02/18/2025
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This Day In History archive

1903 – Electric arc lamp sets fire to Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, leaving 602 people dead in one of the deadliest single-building blazes in American history.

1917 – A state record minus-37 degrees in Mountain City, Tennessee.

1924 – Astronomer Edwin Hubble formally announces existence of other galactic systems at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

1933 – Government disallows National Socialist Party (NSB) membership for civil servants.

1936 – United Auto Workers stage first sit-down strike at Fisher Body Plant in Flint, Michigan.

1942 – New York City’s Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theater, initiating the term “Sinatramanie.”

1950 – “Sixty Minute Man” record single released by The Dominoes. It wins Billboard Song of the Year for 1951.

1950 – “Tennessee Waltz” sung by Patti Page hits #1 on the Billboard Pop Chart and stays there for nine weeks.

1953 – The first NTSC color television sets go on sale for about $1,175 from RCA.

1959 – USS George Washington, the first ballistic missile submarine, is commissioned.

1963 – TV game show “Let’s Make A Deal,” hosted by Monty Hall, debuts on NBC-TV.

1968 – Frank Sinatra first records “My Way” with lyrics written by Paul Anka and based on the French song “Comme d’habitude.”

1972 – President Richard Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam and announces peace talks.

1980 – “Wonderful World of Disney” makes its last performance on NBC-TV.

1988 – Oliver North subpoenas President Ronald Reagan and President-elect George H.W. Bush as defense witnesses for his upcoming trial on criminal charges stemming from the Iran-Contra scandal.

1996 – United Nations announces that a total of 21 contracts have been approved for the limited Iraqi oil sales under Resolution 986 that established the Oil-for-Food Program.

2005 – Tropical Storm Zeta forms in the open Atlantic Ocean, tying the record set in the 1954-55 season for the latest tropical cyclone to form in the North Atlantic basin.

2013 – NFL head coach Mike Shanahan is fired by the Washington Redskins.

2019 – 86th Orange Bowl: #6 Florida State beats #24 Virginia 36-28.

2021 – Rare winter wildfire destroys nearly 1,000 homes at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in suburban neighborhoods between Boulder and Denver.

Sonny Jones
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