Today in history

On this date:

In 323 B.C., Alexander III of Macedonia, better known as “Alexander the Great,” died at age 32.

In 1525, German church reformer Martin Luther married former nun Katherine von Bora. They had six children and were married for 21 years.

In 1841, the first Canadian parliament opened in Kingston, Ont.

In 1884, the world’s first roller coaster opened at Coney Island, N.Y.

In 1886, fire razed the city of Vancouver. It started when flames from a brush-clearing fire blew into tinder-dry brush in the west of the city. Accounts of the fire itself vary — some say it took 20 minutes, some say 45, to destroy the 1,000 or so wood buildings that constituted the city; it killed at least eight people but as many as 28 may have died. “The city did not burn, it was consumed by flame,” said one witness.

In 1898, the Yukon Territory was established, two years after the Klondike gold discovery. Dawson City was named the capital and in its heyday, became the largest community north of Seattle and west of Winnipeg, with about 30,000 people.