Today In History

TODAY IN HISTORY

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The Shelby County Historical Society & Museum is open Monday through Friday from 8 to 4. They’re ready to take you back in time, located on the corner of Morse Avenue and Pine Street in Harlan. Call 755-2437 for more information

December 6th - 340th Day of the Year

1492
Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Santo Domingo in search of gold.

1776
Phi Beta Kappa, the first scholastic fraternity, is founded at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.

1812
The majority of Napoleon Bonaparte's Grand Armeé staggers into Vilna, Lithuania, ending the failed Russian campaign.

1861
Union General George G. Meade leads a foraging expedition to Gunnell's farm near Dranesville, Virginia.

1862
President Abraham Lincoln orders the hanging of 39 of the 303 convicted Indians who participated in the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota. They are to be hanged on December 26.

1863
The monitor Weehawken sinks in Charleston Harbor.

1865
The 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery.

1876
Jack McCall is convicted for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok and sentenced to hang.

1877
Thomas A. Edison makes the first sound recording when he recites "Mary had a Little Lamb" into his phonograph machine.

1884
In Washington, D.C., workers place a nine-inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction of the Washington Monument.

1906
Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge flies a powered, man-carrying kite that carries him 168 feet in the air for seven minutes at Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

1907
In West Virginia’s Marion County, an explosion in a network of mines owned by the Fairmont Coal Company in Monongah kills 361 coal miners. It was the worst mining disaster in American history.

1917
- The Bolsheviks imprison Czar Nicholas II and his family in Tobolsk.
- At 9:05 a.m., in the harbor of Halifax in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, the most devastating manmade explosion in the pre-atomic age occurs when the Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship, explodes 20 minutes after colliding with another vessel.

1921
Ireland's 26 southern counties become independent from Britain forming the Irish Free State.

1922
Benito Mussolini threatens Italian newspapers with censorship if they keep reporting "false" information.

1934
American Ambassador Davis says Japan is a grave security threat in the Pacific.

1938
France and Germany sign a treaty of friendship.

1939
Britain agrees to send arms to Finland, which is fighting off a Soviet invasion.

1941
President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues a personal appeal to Emperor Hirohito to use his influence to avoid war.

1945
The United States extends a $3 billion loan to Great Britain to help compensate for the termination of the Lend-Lease agreement.

1947
Florida's Everglades National Park is established.

1948
The "Pumpkin Spy Papers" are found on the Maryland farm of Whittaker Chambers. They become evidence that State Department employee Alger Hiss is spying for the Soviet Union.

1957
Vanguard TV3 explodes on the launchpad, thwarting the first US attempt to launch a satellite into Earth's orbit.

1967
Adrian Kantrowitz performs first human heart transplant in the US.

1969
Hells Angels, hired to provide security at a Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway in California, beat to death concert-goer Meredith Hunter.

1971
Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India after New Delhi recognizes the state of Bangladesh.

1973
US House of Representatives confirms Gerald Ford as Vice-President of the United States, 387–35.

1975
A Provisional IRA unit takes a couple hostage in Balcombe Street, London, and a 6-day siege begins.

1976
Democrat Tip O'Neill is elected speaker of the House of Representatives. He will serve the longest consecutive term as speaker.

1992
The Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India, is destroyed during a riot that started as a political protest.

2006
NASA reveals photographs from Mars Global Surveyor that suggest the presence of water on the red planet.

The Shelby County Historical Society would like to thank the following area businesses for their support:
KNOD, Harlan Newspaper, Hy-Vee, Milk & Honey, Farm Table Delivery, Nelson Farm Supply, Shelby County Physical Therapy, Shelby County State Bank, State Farm-EJ Leinen, Town & Country Credit Union, Ouren Real Estate, and ThinkSpace IT.