1493 – Christopher Columbus left the New World on return from his first voyage.
    1754 – Columbia University was founded as Kings College.
    1780 - A snowstorm hits Washington's army at Morristown New Jersey.
    1790 – President George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address
    1838 - Charles Sherwood Stratton (d. 1883), known as “Tom Thumb”, perhaps the most famous midget in history, was born at Bridgeport, CT. He eventually reached a height of three feet, four inches and a weight of 70 pounds. Discovered by P.T. Barnum in 1842, Stratton, as “General Tom Thumb,” became an internationally known entertainer and performed before Queen Victoria and other heads of state. On Feb 10, 1863, he married another midget, Lavinia Warren.
    1847 - Samuel Colt rescues the future of his faltering gun company by winning a contract to provide the U.S. government with 1,000 of his .44 caliber revolvers. Before Colt began mass-producing his popular revolvers in 1847, handguns had not played a significant role in the history of either the American West or the nation as a whole. With the help of Eli Whitney and other inventors, Colt developed a system of mass production and interchangeable parts for his pistols that greatly lowered their cost. Though never cheap, by the early 1850s, Colt revolvers were inexpensive enough to be a favorite with Americans headed westward during the California Gold Rush. Between 1850 and 1860, Colt sold 170,000 of his "pocket" revolvers and 98,000 "belt" revolvers, mostly to civilians looking for a powerful and effective means of self-defense in the Wild West.
    1863 - Union General Henry Halleck, by direction of President Abraham Lincoln, orders General Ulysses Grant to revoke his infamous General Order No. 11 that expelled Jews from his operational area.
    1865 - The NYSE opened its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad in New York City.
    1869 - The first School for blind African-American students was the state School for the Blind and the Deaf, opened in Raleigh, NC, with 26 pupils.  
    1888 - Sacramento, CA, received 3.5 inches of snow, an all-time record for that location. The heaviest snow in recent history was two inches on February 5th in 1976.
    1889 - The Oklahoma Land Rush opened 2 million acres of former Indian Territory in Oklahoma Territory to first serve first come settlers on April 22.
    1893 - President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation granting full amnesty and pardon to all persons who had since November 1, 1890, abstained from unlawful cohabitation of a polygamous marriage. This was intended in the main for a specific group of elderly Mormons who had continued in the practice of contracting serial marriages. Amnesty was based on the condition that those pardoned must obey the law in the future or be “vigorously prosecuted." The practice of polygamy as a factor interfering with attainment of statehood for Utah.
    1896 - Six years after Wilford Woodruff, president of the Mormon Church, issued his Manifesto reforming political, religious, and economic life in Utah, the territory is admitted into the Union as the 45th state. In 1823, Vermont-born Joseph Smith claimed that an angel named Moroni visited him and told him about an ancient Hebrew text that had lost been lost for 1,500 years. The holy text, supposedly engraved on gold plates by a Native-American historian in the fourth century, related the story of Jewish peoples who had lived in America in ancient times. Over the next six years, Smith dictated an English translation of this text to his wife and other scribes, and in 1830, The Book of Mormon was published. In the same year, Smith founded the Church of Christ, later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Fayette, New York. The religion rapidly gained converts and Smith set up Mormon communities in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. However, the Christian sect was also heavily criticized for its unorthodox practices and on June 27, 1844, Smith and his brother were murdered in a jail cell by an anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois. Two years later, Smith's successor, Brigham Young, led an exodus of persecuted Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois, along the western wagon trails in search of religious and political freedom. In July 1847, the 148 initial Mormon pioneers reached Utah's Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Upon viewing the valley, Young declared: "This is the place," and the pioneers began preparations for the tens of thousands of Mormon migrants who would follow. In 1850, President Millard Fillmore named Young the first governor of the territory of Utah, and the territory enjoyed relative autonomy for several years. Relations became strained, however, when reports reached Washington that Mormon leaders were disregarding federal law and had publicly sanctioned the practice of polygamy. In 1857, President James Buchanan removed Young, a polygamist with over 20 wives, from his position as governor, and sent U.S. army troops to Utah to establish federal authority. Tensions between the territory of Utah and the federal government continued until Wilford Woodruff, the president of the Mormon Church, issued his Manifesto in 1890, renouncing the traditional practice of polygamy, and reducing the domination of the church over Utah communities. Six years later, the territory of Utah was granted statehood.
