Today in Washington DC History
Historical Events
Results 1 - 100 of 108
1789-03-11 - Benjamin Banneker with L'Enfant begin to lay out Washington DC
1800-12-12 - Washington DC established as capital of US
1801-02-27 - Washington DC placed under Congressional jurisdiction
1801-03-04 - 1st president inaugurated in Washington DC (Thomas Jefferson)
1802-05-03 - Washington DC incorporates as a city
1802-05-03 - Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city.
1814-08-24 - British forces captured Washington, DC, & burned down many landmarks
1835-01-30 - Richard Lawrence misfires at Pres Andrew Jackson in Washington DC
1861-04-25 - 7th NY arrives to reinforce Washington, DC
1861-04-25 - American Civil War: The Union Army arrives in Washington, D.C.
1861-07-25 - Washington DC - Crittenden resolution is passed stating that the war is to be fought to preserve union & uphold the Constitution, not to alter slavery
1862-06-02 - Raid at Early's: Maryland towards Washington DC
1862-08-28 - Belle Boyd released from Old Capital Prison in Washington, DC
1864-07-29 - American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC.
1865-05-23 - -24] Victory parade in Washington, DC (Grand Review)
1865-05-23 - Grand Review begins in Washington DC
1865-11-20 - Howard University forms in Washington DC
1867-01-08 - African American men granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
1867-03-01 - Howard University, Washington DC, chartered
1882-07-12 - 1st ocean pier in US completed, Washington, DC
1888-01-03 - 1st wax drinking straw patented, by Marvin C Stone in Washington DC
1888-01-13 - National Geographic Society founded (Washington, DC)
1889-01-22 - Columbia Phonograph was formed in Washington, D.C.
1889-10-02 - 1st Pan American conference (Washington DC)
1895-12-17 - Anti-Saloon League of America formed, Washington, DC
1899-02-11 - -15°F (-26°C), Washington, DC (district record)
1901-11-27 - Army War College forms in Washington DC
1903-02-21 - Cornerstone laid for US army war college, Washington, DC
1909-08-18 - Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki presents Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees, which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River.
1910-08-14 - 6th International Congress of Esperantists held in Washington, DC
1913-03-03 - Ida B Wells-Barnett demonstrates for female suffrage in Washington DC
1914-02-12 - In Washington, DC, the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
1918-11-10 - The Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, NS received a top-secret coded message from Europe (that would be sent to Ottawa, ON and Washington, DC) that said on November 11, 1918 all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air.
1919-07-24 - Race Riot in Washington DC (6 killed, 100 wounded)
1921-09-08 - 1st Miss America crowned (Margaret Gorman of Washington DC)
1922-01-28 - Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.'s biggest snowfall, causes the city's greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theater collapses.
1922-03-23 - 1st airplane lands at the US Capitol in Washington, DC
1922-10-03 - 1st facsimile photo send over city telephone lines, Washington, DC
1923-07-19 - WRC-AM in Washington DC begins radio transmissions
1925-08-08 - 1st national march of Ku Klux Klan (200,000) in Washington, DC
1927-11-17 - Tornado hits Washington DC
1928-11-11 - WOL-AM in Washington DC begins radio transmissions
1930-07-20 - 106°F (41°C), Washington, DC (district record)
1932-05-29 - World War I Veterans begin to assemble in Washington, DC in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
1932-07-20 - In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force who attempt to march to the White House.
1932-07-29 - Great Depression: in Washington, DC, U.S. troops disperse the last of the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans.
1932-11-24 - In Washington, D.C., the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens.
1933-02-03 - 1st interstate legislative conference in US opens, Washington, DC
1934-02-08 - Export-Import Bank organizes in Washington, DC
1937-09-17 - 1st NFL game in Washington, DC; Redskins beat NY Giants 13-3
1938-05-08 - Stravinsky's "Dumbarton Oaks," premieres in Washington, DC
1941-12-22 - Premier Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, DC
1942-06-21 - President Roosevelt/premier Churchill arrives in Washington, DC
1944-07-06 - French General De Gaulle arrives in Washington, DC
1947-01-01 - WTTG TV channel 5 in Washington, DC (MET) begins broadcasting
1947-06-27 - WRC TV channel 4 in Washington DC (NBC) begins broadcasting
1947-10-03 - WMAL (now WJLA) TV channel 7 in Washington, DC (ABC) begins
1948-10-21 - Facsimile high-speed radio transmission demonstrated (Washington DC)
1949-01-16 - WTOP (now WUSA) TV channel 9 in Washington, DC (CBS) 1st broadcast
1950-02-20 - WOL-AM in Washington DC swaps calls with WWDC
1950-10-31 - Collazo & Torresola attempt to kill Truman in Washington, DC
1956-09-14 - 1st prefrontal lobotomy performed, Washington DC
1957-01-20 - Morton Gould's "Declaration," premieres in Washington, DC
1960-01-28 - 1st photograph bounced off Moon, Washington DC
1960-04-21 - Founding of the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith in Washington, D.C.
