Today in history

On this date:

In 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1865, the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery, went into effect.

In 1889, the first CPR telegraph junction with the Atlantic cable was made at Canso, N.S.

In 1890, the first electric underground rail line opened in London.

In 1901, the Territorial Grain Grower’s Association was organized at Indian Head, Sask. It was founded by William Richard Motherwell in a bid to get the farmer’s bumper crop to market. Prairie farmers were in crisis because twice as much wheat had been produced as there had been the previous year. Because the CPR was not prepared to handle the extra load, almost three-quarters of the crop spoiled. The organization later became known as the United Grain Growers. On Nov. 1, 2001, it officially merged with Agricore to become Agricore United, one of Western Canada’s leading farmer-directed agri-businesses.

In 1904, Wilf Carter, the father of country music in Canada, was born in Port Hilford, N.S. His 1932 recording of “My Swiss Moonlight Lullaby” and “The Capture of Albert Johnson” was the first hit by a Canadian country performer. He died at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 5, 1996.

In 1927, former governor general Romeo LeBlanc was born in Memramcook, N.B. He was the first Acadian to be appointed governor general of Canada and a central figure in the Liberal party for more than two decades. He was also instrumental in establishing Canada’s 200-mile offshore economic zone and helped shape the International Law of the Sea. LeBlanc became a senator in 1984, was appointed Speaker of the Senate in 1993 and became governor general in 1995. He died after a lengthy illness on June 24, 2009.