TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2018

On this day:

1831 - Quebec and Montreal were incorporated as cities. 1880 - Wabash, IN, became the first town to be completely illuminated with electric light. 1885 - Binney & Smith Company was founded in New York City. The company later became Crayola, LLC. 1889 - In Paris, the Eiffel Tower officially opened.

1902 - In Tennessee, 22 coal miners were killed by an explosion.

1904 - In India, hundreds of Tibetans were slaughtered by the British.

1909 - Serbia accepted Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

1917 - The U.S. purchased and took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million.

1932 - The Ford Motor Co. debuted its V-8 engine. 1939 - Britain and France agreed to support Poland if Germany threatened invasion. 1941 - Germany began a counter offensive in North Africa.

1966 - The Soviet Union launched Luna 10, which became the first spacecraft to enter a lunar orbit.

1986 - 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in Los Angeles. 1991 - Iraqi forces recaptured the northern city of Kirkuk from Kurdish guerillas. 1993 - Brandon Lee was killed accidentally while filming a movie.

2000 - In Uganda, officials set the number of deaths linked to a doomsday religious cult, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, at more than 900. In Kanungu, a March 17 fire at the cult’s church killed more than 530 and authorities subsequently found mass graves at various sites linked to the cult. 2004 - Air America Radio launched five stations around the U.S.

2004 - Google Inc. announced that it would be introducing a free e-mail service called Gmail.

2016 - Apple released the iPhone SE.

2007 - The people of Sydney, Australia initiate the very first Earth Hour.