1961-05-04 - CORE begins freedom rides from Washington, DC
1961-10-02 - WETA TV channel 26 in Washington, DC (PBS) begins broadcasting
1962-07-10 - 32nd All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 3-1 at D.C. Stadium, Washington
1963-03-15 - WFAN TV channel 14 in Washington, DC (IND) begins broadcasting
1963-08-28 - 200,000 demonstrate for equal rights in Washington, DC
1963-08-31 - "Hot line" between Moscow-Washington, DC installed
1964-02-11 - Beatles 1st live appearance in US; Washington DC Coliseum
1966-04-20 - WDCA TV channel 20 in Washington, DC (IND) begins broadcasting
1967-06-01 - Mayor-council form of government instituted for Washington, DC
1967-09-28 - Walter Washington elected 1st mayor of Washington, DC
1968-05-12 - "March of Poor" under rev Abernathy reach Washington, DC
1971-09-08 - John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts opens in Washington DC
1972-02-17 - President Nixon leaves Washington DC for China
1972-10-11 - Prison uprising at Washington DC jail
1973-09-19 - NL refuses to allow San Diego Padres move to Washington DC
1973-09-26 - Concorde flies from Washington DC to Paris in 3h33m
1973-12-06 - NL votes to move San Diego Padres to Washington DC (doesn't happen)
1973-12-24 - District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
1976-03-27 - Washington DC underground Metro opens
1976-09-21 - Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. He was a member of the Chilean socialist government of Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet.
1976-10-13 - The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle was obtained by Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who was then working at the C.D.C..
1978-04-03 - Larry King moves his radio show from Miami to Washington DC
1979-01-29 - Chinese vice-premier Deng Xiaoping visits Washington, DC
1981-09-15 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, DC.
1982-01-13 - Air Florida 737 took off in a snowstorm, crashes into 14th St Bridge in Washington, DC, & falls into Potomac River, killing 78
1982-03-26 - Ground-breaking in Washington, DC for Vietnam Veterans Memorial
1982-11-13 - Vietnam War Memorial dedicated in Washington DC
1984-02-27 - WRC-AM in Washington DC changes call letters to WWRC
1984-03-09 - The Competitive Enterprise Institute in founded in Washington, D.C.
1986-01-28 - Angolan Unity Leader Jonas Savimbi visits Washington, DC
1989-07-20 - Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's show opens at Washington, D.C.'s Project for the Arts after the Smithsonian Institution's Corcoran Gallery cancels it.
1991-05-05 - A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after a Salvadoran man is shot by police.
1992-04-05 - Several hundred-thousand abortion rights demonstrators march in Washington, D.C.
1992-04-22 - Holocaust Museum dedicated in Washington DC
1993-08-20 - After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Peace Accords are signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month.
Famous Birthdays
Results 1 - 20 of 20
1885-08-07 - Billie Burke, Washington DC, actress (Glinda-Wizard of Oz)
1888-09-16 - Almira Sessions, Washington DC, actress (Okla Annie)
1892-10-15 - Ina Claire, [Fagan], Washington DC, actress (Ninotchika)
1903-10-20 - John Lodge, Washington DC, actor (Witchmaker)
1918-07-27 - Leonard Rose, Washington DC, concert cellist (NY Phil 1943-51)
1922-06-27 - George Theophilus Walker, Washington DC, composer (Praise of Lillies)
1928-03-12 - Edward Albee, Washington, DC, playwright (Virgina Woolfe, Zoo Story)
1936-11-25 - Matt Clark, Washington DC, actor/director (Return to Oz, Horror Show)
1945-09-23 - Ronald Bushy, Washington DC, rock drummer (Iron Butterfly)
1946-10-20 - Connie Chung, Washington DC, news ancher (NBC, CBS)
1950-02-06 - Punky Meadows, Washington DC, rock guitarist (Angel)
1951-07-28 - Anthony A. Williams, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
1958-01-04 - Matt Frewer, Washington DC, actor (Max Headroom, Doctor Doctor)
1960-09-12 - Lynn Connelly, Washington DC, LPGA golfer (1988 USX Golf Classic-6th)
1963-01-28 - Colleen Harp, Washington DC, WPVA volleyballer (US Open-9th-1994)
1963-05-30 - Lynda Wiesmeier, Washington DC, playmate (Jul, 1982)
1968-12-17 - Curtis Pride, Washington DC, outfielder (Detroit Tigers)
1972-03-09 - Marcia M Griffith, Washington DC, Miss America-Maryland (1996)
1973-09-13 - Philip Dulebohn, Washington DC, figure skater (1997 Eastern Sr - 3rd)
1976-08-02 - Michael Weiss, Washington DC, figure skater (1997 World Champ-7th)
Famous Deaths
Results 1 - 3 of 3
1965-01-12 - Porcupine, in Washington DC zoo, dies at 27; oldest known rodent
1970-09-03 - Vince Lombardi, football coach (Packers), dies in Washington DC at 57
2008-05-01 - Deborah Jeane Palfrey, Washington, D.C. prostitution service owner (b. 1956)
