IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
In 1688, the first stone was laid for Notre-Damedes-Victoires in Place Royal, Que. It is Canada’s oldest surviving church. — In 1707, Scotland and England were united under the name Great Britain.
— In 1873, Christian missionary-explorer David Livingstone was found dead at Chitambo, now in Zambia. He was responsible for “opening up” central Africa and for popularizing missions to that continent.
— In 1884, construction began on the first skyscraper, a 10-storey structure in Chicago built by the Home Insurance Co. of New York. — In 1888, New York state adopted electrocution for capital punishment.
— In 1888, Lord Stanley of Preston became Canada’s governor general. He donated hockey’s Stanley Cup in 1893.
— In 1898, Commodore George Dewey gave the command, “You may fire when you are ready, Gridley,” as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish squadron in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.
— In 1912, Canada's first $5 note was issued.
— In 1920, the longest game in major league baseball history was called after 26 innings due to darkness. The host Boston Braves tied the Brooklyn Dodgers 1-1. Both pitchers, Leon Cadore of Brooklyn and Boston’s Joe Oeschger, went the distance.
— In 1921, the Quebec government took control of the sale of liquor in the province. For a time, Quebec was the only jurisdiction in North America that did not have prohibition. — In 1931, the $40 million Empire State Building was completed in New York. It held the title of the world's tallest building for two decades.
— In 1941, the Orson Welles film "Citizen Kane" premiered in New York.
— In 1945, German radio reported Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was dead. U.S. 3rd Army tanks captured the Braunau, Austrian town where Hitler was born, and the Danish underground reported the Germans had abandoned Denmark.
— In 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, known as North Korea, was proclaimed.
— In 1960, Cold War tensions reached one of their highest levels when an American spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union. Powers was later sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released in a spy exchange 18 months later. — In 1961, Fidel Castro declared Cuba a
socialist nation and abolished elections.
— In 1963, the Quebec government took over 11 private power companies to form Hydro-Quebec.
— In 1983, Shirley Carr became the first woman president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
— In 1985, Canada beat the Soviet Union at the world hockey championship for the first time in 24 years. Two goals by Mario Lemieux, and the winner by Stan Smyl, gave Canada a 3-1 victory in a medalround game in Prague. Czechoslovakia beat Canada 5-3 two days later to win the title.