On April 26th...

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1564 William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avonn, England.

1607 The first English colony in the Americas landed at Cape Henry, Virginia.

1677 Emperor Leopold I formed the University of Innsbruck.

1755 The first university in Russia opened in Moscow.

1785 Ornithologist and painter John James Audubon was born.

1812 German industrialist Alfred Krupp was born.

1819 The Odd Fellows Lodge was formed.

1822 Architect Frederick Law Olmsted was born.

1828 Russia declared war on Turkey in support of Greece's fight for independence.

1854 Julius Augustus Wayland, American publisher of the two most popular Socialist newspapers in the world, was born.

1859 Dan Sickles became the first person ever acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity.

1865 The Battle of Durham Station (North Carolina) was fought.
1865 The Battle of Fort Tobacco (Virginia) was fought.

1875 Syngman Rhee, the first President of the Republic of Korea, was born.

1894 Nazi official Rudolf Hess was born.

1900 Charles Francis Richter, developer of the scale by which earthquake intensity is measured, was born.

1905 Jack McCarthy, of the Chicago Cubs, became the only Major League player to throw out 3 runners at plate in 1 game.

1907 The Jamestown Exposition opened.

1912 Hugh Bradley, of the Boston Red Sox, hit the first home run in Fenway Park.

1917 Architect I. M. Pei was born.

1933 Comedienne Carol Burnett was born.

1936 Guitarist Duane Eddy was born.

1941 Wrigley Field became the first ballpark to have an organ.

1942 A coal mine explosion at Hokeiko, Manchuria, killed 1,549 persons.
1942 Singer Bobby Rydell was born.

1943 Musician Gary Wright was born.

1949 Transjordan was officially renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

1952 The U. S. minesweeper Hobson rammed the aircraft carrier Wasp, killing 176 crewmen.

1954 Nationwide testing of the Salk polio vaccine began.

1956 Actor Edward Arnold died.

1957 A reported 100 people died in the burning and sinking of a river boat in the Yangtze River near Wuhan, China.

1961 Ranger IV crashed onto the far side of the Moon.
1961 The United States and the United Kingdom launched the Ariel satellite into earth orbit.
1961 U. S. Steel Corporation and Bethlehem Steel Company were indicted by a federal grand jury for violating antitrust laws.

1963 Actor Jet Li was born.

1964 The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar was created.
1964 The Boston Celtics defeated the San Francisco Warriors for the NBA Championship.

1966 A magnitude 7.5 earthquake destroyed Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
1966 Red Auerbach retired as coach of the Boston Celtics.

1968 Students seized the administration building at Ohio State.

1973 Actress Irene Ryan died.

1974 Malta adopted a constitution.

1976 Pan-Am began non-stop flights from New York City, New York, to Tokyo, Japan.

1977 Studio 54 opened in New York City, New York.

1982 Argentina surrendered to the United Kingdom on South Georgia Island, near the Falkland Islands.

1982 A gunman stole singer Rod Stewart's $50,000 Porsche.

1984 Big band pianist Count Basie died.

1986 A reactor at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Russia, exploded.
1986 Marshall Holman won the Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions.
1986 Actor Broderick Crawford died.

1989 Actress Lucille Ball died.

1990 A magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed 126 persons in China.

1991 Tornadoes killed 23 persons in Kansas and Oklahoma.
1991 "Dinosaurs" premiered on ABC-TV.

1992 The last new episode of "Growing Pains" aired on ABC-TV.
1992 The last new episode of "Who's the Boss?" aired on ABC-TV.

1993 A Boeing 737 crashed at Aurangabad, India, killing 56 persons.

1994 Physicists announced the first evidence of the top quark subatomic particle.
1994 A Taiwan Airbus A-300 crashed at Nagoya, Japan, killing 262 persons.
1994 Dr. Nomaza Paintin became the first black ever to vote in a South African election.

1995 Coors Field opened in Denver, Colorado.

2002 Robert Steinhäuser killed 17 persons at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany, before killing himself.

2005 Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon.
2005 Actor Mason Adams died.

2007 Film executive Jack Valenti died.

2011 Jazz singer Phoebe Snow died.

2012 Rocket attacks by the Syrian Army killed 70 persons in Hama.

2013 Thirty persons were killed when a bus crashed following a Taliban attack in southern Afghanistan.
2013 Country singer George Jones died.

2015Actress Jayne Meadows died.

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This page was last updated on April 25, 2018.