On May 3rd...

links will open in a new window

1342 Count Hartmann II became ruler of Vaduz.

1469 Italian Renaissance author Niccolò Machiavelli was born.

1491 Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga was baptized by Portuguese missionaries and adopted the Christian name João I.

1494 Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica.

1558 Ferdinand I was officially appointed Holy Roman Emperor.

1616 The Treaty of Loudon ended the French Civil War.

1626 Native Americans sold Manhattan Island for the equivalent of $24.

1662 Connecticut was granted a royal charter.

1715 A French manufacturer debuted the first folding umbrella in Paris.

1747 Willem IV was appointed Viceroy of Holland/Utrecht.

1758 Pope Benedict XIV died.

1765 The first American medical school opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1780 The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded.

1791 The Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth proclaimed the first modern constitution in Europe.

1802 Washington, D. C., was incorporated as a city.

1808 Sweden lost the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.

1815 Austria defeated King Joachim of Naples in the Battle of Tolentino.

1822 The Society for the Propagation of the Faith was founded in Lyon, France.

1837 The University of Athens (Greece) was founded.

1841 New Zealand was proclaimed a colony independent of New South Wales.

1845 Macon B. Allen became the first black to be admitted to the bar in Massachusetts.
1845 Fire in a Canton, China, theater killed 1,600 people.

1846 The State of Michigan abolished the death penalty.

1849 Jacob A. Riis, newspaperman and social reformer, was born.

1850 "Wild West" outlaw Johnny Ringo was born.

1855 The Antwerp-Rotterdam Railway opened.

1860 Charles XV of Sweden-Norway was crowned King of Sweden.

1863 The Battle of Fredericksburg (Virginia) was fought.
1863 The Battle of Chancellorsville (Virginia) ended when the Union Army withdrew.

1867 The Hudson's Bay Company gave up all claims to Vancouver Island.

1871 "Wild West" outlaw Emmett Dalton was born.

1898 Golda Meir, 4th Prime Minister of Israel, was born.

1900 Jimmy Boland rode Lieutenant Gibson to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1901 Fire destroyed 1,700 buildings in Jacksonville, Florida.

1902 Jimmy Winkfield rode Alan-a-Dale to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1902 Physicist Alfred Kastler was born.

1903 Singer Bing Crosby was born.

1906 Actress Mary Astor was born.

1909 Vincent Powers rode Wintergreen to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1913 Playwright William Inge was born.

1916 Irish revolutionary Thomas James Clarke was executed for his participation in the Easter Rising.

1919 Singer/songwriter Pete Seeger was born.

1921 West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax in America.
1921 Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard was born.

1923 The first nonstop North American transcontinental flight (New York, New York, to San Diego, California) was completed.

1926 U. S. Marines landed in Nicaragua.

1932 Al Capone entered Atlanta Penitentiary after being convicted of income tax evasion.

1933 Nellie Tayloe Ross took office as the first female director of the U. S. Mint.

1933 Singer James Brown was born.

1934 Singer Frankie Valli was born.

1935 Businessman Ron Popeil was born.

1936 Joe DiMaggio made his Major League debut, with 3 hits for the New York Yankees.

1938 Lefty Grove defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-3 for the first of his record 20 consecutive home field wins, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

1940 Businessmen David and William Koch were born.

1941 Eddie Arcaro rode Whirlaway to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1942 The Battle of the Coral Sea began.

1943 The U. S. 1st Armored Division occupied Mateur, Tunisia.

1945 The German ship Cap Arcona, laden with prisoners of war, was sunk by the Royal Air Force in the East Sea, killing 5,800 people.

1946 The International Military Tribunal opened in Tokyo, Japan.

1947 Japan's post-war constitution went into effect.
1947 Eric Guerin rode Jet Pilot to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1947 Magician Doug Henning was born.

1948 The "CBS Evening News" premiered.

1951 Royal Festival Hall opened in London, England.
1951 Singer Christopher Cross was born.

1952 The Kentucky Derby was televised for the first time.
1952 An airplane landed at the geographic North Pole for the first time.

1958 Ismael Valenzuela rode Tim Tam to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1962 A total of 163 persons were killed when a commuter train plowed into the wreckage and crowds of survivors of a commuter-freight train crash near downtown Tokyo, Japan.

1965 An earthquake killed about 100 persons in San Salvador, El Salvador.

1969 Bill Hartack rode Majestic Prince to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1969 The President of India, Zahir Husain, died.

1970 The New York Knicks defeated the Los AngelesLakers for the NBA Championship.

1971 National Public Radio began broadcasting.

1973 The Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois, became the world's tallest building.

1975 Jacinto Vasquez rode Foolish Pleasure to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1975 Actor Dulé Hill was born.

1978 The first unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail ("spam") was sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.

1980 Jacinto Vasquez rode Genuine Risk to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1986 Bill Shoemaker rode Ferdinand to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1986 Actor Robert Alda died.

1997 Gary Stevens rode Silver Charm to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1999 A tornado struck Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 42 persons and injuring 665.

2000 The first geocaching cache was placed and its coordinates were posted on Usenet.
2000 John Cardinal O'Connor, Archbishop of New York, died.

2002 Amilitary fighter jet crashed into a bank in Rajasthan, India, killing 8 persons.

2003 New Hampshire's "Old Man of the Mountain" collapsed.
2003 Jose Santos rode Funny Cide to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

2006 Armavia Flight 967 crashed into the Black Sea, killing all 113 persons aboard.

2007 Astronaut Wally Schirra died.

2008 Kent Desormeaux rode Big Brown to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

2011 Actor Jackie Cooper died.

2014 Victor Espinoza rode California Chrome to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

Questions or comments about this page?

This page was last updated on May 02, 2018.