On this day, Feb. 15

1854 The Summit tunnel of the Pennsylvania Railroad was opened, allowing continuous rail travel between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.

1940 A 20-inch snowfall stopped auto and trolley traffic and forced a two-day suspension in business and trading activities.

1946 Seventy thousand United States Steel employees in the Pittsburgh area began to return to work following the signing of an agreement for an 18½-cent hourly wage increase, ending a 27-day shutdown of mills.

1989 The Soviet Union announced the last of its troops had left Afghanistan, after more than nine years of military intervention.

2007 National Guardsmen in Humvees ferried food, fuel and baby supplies to hundreds of motorists stranded for nearly a day on a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 78 in Eastern Pennsylvania because of a monster storm.

Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Rick Nowlin

Today’s birthdays: Actress Claire Bloom, 89. Songwriter Brian Holland, 79. Rock musician Mick Avory (The Kinks), 76. Actress Jane Seymour, 69. Singer Melissa Manchester, 69. “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, 66. Model Janice Dickinson, 65. Musician Mikey Craig (Culture Club), 60. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Darrell Green, 60. Olympic gold medal swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen, 47.

Thought for today: “Like all dreamers I confuse disenchantment with truth.”

— Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher (1905-1980)