    1901 - The Baltimore American League baseball club incorporated, with John McGraw as manager and part owner.  Pay attention here as this team has no relation to the current Orioles, aside from the name.  These Orioles played in the AL in Baltimore in 1901-2.  During the 1902 season, AL President Ban Johnson took control as the team had difficulty fielding nine players and financial difficulties.  During the 1902 off-season, the league sold the team to Frank Farrell and Bill Devery for $18,000.  They moved the team to New York, renaming them the Highlanders.  In 1913, they became the Yankees.
    1915 - Moses Alexander of Idaho, a Democrat, became the first governor in the United States who was Jewish. He served from January 4, 1915 to January 6, 1919.
    1916 - Guitarist Sam Gaillard, Detroit, MI.
    1922 – Jazz tenor and flute player Frank Wess birthday http://www.npr.org/programs/btaylor/pastprograms/fwess.html
    1926 - "Billboard" Magazine published the first list of best-selling pop records, covering the week that ending 1935. On the list were recordings by the orchestras of Tommy Dorsey and Ozzie Nelson.
    1930 - Don Shula, Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and former player born Painesville, Ohio.
    1935 - Bob Hope was first heard on network radio as part of "The Intimate Revue".
    1935 - Heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson born Lincolnton, GA.
    1942 - British jazz-rock guitarist John McLaughlin was born. He first gained recognition for his work on Miles Davis's "Bitches' Brew" album, and later formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra. This group did much in the 1970's to promote the idea of fusing jazz and rock music.
    1942 – Rogers Hornsby became the 14th player selected to the Hall of Fame. Hornsby's offensive numbers rival those of any player before or since. He and Ted Williams are the only players to win the Triple Crown twice, and Hornsby's .424 mark in 1924 is the highest NL batting average in the 20th century.
    1944 - San Francisco Giants' Tito Fuentes born Havana, Cuba.
    1945 - JACHMAN, ISADORE S., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Place and date: Flamierge, Belgium, 4 January 1945. Entered service at: Baltimore, Md. Birth: Berlin, Germany. G.O. No.: 25, 9 June 1950. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at Flamierge, Belgium, on 4 January 1945, when his company was pinned down by enemy artillery, mortar, and small arms fire, 2 hostile tanks attacked the unit, inflicting heavy casualties. S/Sgt. Jachman, seeing the desperate plight of his comrades, left his place of cover and with total disregard for his own safety dashed across open ground through a hail of fire and seizing a bazooka from a fallen comrade advanced on the tanks, which concentrated their fire on him. Firing the weapon alone, he damaged one and forced both to retire. S/Sgt. Jachman's heroic action, in which he suffered fatal wounds, disrupted the entire enemy attack, reflecting the highest credit upon himself and the parachute infantry.
    1948 - Top Hits
“Ballerina” - Vaughn Monroe
“How Soon” - Jack Owens
“Serenade of the Bells” - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Don Cornell)
“I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)” - Eddy Arnold
    1950 - Two years after Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record, RCA announces its intention to follow suit.
    1954 - A young truck driver named Elvis Presley enters the Memphis Recording Service in Memphis, TN, ostensibly to record a song for his mother's birthday (which was, in reality, many months away). He records "Casual Love Affair" and "I’ll Never Stand in Your Way." It was this recording that would lead MRS head Sam Phillips to call Presley back to record for his Sun Records label.
  1956 - Top Hits
“Memories are Made of This” - Dean Martin
“The Great Pretender” - The Platters
“Band of Gold” - Don Cherry
“Sixteen Tons” - Tennessee Ernie Ford
    1957 - On NBC's “The Steve Allen Show”, former heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis introduces the world to singer Solomon Burke, who performs Louis' song "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide."
    1957 - Elvis Presley reports for his pre-induction Army physical in Memphis.
