On January 19th...

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1493 France ceded Roussillon and Cerdagne to Spain via the Treaty of Barcelona.

1511 Mirandola, Italy, surrendered to the French.

1544 King Francis II of France was born.

1607 San Agustin Church in Manila, Philippines, was officially completed.

1668 King Louis XIV and Emperor Leopold I signed a treaty dividing Spain.

1736 Inventor James Watt was born.

1807 Civil War General Robert E. Lee was born.

1809 Author Edgar Allan Poe was born.

1813 Henry Bessemer, inventor and founder of the modern steel industry, was born.

1825 Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett obtained a patent for food storage in tin cans.

1839 Aden was conquered by the British East India Company.
1839 Painter Paul Cézanne was born.

1840 An expedition led by Charles Wilkes discovered Antarctica.

1861 Georgia became the fifth state to secede from the Union.

1862 The Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky (also known as Fishing Creek and Logan's Crossroads) was fought.

1865 Union forces occupied Fort Anderson, North Carolina.

1871 The first Negro lodge of Masons in the United States was approved, in New Jersey.

1883 The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires began service in Roselle, New Jersey.

1903 The first regular transatlantic radio broadcast between the United States and England took place.
1903 The Tour de France was inaugurated.

1905 Newspaper publisher Oveta Culp Hobby was born.

1906 Painter Paul Cézane was born.

1910 The National Institute of Arts and Letters was incorporated by the U. S. Congress.

1913 Rudolf Walter Wanderone, aka billiards player "Minnesota Fats,"was born.

1915 The neon tube sign was patented by George Claude.

1917 A munitions factory in Essex, England, exploded, killing 73 persons.

1919 Elections were held in Germany to form a National Constituent Assembly and draft a constitution.

1921 Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador signed the Pact of Union.

1922 A geological survey declared that the U. S. oil supply would be depleted within 20 years.

1923 Actress Jean Stapleton was born.

1929 Acadia National Park was established in Maine.

1930 Actress Tippi Hedren was born.

1935 Coopers Inc. sold the world's first men's briefs, which it called "Jockey," in Chicago, Illinois.

1939 Singer Phil Everly was born.

1942 Japanese forces invaded Burma.

1943 The first Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began.
1943 Singer Janis Joplin was born.

1944 Actress Shelley Fabares was born.

1946 Singer Dolly Parton was born.

1947 Chef Paula Deen was born.

1953 Actor Desi Arnaz, Jr., was born.

1954 Actress Katey Sagal was born.

1955 The first presidential news conference filmed for television was held by Dwight D. Eisenhower.
1955 The board game Scrabble went on the market.

1957 Three hundred and ninety-two people were killed when the Greek steamer Himara sank after striking a mine off Rafina, Greece.

1958 The Canadian Football Council was renamed the Canadian Football League.
1958 Painter Thomas Kinkade was born.

1971 "No, No Nanette" opened at the 46th Street Theater in New York City, New York.

1974 Notre Dame ended UCLA's NCAA-record 88-game basketball win streak.

1975 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission went into operation.
1975 Painter Thomas Hart Benton died.

1977 Snow fell in Miami, Florida, for the first time in the city's history.
1977 U. S. President Gerald Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D'Aquino, aka Tokyo Rose.

1978 The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany rolled out of the plant in Emden.

1980 William O. Douglas, former Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, died.

1981 The United States and Iran signed an agreement to release 52 American hostages.

1982 Actress Jodie Sweetin was born.

1988 "48 Hours" premiered on CBS-TV.

1990 Religious leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh died.

1991 Eastern Airlines ceased operations.

1992 Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson was born.

1998 Musician Carl Perkins died.

2000 Actress Hedy Lamarr died.

2006 The New Horizons probe was launched on a mission to Pluto.
2006 A suicide bomber killed himself and injured 20 persons in Tel Aviv, Israel.
2006 Singer Wilson Pickett died.

2008 Actress Suzanne Pleshette died.

2013 Four climbers were killed by an avalanche in Glen Coe, Scotland.

2017 The collapse of a high-rise building in Tehran, Iran, killed 20 firefighters.

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This page was last updated on January 19, 2019.