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What happened on February 17 Please support our Sponsors - They help us keep this site Alive! 0197 Battle of Lugdunum - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats and kills his rival Clodius Albinus, securing full control over the Empire. 0763 Shi Chaoyi's head is delivered to Chang'an, ending the An Shi Rebellion. 1370 Battle at Rudau Germany beats Lithuania 1500 Battle of Hemmingstedt. 1568 Holy Roman Emperor agrees to pay annual tribute to Sultan for peace 1598 Boris Godunov chosen tsar of Russia 1600 Philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt alive at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, charged of heresy. 1621 Miles Standish appointed first commander of Plymouth colony 1621 Myles Standish is appointed as first commander of Plymouth colony. 1634 William Prynne tried in Star Chamber for publishing "Histriomastix" 1670 France & Bavaria sign military assistance treaty 1676 Kings Charles II & Louis XIV sign secret treaty 1691 Thomas Neale granted British patent for American postal service 1714 Parliament of Paris accepts Pope Clemens XI's "Unigenitus" degree 1753 February 17 is followed by March 1 as Sweden moves to the Gregorian from the Julian calendar. 1772 First partition of Poland-Russia & Prussia, joined later by Austria 1776 The first volume of Gibbon's "Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire" published 1791 Messier catalogs M83 (spiral galaxy in Hydra) 1795 Thomas Seddal harvests 8.3-kg potato from his garden Chester, England 1801 An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives. 1801 The U.S. House of Representatives elects Thomas Jefferson as President, to break the electoral vote tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr, who became vice president. 1801 Thomas Jefferson became the 2nd US President 1814 Battle of Mormans. 1817 First US city lit by gas (Baltimore) 1818 Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun patents "draisine" (early bicycle) 1819 The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise. 1841 Dutch ex-king Willem I marries Henriette d'Oultremont de Wégimont 1848 Toscane gets liberal Constitution 1854 British recognize independence of Orange Free State (South Africa) 1854 The British recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State. 1864 American Civil War: H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic. 1864 Confederate sub "HL Hunley" sinks Union ship "Housatonic" the first submarine to sink an enemy ship 1865 Battle of Charleston SC 1865 The city of Columbia, South Carolina, is set ablaze as Confederate troops evacuate, allowing Union forces to move in. 1867 Gyula Andressy becomes premier of Hungary 1867 The first ship passes through Suez Canal 1870 Mississippi becomes 9th state re-admitted to US after Civil War 1871 The victorious Prussian Army parades though Paris after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. 1876 Something fishy sardines are canned fo rthe first time 1878 First telephone exchange in San Francisco opens with 18 phones 1880 Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt 1882 The first Test Cricket match played at Sydney Cricket Ground 1883 A Ashwell patents free-toilet in London 1885 Bismarck gives Carl Peters' firm management of East-Africa 1896 London Country Councils' Muzzling Order becomes effective 1897 The National Congress of Mothers, later to become the national congress of the PTA, is founded in Washington, DC. 1904 Madama Butterfly premiers at La Scala in Milan. 1904 The Giacomo Puccini opera Madam Butterfly premieres at La Scala. 1905 Frances Willard becomes first woman honored in National Statuary Hall 1906 Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice marries in the White House 1911 First filght over water to & from a ship, by Glenn Curtiss, San Diego 1913 First minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon) 1913 New York Armory Show introduces Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp to US public, had we bought some pictures 1913 The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century. 1915 Edward Stone, first US combatant to die in WWI, is mortally wounded 1924 In Miami, Florida, Johnny Weissmuller sets a new world record in the 100-yard freestyle swimming competition with a time of 52-2/5 seconds. 1925 Harold Ross and Jane Grant found The New Yorker magazine; the debut issue is dated February 21, 1925. 1926 Avalanche buries 75 in Sap Gulch Bingham UT, 40 die 1930 French government of Tardieu, falls 1933 Newsweek magazine begins publication. 1933 The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States. 1933 The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time. 1933 US Senate accept Blaine Act ending prohibition 1936 "The Phantom" cartoon strip by Lee Falk debuts 1936 -58º F (-50º C), McIntosh SD (state record) 1936 The world's first superhero, The Phantom, makes his first appearance in comics. 1938 The first public experimental demonstration of Baird color TV (London) 1940 British destroyers board German Altmark off neutral Norway (at that time) and free Allied POW's 1941 Joe Louis KOs Gus Dorazio in 2 for heavyweight boxing title 1943 Dutch churches protest at Seyss-Inquart against persecution of Jews 1943 General-Major Bradley flies to Washington DC 1943 Hitler visits field marshal von Mansteins headquarters in Zaporozje 1943 New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio, enlists into the US army 1944 Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins; US victory on Feb 22 1944 US begins night bombing of Truk 1947 Dutch Roman Catholic bishops publish manifest against "godless communism" 1947 The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union. 1947 The Voice of America radio station begins broadcasting their signal to the USSR. 1949 Chaim Weizman elected first President of Israel 1950 31 die in a train crash in Rockville Center, New York 1953 Baseball star/pilot Ted Williams uninjured as plane shot down in Korea 1957 A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people. 