    1957 - The Brooklyn Dodgers, very close to moving to LA, bought a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000, which they will use to transport the club during the season. The Dodgers are the first Major League team to own their own plane.
    1958 – Russia’s Sputnik I falls to Earth from orbit.
    1959 - “College Bowl” premiered on TV. Originally, a quiz show on CBS. Two colleges sent a team of their best and brightest to the academic competition. “College Bowl” was sponsored by General Electric and hosted by Allen Ludden (1959—62) and Robert Earle (1962—70). More recent incarnations of ”College Bowl” have appeared on NBC and Disney with Pat Sajak and Dick Cavett as hosts.
    1960 - Marty Robbins' "El Paso" hits #1
    1964 - Bobby Vinton's "There! I've Said it Again" hits #1
    1964 - Top Hits
“There! I’ve Said It Again” - Bobby Vinton
“Louie Louie” - The Kingsmen
“Forget Him” - Bobby Rydell
“Love’s Gonna Live Here” - Buck Owen
    1965 - Leo Fender sells Fender Guitars to CBS for $13 million.
    1970 - The Minnesota Vikings became the first expansion team to win the NFL title when they defeated the Cleveland Browns 27-7 in Minneapolis. The Vikings went on to lose Super Bowl IV to the Kansas City Chiefs.
    1970 - The Kansas City Chiefs, aided by four interceptions, defeated the Oakland Raiders 17-7, in the last American Football League Championship game. The Chiefs went on to defeat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.
    1970 - Keith Moon of The Who accidentally runs over his chauffeur, Neil Boland, killing him. Apparently, Moon's car was under attack from some unruly teenagers, and when Boland jumped out to get them to move, Moon, in a panic, got behind the wheel to drive the car away himself.  Unfortunately, the crowd had since pushed Boland under the car.
    1971 - Gerald Garrison Hearst, great 49er, number 20, born Lincolnton, Ga.
    1971 - A blizzard raged from Kansas to Wisconsin, claiming 27 lives in Iowa. Winds reached 50 mph, and the storm produced up to 20 inches of snow.
    1972 - Top Hits
“Brand New Key” - Melanie
“American Pie” - Don McLean
“An Old Fashioned Love Song” - Three Dog Night
“Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” - Charley Pride
    1974 - In a NHL game between the Boston Bruins and the Minnesota North Stars, Bruins winger Dave Forbes punched Henry Boucha, fracturing his cheekbone and opening a cut that required 30 stitches to close Forbes was later indicted for using “excessive force,” becoming the first professional athlete to be prosecuted for actions taken during a game. His trial that summer ended in a hung jury after which all charges were dropped.
    1974 - President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents that had been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. Marking the beginning of the end of his Presidency, Nixon would resign from office in disgrace eight months later.
    1975 - Phoebe Snow's "Poetry Man" enters the pop charts
    1975 - Elton John's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" hits #1
    1977 – Mary Shane was hired by the Chicago White Sox as the first woman TV play-by-play announcer in the Majors.
    1980 - Top Hits
“Escape” (“The Pina Colada Song”) - Rupert Holmes
“Please Don’t Go” - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
“Send One Your Love” - Stevie Wonder
“Happy Birthday Darlin’” - Conway Twitty
    1982 - Milwaukee, WI, was shut down completely as a storm buried the city under 16 inches of snow in 24 hours. It was the worst storm in thirty-five years.
    1984 – “Night Court" premiered on television. The original cast included Harry Anderson as Judge Harry T. Stone, John Larroquette as prosecutor Dan Fielding, Richard Moll as court officer Bull Shannon, and Selma Diamond as court officer Selma Hacker.  Karen Austin as clerk Lana Wagner and Paula Kelly as public defender Liz Williams were gone after one season, Ellen Foley then became PD Billie Young but was replaced by Markie Post in 1985 as PD Christine Sullivan. Charles Robinson joined the cast as clerk Mac Robinson in 1985. Diamond died in 1985 and Florence Halop, who then appeared as court officer Florence Kleiner, died in 1986. Marsha Warfield was then brought aboard as Court Officer Roz Russell. Mel Tormé made a few appearances as himself, Harry’s idol. The last telecast was July 1, 1992.
