TODAY IN HISTORY

1559

England’s Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

1892

The original rules of basketball, devised by James Naismith, were published for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the game originated.

1919

In Boston, a tank containing an estimated 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst, sending the dark syrup coursing through the city’s North End, killing 21 people.

1943

Work was completed on the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of War (now Defense).

1961

A US Air Force radar tower off the New Jersey coast collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean during a severe storm, killing all 28 men aboard.

1981

The police drama series Hill Street Blues premiered on NBC.