TODAY IN HISTORY: Rosa Parks
In 1680, a comet appeared close to Earth and was clearly visible until the end of February.
In 1841, the first copyright in Canada was issued for "A Canadian Spelling Book."
In 1913, the first drive-in automobile service station opened in Pittsburgh.
In 1917, Father Ed Flanagan founded Boys Town, a home for poor, orphaned or problem children, in Omaha, Neb. In later years, the facility expanded to a farm and Flanagan travelled the world spreading his ideas on how to deal with delinquent boys.
In 1918, the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes united to form what would become Yugoslavia. The name change came in October 1929.
In 1919, millionaire Ambrose Small sold his Canada-wide chain of theatres and then within 24 hours disappeared without a trace. He sold his interests to TransCanada Theatres for $1.7 million. After receiving a down payment of $1 million, Small disappeared from his Toronto office. He is thought to have been murdered but the mystery has never been solved.
In 1922, driving on the right-hand side of the road began in New Brunswick.
In 1942, the Beveridge report, a white paper on social welfare commissioned by the British wartime government, was published. It laid the foundations for the modern welfare state in Britain.
In 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus. Parks was arrested, sparking a year-long boycott of the buses by blacks.
In 1959, 12 countries signed a pact in Washington making Antarctica a scientific preserve.
In 1960, the new terminal building at Montreal International Airport (Dorval) was officially opened.
In 1962, for the only time ever, the Grey Cup game failed to finish on the day it started. Fog at Toronto's CNE Stadium forced the game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats to be suspended in the fourth quarter. The game resumed the next day, but there was no further scoring as the Bombers won 28-27 to win their fourth CFL title in five years.
In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled that Canada Post does not have to provide door-to-door delivery.
In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was named prime minister of Pakistan, the first woman to lead a Muslim country in modern times, after her party won a plurality of seats in the parliamentary elections.
In 1989, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, 28, was granted political asylum in the United States after her Nov. 28 defection from Romania.
In 1992, in Mineola, N.Y., Amy Fisher was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for shooting and seriously wounding Mary Jo Buttafuoco — her lover's wife. Fisher served seven years.
In 1999, Canadian boxing officials cancelled an entire weight division at the national championships in Campbell River, B.C., rather than allow a young Sikh, Pardeep Nagar, to compete wearing a beard.
In 2000, Vicente Fox Quesada was sworn in as president of Mexico. He was the first national leader in 71 years who was not from the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary party.