1957 Fire in Warreton MO, kills 72 1957 Suez Canal reopens after British and French intervention in 1956 1958 Comic strip "BC" first appears 1958 Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare of Assisi (1193~1253) the patron saint of television. 1959 First weather satellite launched, Vanguard 2, 9.8 kg 1959 Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2 - The first weather satellite launched to measure cloud-cover distribution. 1962 A storm kills more than 300 people in Hamburg, West Germany. 1962 Beach Boys introduced a new musical style with their hit "Surfin" 1962 Storm in Hamburg, kills 265 1962 Visitor posting - February 17 1962 Patricia Marie Porche born in Houma, Louisiana 1963 Visitor posting - Michael Jordan was born - USA 1964 In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population. 1964 US House of Reps accept Law on the civil rights 1964 US Supreme court rules - 1 man 1 vote (Westberry vs Sanders) 1965 US Ranger 8 launched, will transmit 7,137 lunar pictures 1966 French satellite Diapason D-1A launch into Earth orbit 1966 Number one hit on UK music charts - Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walking 1967 Beatles release "Penny Lane" & "Strawberry Fields" 1967 Kosmos 140 (Soyuz test) launches into Earth orbit 1968 In Springfield, Massachusetts the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens. 1968 The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens in Springfield, MA. 1969 Golda Meir sworn in as Israel's first female prime minister 1970 Jeffrey McDonald slices up his wife & daughter 1970 Joni Mitchell's final concert (Royal Albert Hall) 1972 British Parliament votes to join European Common Market 1972 Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T. 1974 49 die in stampede for seats at soccer match, Cairo, Egypt 1974 Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House with a stolen helicopter. 1976 Macau adopts constitution (Organic Law of Macau) 1976 New Zealand scores their first innings win in Test Cricket, vs India 1979 China invades Vietnam 1979 Eric Heiden equals skating world record 1000 meter (1:14.99) 1979 The Sino-Vietnamese War begins. 1981 Chrysler Corp reports largest corporate losses in US history 1982 Commencement of Sri Lanka's first Test Cricket match, vs England 1983 Netherlands adopts constitution 1985 3rd person to receive an artificial heart (Murray Haydon) 1985 Postage rises from 20¢ to 22¢ 1986 Johnson & Johnson announces it no longer sells capsule drugs 1986 Libyan bombers attack N'djamena Airport in Chad 1986 The first Francophone Summit convenes at Versailles 1987 Michelle Renee Royer, 21, (Texas), crowned 36th Miss USA 1988 Lt. Col. William Higgins, a U.S. officer with the United Nations truce monitoring group, is kidnapped (and later slain) in southern Lebanon. 1989 6-week study of Arctic atmosphere shows no ozone "hole" 1989 Visitor posting - Martin Was Born - Ireland 1989 Former baseball player/manager Leo Durocher injured in a car crash 1989 Whitesnake's rocker David Coverdale weds actress Tawny Kitaen 1990 Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan gives videotaped testimony for a second day about the Iran-Contra affair, for the trial of former national security adviser, John Poindexter 1990 Visitor posting - Cort Knee was born in Atlanta. - USA 1992 A court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sentences serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to life in prison. 1992 In a Milwaukee courtroom, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced to life in prison. 1992 Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced to life in prison. 1993 Haitian ferry boat capsize in storm, 800-2,000 die 1994 Visitor posting - Brandon Hedrick is born - USA 1995 Colin Ferguson is convicted of six counts of murder for the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings and later receives a 200+ year sentence. 1995 Visitor posting - ami edwards born - USA 1995 Colin Fergusson found guilty of killing 6 people on the Long Island Railroad in New York 1995 Federal judge allows lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine was addictive & manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked 1995 The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a cease-fire brokered by the UN. 1996 In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match. 1996 Visitor posting - Amari Roper was born - USA 1996 in the Irian Jaya Region, Indonesia a 8.2 earthquake killed at least 108 people, 423 injured, 58 missing, 5,043 houses destroyed or damaged in the epicentral area. 1996 Visitor posting - Mike Markovitz Was Born - USA 1996 Visitor posting - Miranda Lynn Becker was born - USA 1997 Carl Sagan Public Memorial at Pasadena CA 1997 Weekly Standard shows evidence Larry Flint sex abused his daughter 1998 Diane Zamora, 20, Naval Academy cadet convicted of capital murder 1998 Larry Wayne Harris & Bill Levitt arrested for possession of anthrax 2000 Microsoft releases Windows 2000 2003 UK hist Start of Congestion Charge for traffic entering central London 2006 Over 1,000 people perished and buried alive in the town of St. Bernard in Southern Leyte, Philippines mudslide. 2008 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. It was the second declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions, the first having been proclaimed on 7 September 1990. 2009 Visitor posting - february 17 2009 heath was born 2009 Visitor posting - Blake Russ and Ashleigh Gay started dating - USA blake.alan217@gmail.com More historical events added daily - keep checking back Add your own Personal Historic listing FREE! - Click Here Return to Daily Calendar Contact us at: info @ datesinhistory.com (remove the spaces) "This site contains links to other Internet sites. These links are not endorsements of any products or services in such sites, and no information in such site has been endorsed or approved by this site. We are not responsible for the content of external sites. We do not vouch for accuracy of the dates listed on this site." Privacy Policy . What happened on my birthday? Search other websites with Google If you added a Personal Historic listing - Find it on Google Get a HOUSE for $23,000 ?? 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