On December 26th...

Boxing Day

Links will open in a new window.

795 Leo III was elected Pope.

1492 The first Spanish settlement in the New World was established.

1530 Babar, first Mogul Emperor, died.

1620 The Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1659 The "Long Parliament" reformed in Westminster.

1776 The Continental Army defeated the Hessians at Trenton, New Jersey.

1784 Seth Warner, leader of the Green Mountain Boys, died.

1791 Mathematician Charles Babbage was born.

1805 France and Austria signed the Peace of Pressburg.
1805 The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts was established.

1837 U.S. Admiral George Dewey was born.

1848 The Phi Delta Theta fraternity was founded at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

1854 Wood-pulp paper was first exhibited, in Buffalo, New York.

1858 James Gadsden, American statesman who negotiated the Gadsden Purchase, died.

1862 The first U.S. Navy hospital ship entered service.

1865 James H. Mason patented a coffee percolator.

1866 U.S. General Samuel Ryan Curtis died.

1870 The Frejus Rail Tunnel through the Alps was completed.

1877 The Socialist Labor Party of North America held its first national convention.

1890 Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann died.

1891 Author Henry Miller was born.

1893 Mao Zedong, principal founder of the People's Republic of China, was born.

1907 American politician Albert Gore, Sr., was born.

1909 Artist Frederic Remington died.

1913 Journalist and author Ambrose Gwinnet Bierce was heard from for the last time.

1914 Actor Richard Widmark was born.

1917 The U.S. government took over operation of American railroads.

1919 The Boston Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.

1921 Talk show host Steve Allen was born.

1924 Judy Garland, billed as Baby Frances, made her show business debut, at 2-1/2 years of age.

1927 Comedian Alan King was born.

1931 Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System, died.

1933 FM radio was patented by Edwin Howard Armstrong.

1935 Étienne Eyadéma, President of Togo, was born.

1942 American politician Gray Davis was born.

1945 "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh was born.

1946 The Flamingo Hotel opened in Las Vegas, Nevada.

1947 Baseball player Carlton Fisk was born.

1951 The film The African Queen was released in Los Angeles, California.

1954 Baseball player Ozzie Smith was born.

1956 Automobile designer/builder Preston Tucker died.

1963 Drummer Lars Ulrich was born.

1968 Led Zeppelin made its concert debut in Denver, as the opener for Vanilla Fudge.

1972 Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States, died.

1973 The Exorcist premiered.

1974 Comedian Jack Benny died.

1979 Soviet Special Forces took over the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan.
1979 Singer Chris Daughtry was born.

1985 Anthropologist Dian Fossey was murdered.

1986 The last new episode of "Search for Tomorrow" aired on NBC-TV.

1989 Hockey player Doug Harvey died.

1996 JonBenét Ramsey was found beaten and strangled to death in the basement of her family's home.

1997 The Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of Martinique exploded.

1999 Musician Curtis Mayfield died.

2000 Actor Jason Robards died.

2001 Actor Nigel Hawthorne died.

2003 A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastated Bam, Iran, and killed tens of thousands.

2004 A magnitude 9.3 earthquake created a tsunami that devastated much of the Indian Ocean region and killed some 230,000 persons.
2004 Football player Reggie White died.

2006 Gerald R. Ford, 38th President of the United States, died.

2010 Salvador Jorge Blanco, former President of Dominican Republic, died.

Questions or comments about this page?

This page was last updated on December 26, 2018.