On April 30th...

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1555 Pope Marcellus II died.

1562 The first French colonists in America landed in Florida.

1598 The first theater performance in America was staged (the Spanish comedy Rio Grande).

1662 Queen Mary II of England was born.

1789 George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States.

1798 The Department of the Navy was created by act of Congress.

1803 The Louisiana Territory was purchased from France (the treaty was signed May 2, but dated April 30).

1806 Zebulon Pike completed his exploration of the Upper Mississippi River.

1808 The first practical typewriter was finished, by Pellegrini Turri.

1812 Louisiana became the 18th state.

1859 The first installment of Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities was published in literary periodical All the Year Round.

1861 President Abraham Lincoln ordered federal troops to evacuate Indian Territory.

1863 The Battle of Snyder's Bluff was fought.

1864 New York became the first state to charge a hunting license fee.
1864 The Battle of Jenkins' Ferry (Arkansas) was fought.

1883 Painter Edouard Manet died.

1885 The Boston Pops Orchestra was formed.

1894 Jacob S. Coxey led an "army" of unemployed men on a march from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington, D.C.

1900 Railroad engineer Casey Jones was killed when his train crashed into another train at Vaughan, Mississippi.
1900 The United States annexed Hawaii.

1908 Actress Eve Arden was born.

1909 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands was born.

1921 Roger Easton, inventor of GPS technology, was born.

1923 Actor Al Lewis was born.

1926 Actress Cloris Leachman was born.

1933 Singer Willie Nelson was born.

1938 Actor Gary Collins was born.
1938 Author Larry Niven was born.

1939 The New York World's Fair opened.

1941 Edwin S. Porter, director of the first film to tell a story (The Great Train Robbery), died.

1942 The first submarine built on the Great Lakes, Peto, was launched at Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

1943 Singer Bobby Vee was born.

1945 Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide.

1946 King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden was born.

1948 The Charter of the Organization of American States was signed by 21 nations.

1952 Mr. Potato Head became the first toy to be advertised on television.

1956 U.S. Vice President Alben W. Barkley died.

1963 Race car driver Michael Waltrip was born.

1974 Actress Agnes Moorehead died.

1975 Saigon surrendered to Viet Cong forces.

1980 Luis Muñoz Marín, the first elected Governor of Puerto Rico, died.

1982 Actress Kirsten Dunst was born.

1983 Choreographer George Balanchine died.
1983 Musician Muddy Waters died.

1993 The World Wide Web was "born."

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This page was last updated on August 29, 2018.