'Great Frost' of London ended (began 25 Dec 1739) in which the Thames
was solidly frozen over: stalls were erected and fairs were held on the
ice. The phenomenon is depicted in many contemporary paintings.
8
February 1924
The gas chamber was used in the USA for the first time, in the Nevada
State Prison.
9 February
1540
The first recorded horse racing event in Britain took place at Chester.
9
February 1801
The Holy Roman Empire came to an end with the signing of the Peace of
Luneville between Austria and France. It had often been said the Empire
was neither holy, nor Roman.
9
February 1825
The House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams sixth President
10
February 1763
The Treaty of Paris ended the French-Indian War. France gave up all her
territories in the New World except New Orleans and a few scattered
islands.
10
February 1774
Andrew Becker demonstrated his practical diving suit in the River Thames.
11
February 1805
Sixteen-year-old Sacagawea, the Shoshone guide for Lewis & Clark, gave
birth to a son, with Meriwether Lewis serving as midwife.
11
February 1809
Robert Fulton patented the steamboat.
12
February 1831
Rubber galoshes first went on sale, in Boston.
13
February 1741
The first magazine in the New World was published. Because newspapers and
books were considered necessities, they
appeared very early in colonial America. Magazines, on the other hand,
were luxury items: not enough people had extra money to buy them or extra
leisure time to read them. Thus the magazine was the last of the print
media to appear in America. Benjamin Franklin and another Philadelphia
printer, Andrew Bradford, had the same idea at the same time. On 13
February 1741, three days before Franklin could produce the first issue of
his "General Magazine," Bradford and former Franklin editor John Webbe
published the first issue of their "American Magazine". Franklin is said
to have felt betrayed, and never mentioned the project in his
autobiography. Neither magazine was successful: Bradford's magazine ceased
publication after three issues; Franklin's folded after six. Still,
magazine publication was launched in America, and by the end of the 18th
century several magazines reflected the political and cultural energy of
the new nation.
14
February 1778
In 1778, the American ship Ranger' carried the recently adopted
Star and Stripes to a foreign port for the first time as it arrived in
France.
14
February 1929
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place in Chicago, when seven members
of Bugsy Moran's gang were gunned down in a warehouse.
15
February 1882
The first shipment of frozen meat left New Zealand for England. This was a
significant event: NZ was to become a major exporter of meat, the
foundation of its new economy. It made lamb plentiful in Britain, and
marked the country as a net importer of meat.
15
February 1898
The USS Maine, sent to Cuba on a goodwill tour, was struck by a mine and
sank in Havana harbor, with the loss of 260 lives. Although most likely an
accidental explosion, the sensational "yellow press" reported it as an
enemy attack in order to stir enthusiasm for war. Two months later,
rallied by the cry "Remember the Maine!' Congress declared war on Spain.
16 February
1659
The first British check was written.
17
February 1865
The South Carolina capital city, Columbia, was destroyed by fire as Major
General William Tecumseh Sherman marched through.
18
February 1861
Jefferson F Davis was inaugurated as the Confederacy's provisional
president at a ceremony held in Montgomery AL.
19 February 1878
US inventor Thomas Edison patented the
phonograph.
20 February 1792
The US Postal Service was created.
20 February 1942
Lt. Edward O'Hare downed five out of nine
Japanese bombers that were attacking the carrier Lexington. His portrait
proudly hangs in the airport that took his name: O'Hare, in Chicago.
21 February 1804
British engineer Richard Trevithick
demonstrated the first steam engine to run on rails.
21 February 1878
The world's first telephone book was issued by
the New Haven Telephone Company in Connecticut, containing the names of
its 50 subscribers.
22 February 1819
Florida was ceded to the United States by
Spain with the signing of the Adams-Onis Treaty. Signed by John Quincy
Adams and Spanish Minister to the US Don Luis
de Onis, the agreement included a payment of five million dollars by the
United States.
22 February 1879
US storekeeper FW Woolworth opened his first
'five-and-ten-cent' store in Utica NY. It was the first chain store.
23
February 1815
Death of steamship and warship pioneer Robert Fulton. As a result of
falling through the ice, Fulton suffered complications, and died in New
York City at age 50. He was buried at Trinity Church.
23
February 1863
Lake Victoria, in Africa, was proclaimed to be the source of the River
Nile by British explorers John Speke and JA Grant.
24
February 1582
Pope Gregory XIII issued a Papal Bull to drop ten days from the calendar.
In Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and other major Roman Catholic
countries, the day following October 4, 1582 was to be October 15, 1582.
To better approximate the length of the astronomical year in order to make
more accurate calculation of saints' days and other religious events, the
Julian calendar, which had been in effect for 1600 years, it was to be
replaced by the Gregorian calendar, the fruit of careful research and
calculation by a group of mathematicians and scholars assembled by the
Vatican. The removal of ten days was meant to correct the error
accumulated since AD 1, and to bring the date back in line with the
seasons.
Most Roman Catholic countries quickly adopted
the new calendar, but Protestant countries at first refused to make the
change decreed by a pope. It wasn't until 1701
that the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the
greater part of Protestant Germany made the switch, and England didn't
move to the Gregorian calendar until 1752, with Sweden coming on board the
following year. By that time, 11 days had to be added instead of the
original 10. Even more resistant than the Protestant nations were the
Eastern Orthodox countries. It took the Bolshevik revolution of 1918 to
make the change in Russia, and the Greeks didn't go Gregorian until 1923.
In London
of 1752, crowds rioted, yelling "Give us back our 11 days!"
25
February 1836
From early childhood, Samuel Colt was fascinated by the mechanics of
firearms. At the age of 16, aboard a ship bound for India, he carved a
wooden model of a handgun with a revolving chamber. The idea was suggested
to him by the wheel of the ship.
25
February 1862
The ironclad Monitor was commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
26
February 1790
As a result of the Revolution reforms, France was divided into 83
departments (corresponding to counties), which are still used to this day.
26
February 1797
The first £ note was issued by the Bank of England.
26
February 1848
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels published The Communist Manifesto in
London.
27 February
1557
The first Russian Embassy opened in London; exactly one year later, the
first trade mission arrived.
27
February 1827
The first Mardi-Gras celebration was held in New Orleans.
28 February
1066
Westminster Abbey in London opened.
28
February 1772
The Boston assembly threatened secession from Britain unless rights of
colonies were maintained.
28
February 1827
The beginning of a new age. The Baltimore
& Ohio Railway Company was incorporated, the first railroad in America
chartered to carry passengers and freight. Investors hoped a railroad
would allow Baltimore, the second largest US city at that time, to
successfully compete with New York for western trade. New Yorkers were
profiting from easy access to the Midwest via the Erie Canal. Construction
of track began the following July, and the first 13 mile (21 km) section
was opened in 1830.
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