On February 28th...

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1648 Christian IV, King of Denmark and Norway, died.

1749 The first edition of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones was published.

1759 Pope Clement XIII allowed the Bible to be translated into various languages.

1778 The Rhode Island General Assembly authorized the enlistment of slaves.

1784 John Wesley chartered the Methodist Church.

1787 The charter establishing the institution now known as the University of Pittsburgh was granted.

1794 The U.S. Senate voided Pennsylvania's election of Albert Gallatin.

1810 The first U.S. fire insurance joint-stock company was organized in Philadelphia.

1827 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was incorporated.

1844 A 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing six civilians.*

1850 The University of Utah opened.

1854 The Republican Party was formed by anti-slavery activists in Ripon, Wisconsin.

1859 The Arkansas Legislature required free blacks to choose exile or slavery.

1861 The Territories of Nevada and Colorado were created.

1883 The first vaudeville theater opened in Boston, Massachusetts.

1893 Edward Acheson patented an abrasive he named "carborundum."

1894 Author and newspaperman Ben Hecht was born.

1901 Chemist Linus Pauling was born.

1903 Film director Vincente Minnelli was born.

1906 Mob boss Bugsy Siegel was born.

1915 Actor Zero Mostel was born.

1922 Great Britain recognized the independence of Egypt.

1931 Actor Gavin MacLeod was born.
1931 College basketball coach Dean Smith was born.

1932 The last Model A Ford rolled off the assembly line.

1935 Wallace Carothers manufactured the first nylon polymer.

1940 The University of Pittsburgh beat Fordham University (50-37) in the first ever basketball game to be televised.
1940 Auto racer Mario Andretti was born.

1941 King Alfonso XIII of Spain died.

1942 Actor Frank Bonner was born.

1945 Football player Bubba Smith was born.

1948 Actress Bernadette Peters was born.

1952 Vincent Massey took the oath as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.

1953 James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced their discovery of the structure of DNA.

1956 An F-104A Starfighter became the first aircraft to reach Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound).
1956 Jay Forrester was issued a patent for computer core memory.

1959 The world's first polar-orbiting satellite, Discoverer I, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

1966 American astronauts Elliott M. See, Jr., and Charles A. Bassett died when their T-38 jet trainer crashed at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri.
1966 The United States launched ESSA-2 into orbit.

1967 Harry Luce, founder of Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune magazines, died.

1968 Singer Frankie Lymon died.

1977 Singer Jason Aldean was born.
1977 Actor Eddie Anderson died.

1983 The final episode of M*A*S*H* aired.

1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated.

1987 U.S. Air Force General William Fulton McKee died.

1991 Iraq formally accepted all 12 resolutions made by the United Nations, ending the Gulf War.

1993 The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

1994 The Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, went into effect.

1995 Denver International Airport opened.

2004 Historian Daniel Boorstin died.

2007 Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., died.

2009 Radio personality Paul Harvey died.

2011 Actress Jane Russell died.

2016 Actor Frank Kelly died.
2016 Actor George Kennedy died.

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This page was last updated on September 02, 2018.