On this date

In 1795, the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, dealing with states’ sovereign immunity, was ratified.

In 1817, America’s first public gas street lamp was lighted in Baltimore at the corner of Market and Lemon streets (now East Baltimore and Holliday streets).

In 1943, the government announced that wartime rationing of shoes made of leather would go into effect in two days, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person per year. (Rationing was lifted in October 1945.)

In 1964, The Beatles arrived at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to begin their first American tour.

In 1971, women in Switzerland gained the right to vote through a national referendum, 12 years after a previous attempt failed.

In 1984, space shuttle Challenger astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk, which lasted nearly six hours.

In 1986, Haitian President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier fled his country, ending 28 years of his family’s rule.

Ten years ago: A miles-wide section of ice in Lake Erie broke away from the Ohio shoreline, trapping about 135 fishermen, some for as long as four hours before they could be rescued. (One man fell into the water and later died of an apparent heart attack.)

Five years ago: President Barack Obama signed an agriculture spending bill spreading benefits to farmers in every region of the country while trimming the food stamp program that had inspired a two-year battle over the legislation.

One year ago: Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong struck a $500 million deal to buy the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and some other publications; the deal would take effect in June.