On May 11th...

links will open in a new window

1310 Fifty-four members of the Knights Templar were burned at the stake in France for being heretics.

1686 Physicist Otto von Guericke died.

1751 Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin founded Pennsylvania Hospital.

1752 The first fire insurance policy in the United States was issued in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1778 British statesman William Pitt died.

1792 Robert Gray discovered the mouth of the Columbia River.

1812 British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated.

1814 The Battle of Plattsburgh (New York) was fought.

1816 The American Bible Society was formed.

1831 Author John Trumbull died.

1833 The passenger ship Lady-of-the-Lake struck an iceberg and sank in the Noerth Atlantic, killing 215 persons.

1854 Ottmar Mergenthaler, Linotype inventor, was born.

1858 Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd state.

1871 Astronomer John Herschel died.

1887 Montrose, with Isaac Lewis aboard, won the Kentucky Derby.

1888 Composer Irving Berlin was born.

1892 Azra, with Lonnie Clayton aboard, won the Kentucky Derby.

1894 Dancer/choreographer Martha Graham was born.

1900 James J. Jeffries KO'd James J. Corbett in the 23rd round for the heavyweight boxing title.

1904 Painter Salvador Dali was born.

1906 Jackie Cochran, the first woman to break the sound barrier, was born.

1907 A chartered train jumped the tracks at a switch near Lompoc, California, killing 32 Shriners.

1910 Glacier National Park was created.

1911 Actor Phil Silvers was born.

1912 Worth, with Carol H. Shilling aboard, won the Kentucky Derby.
1912 Comedian Foster Brooks was born.

1917 King George V of the United Kingdom granted a Royal Letters Patent to New Zealand.

1918 Exterminator, with William Knapp aboard, won the Kentucky Derby.

1920 Actor Denver Pyle was born.
1920 Novelist William Dean Howells died.

1924 Mercedes-Benz was formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz.

1927 Charles Lindbergh completed a transcontinental flight from San Diego to New York City in record time.
1927 Louis B. Mayer formed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
1927 Comedian Mort Sahl was born.

1933 Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, was born.

1934 Senegalese politician Blaise Diagne died.

1937 The brand name SPAM was registered.

1940 The New York World's Fair opened for a second season.

1943 The U.S. 7th Division landed on Attu, in the Aleutian Islands.

1946 Robert Jarvik, co-inventor of the artificial heart, was born.

1947 Laos accepted a constitution establishing a parliamentary democracy.

1949 The Kingdom of Siam renamed itself Thailand.

1951 Jay Forrester patented computer core memory.

1953 A tornado killed 114 persons in Waco, Texas.

1954 Russell Stover, co-founder of Russell Stover Candies, died.

1956 The USS Nautilus was accepted for unrestricted service.

1958 Twelve miners were trapped when a gold mine in Malaya flooded.

1959 Martha Quinn, one of the original MTV veejays, was born.

1960 The French National Assembly approved a constitutional amendment permitting former French colonies to become independent but remain within the French Community.
1960 The government of Kenya announced plans to permit Africans to purchase land in the white highlands.
1960 Businessman John D. Rockefeller, Jr., died.

1963 A bomb destroyed the Birmingham, Alabama, home of the Reverend A. D. King, and another seriously damaged the city's Gaston Motel.

1965 Ellis Island was added to Statue of Liberty National Monument.

1968 The Montreal Canadiens defeated the St. Louis Blues to win the Stanley Cup.

1969 The Monty Python comedy troupe was formed.

1972 The Boston Bruins defeated the New York Rangers to win the Stanley Cup.

1976 ABC-TV aired the final new episode of "Marcus Welby, MD."

1978 Margaret A. Brewer became the first female General in the U. S. Marine Corps.

1979 Musician Lester Flatt died.

1980 Pete Rose stole second, third, and home in one inning for the Philadelphia Phillies.

1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats premiered in London, England.
1981 Singer Bob Marley died.

1985 Fire at the Bradford City football ground killed 56 persons and injured 265 others.
1985 "Dick Tracy" creator Chester Gould died.

1987 The first heart-lung transplant took place in Baltimore, Maryland.

1988 Mario Andretti recorded the fastest ever lap at Indianapolis, 221.565 miles per hour.

1996 A Valujet DC-9 crashed in Miami, Florida, killing 109 persons.

1997 The Deep Blue computer defeated chess master Garry Kasparov 3.5-2.5.

1998 India conducted three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including a thermonuclear device.

2001 Author Douglas Adams died.

2006 Boxer Floyd Patterson died.

2009 An American soldier opened fire on a counseling center atCamp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 5 U. S. soldiers and injuring 3 others.

2010 Imelda Marcos won election to the Philippine House of Representatives, representing Ilocos Norte.

2013 Two car bombings killed 43 persons in Reyhanli, Turkey.

2016 The Brazilian Senate voted to suspend President Dilma Rousseff and put her on trial for budgetary violations.

Questions or comments about this page?

This page was last updated on May 10, 2018.