ON FEBRUARY 3 ...

In 1690 the first paper money in America was issued by the colony of Massachusetts. (The currency was used to pay soldiers fighting a war against Quebec.)

In 1809 the territory of Illinois was created.

In 1894 illustrator Norman Rockwell was born in New York. In 1913 the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.

In 1924 the 28th U.S. president, Woodrow Wilson, died in Washington; he was 67.

In 1930 the chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft, resigned for health reasons.

In 1959 a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, claimed the lives of early rock ’n’ roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.

In 1966 the Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon.

In 1995 the space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in the pilot’s seat for the first time in NASA history.

In 1998 a U.S. Marine jet sliced through a ski gondola cable in Italy, sending the car’s 20 occupants plunging 370 feet to their deaths.

In 2013 the New York Giants scored a late touchdown to win Super Bowl XLII, 17-14, ending the New England Patriots’ run at a perfect season.

In 2011 Joyce Sloane, the beloved maternal powerhouse of The Second City and the woman who found and nurtured such comedy giants as John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Chris Farley and Bill Murray, died; she was 80.

In 2014 Janet Yellen replaced Ben Bernanke as head of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke’s term expired at the end of January.