    1984 - The last Van Halen album with David Lee Roth as lead singer, "1984”, was released. Sammy Hagar was Roth's replacement.
    1985 - To honor team president and former coach Arnold “Red” Auerbach, the Boston Celtics retired uniform number 2 in a ceremony prior to a game against the New York Knicks. Auerbach begin coaching the Celtics in 1950-51 and led them to 16 NBA championships as coach, general manager and president.
    1985 - The Cowboys play their record 36th postseason game, but Eric Dickerson steals the show, rushing for a playoff-record 248 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Los Angeles Rams to a 20-0 victory over Dallas.
    1987 - A storm moving off the Pacific Ocean spread wintery weather across the southwestern U.S., with heavy snow extending from southern California to western Wyoming. Up to 15 inches of snow blanketed the mountains of southern California, and rainfall totals in California ranged up to 2.20 inches in the Chino area.
    1988 - Frigid arctic air invading the central and eastern U.S. left Florida about the only safe refuge from the cold and snow. A storm in the western U.S. soaked Bodega Bay in central California with 3.12 inches of rain.
    1988 - Top Hits
“Faith” - George Michael
“So Emotional” - Whitney Houston
“Got My Mind Set on You” - George Harrison
“Somewhere Tonight” - Highway 101
    1989 - Up to a foot of snow blanketed the mountains of West Virginia, and strong winds in the northeastern U.S. produced wind chill readings as cold as 60 degrees below zero in Maine. Mount Washington, NH reported wind gusts to 136 mph along with a temperature of 30 below zero!
    1990 - A winter storm moving out of the southwestern U.S. spread heavy snow across Nebraska and Iowa into Wisconsin. Snowfall totals in Nebraska ranged up to 7 inches at Auburn and Tecumseh. Totals in Iowa ranged up to 11 inches at Carlisle. In Iowa, most of the snow fell between midnight and 4 AM.
    1990 - Feminists' long-sought family leave program became a reality in New Jersey when Governor Jim Florio signed a bill that requires employers to give their employees up to 12 weeks off to care for a newborn or adopted child, or for an ill or injured immediate family member. The leave is unpaid, but health insurance and other benefits stay in effect and the furloughed workers would be guaranteed their old job or its equivalent. President Bill Clinton would get the same basic bill passed by the U.S. Congress three years later. Women who usually act as the family caretakers in time of sickness are the workers with the most need for these laws.
    1994 - A major winter storm blanketed much of the northeastern U.S. with heavy snow. More than two feet was reported in northwestern Pennsylvania, with 33 inches at Waynesburg. There were ten heart attacks, and 185 injuries, related to the heavy snow in northwest Pennsylvania. Whiteout conditions were reported in Vermont and northeastern New York State. A wind gusts to 75 mph was clocked at Shaftsbury, VT. In the Adirondacks of eastern New York State, the town of Tupper reported five inches of snow between 1 PM and 2 PM
    1995 - Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) was formally elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was the first Republican to hold the post in 40 years and the first Georgia Speaker in over 100 years.
    1999 - Minnesota inaugurated pro wrestler Jesse Ventura as its 38th governor. The only Reform Party candidate to ever win statewide office, Ventura had shocked the political establishment by defeating Attorney General Hubert H. (Skip) Humphrey III and St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman in an upset victory.
    2000 - The NASDAQ composite index was hit for its worst point loss, falling more than 229 points (5.6 percent) to 3,901. The market appeared to be concerned about future Fed rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 359 points (3.2 percent) to 10,997.
    2007 - Nancy Pelosi is elected Speaker of the House, by a vote of 233-202.  She became the first female Speaker in history.
    2014 - Record-low temperatures are expected in the U.S. due to a 'polar vortex'.  Forecasters anticipate this tunnel of cold air funneling all the way from the North Pole to the U.S. could bring temperatures as low as 15 degrees in Chicago and 25 below zero in Fargo, North Dakota.