Today in history

1756 St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated in New York City for the first time. The event took place at the Crown and Thistle Tavern. 1868 Postage stamp canceling machine patent was issued. 1910 The Camp Fire Girls organization was founded by Luther and Charlotte Gulick. It was formally presented to the public exactly 2 years later. 1917 America’s first bowling tournament for ladies began in St. Louis, MO. Almost 100 women participated in the event. 1930 Al Capone was released from jail. 1930 In New York, construction began on the Empire State Building. Excavation at the site began on January 22. 1941 The National Gallery of Art was officially opened by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, DC. 1942 Douglas MacArthur became the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in the Southwestern Pacific. 1958 The Vanguard 1 satellite was launched by the U.S. 1967 Snoopy and Charlie Brown of “Peanuts” were on the cover of “LIFE” magazine. 1985 U.S. President Reagan agreed to a joint study with Canada on acid rain. 1989 A series of solar flares caused a violent magnetic storm that brought power outages over large regions of Canada. 1995 Gerry Adams became the first leader of Sinn Fein to be received at the White House. 1998 Washington Mutual announced it had agreed to buy H.F. Ahmanson and Co. for $9.9 billion dollars. The deal created the nation’s seventh-largest banking company. 1999 A panel of medical experts concluded that marijuana had medical benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS. 2004 NASA’s Messenger became the first spacecraft to enter into orbit around Mercury. The probe took more than 270,000 pictures before it crashed into the surface of Mercury on April 30, 2015.