On April 24th...

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1704 The first successful newspaper in America, the Boston News-Letter, was established.

1731 Author Daniel Defoe died.

1750 Author John Trumbull was born.

1800 The Library of Congress was established.

1833 Jacob Ebert and George Dulty patented the soda fountain.

1851 "Wild West" figure Morgan Earp was born.

1877 Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

1880 The Amateur Athletic Association was founded in Oxford, England.

1884 The National Medical Association of Black Physicians was organized in Atlanta, Georgia.

1888 The Eastman Kodak company was formed.

1889 English statesman Stafford Cripps was born.

1897 William Price became the first reporter to be assigned to the White House, by the Washington Star.

1907 Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive enjoyment of his employees, opened.

1908 Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Murdock arrived in New York City, New York, after a 32-day-5-hour-25-minute drive from Los Angeles, California.

1913 The Woolworth Building opened in New York City, New York.

1916 The Easter Uprising, a rebellion of Irish against British occupation, began.

1918 Three British Mark IV's met three German A7V's at Villers-Bretonneux, France, in the first ever tank-to-tank combat.

1934 Actress Shirley MacLaine was born.

1936 Actress Jill Ireland was born.

1942 Richard Daley, long-time Mayor Chicago, was born.
1942 Singer Barbra Streisand was born.

1944 The United Negro College Fund was incorporated.

1947 Novelist Willa Cather died.

1955 Actor Michael O'Keefe was born.

1957 Actress Nanette Fabray married screenwriter Ranald MacDougall in New York City, New York.

1967 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov became the first man to die during a space mission when the parachute of his Soyuz 1 spacecraft failed to open during Earth re-entry.
1967 Togolese President Étienne Eyadéma escaped an assassination attempt with a minor bullet wound.
1967 The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the San Francisco Warriors to win the NBA Championship.

1970 The People's Republic of China launched its first satellite.
1970 Gambia became a republic within the British Commonwealth.

1974 The NFL granted a franchise to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
1974 Comedian Bud Abbott died.

1977 Baseball player Carlos Beltran was born.

1980 Eight servicemen were killed when a mission to rescue American hostages in Iran failed.

1982 Singer Kelly Clarkson was born.

1986 Wallis Warfield Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, died.

1990 The Space Shuttle Discovery placed the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.

1997 Comedian Pat Paulsen died.

2004 Cosmetics company founder Estée Lauder died.

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This page was last updated on April 24, 2018.