On this day, Feb. 23
1775 Jacob Bausman was licensed by the Virginia Court to keep a ferry over the Monongahela at the foot of Wood Street where John Ormsby had an establishment for the previous two years.
1836 The siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.
1945 During World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised two American flags (the second flag-raising was captured in the iconic Associated Press photograph).
1954 The first mass inoculation of schoolchildren against polio using the Salk vaccine began at Arsenal Elementary School in Lawrenceville as some 5,000 students were vaccinated.
1987 Henry J. Heinz II, chairman of the H.J. Heinz Corp., died in his winter home
on Jupiter Island, Fla., at the age of 78.
2007 Former Allegheny County Sheriff Pete DeFazio was sentenced to six months of house arrest for permitting the pressuring of county employees to contribute to his campaign fund.
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: Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff, 77. Author John Sandford, 76. Country-rock musician Rusty Young, 74. Actress Patricia Richardson, 69. Former NFL player Ed “Too Tall” Jones, 69. Rock musician Brad Whitford (Aerosmith), 68. Singer Howard Jones, 65. Rock musician Michael Wilton (Queensryche), 58. Country singer Dusty Drake, 56. Actress Kristin Davis, 55.
Tennis player Helena Sukova, 55. Actor Marc Price, 52. TV personality/businessman Daymond John (TV: “Shark Tank”),
51. Actress Niecy Nash, 50. Rock musician Jeff Beres (Sister Hazel), 49. Country singer Steve Holy, 48. Rock musician Lasse (loss) Johansson (The Cardigans),
47. Film and theater composer Robert Lopez, 45. Actress Kelly Macdonald, 44. Rapper Residente (Calle 13), 42. Actor Josh Gad, 39. Actress Emily Blunt, 37. Actor Aziz Ansari, 37. Actor Tye White (TV: “Greenleaf”), 34. Actress Dakota Fanning,
26. Thought for today: “Men are more often bribed by their loyalties and ambitions than by money.” — Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court justice (1892-1954)