Historical Events on March 3

Events 1 - 200 of 271

• 78 Origin of Saka Era (India)
• 468 St Simplicius elected to succeed Catholic Pope Hilarius
• 473 Glycerius appointed a puppet Emperor of the Western Empire by Burgundian king and patrician Gundobad (deposed 474)

• 493 Ostrogoten King Theodorik the Great beats Odoaker
• 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan incorporated the Principality of Wales into England
• 1409 Austrian civil war ends
• 1431 Bishop Gabriele Condulmer elected as Pope Eugene IV
• 1443 Ferrante (later Ferdinand I), illegitimate son of Alfonso the Magnanimous, King of Naples, made Duke of Calabria and heir to the kingdom

• 1585 The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza.

• 1634 1st tavern in Boston (Mass) opens (Samuel Cole)
• 1638 Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar occupies Rheinfelden
• 1776 American commodore Esek Hopkins occupies Nassau, Bahamas
• 1789 First whale harpooned in the Pacific Ocean by English ship Emilia off the coast of South America [1]
• 1791 1st US internal revenue act (taxing distilled spirits & carriages)
• 1791 Congress establishes US Mint

• 1794 Richard Allen founded African Methodist Episcopal Church
• 1801 1st US Jewish governor, David Emanuel, takes office in Georgia
• 1803 1st impeachment trial of a US federal judge, John Pickering, begins
• 1803 Colégio Militar is founded in Portugal by Colonel Teixeira Rebello
• 1805 Louisiana-Missouri Territory forms
• 1813 Office of Surgeon General of the US Army forms
• 1815 US declares war on Algiers for taking US prisoners & demanding tribute
• 1817 Mississippi Territory is divided into Alabama Territory & Mississippi
• 1820 Missouri Compromise passes, allowing Missouri to join the United States despite slavery still being legal there.
• 1821 American tailor and inventor Thomas L. Jennings (30) receives US patent for his "dry-scouring" process. the forerunner of today’s modern dry-cleaning
• 1835 Congress authorizes a US mint at New Orleans, Louisiana; coins identified with mint mark 'O'
• 1837 Congress increases US Supreme Court membership from 7 to 9

• 1838 Rebellion at Pelee Island, Ontario, Canada

• 1842 1st US child labor law regulating working hours passed in Massachusetts
• 1843 Congress appropriates $30,000 "to test the practicability of establishing a system of electro-magnetic telegraphs" by the US
• 1845 Florida becomes 27th state of the Union
• 1845 For the first time the US Senate overrides presidential (Tyler) veto
• 1845 US Congress authorizes ocean mail contracts for foreign mail delivery
• 1847 US Post Office Department is authorized to issue postage stamps
• 1849 Gold Coinage Act authorizes $20 Double Eagle gold coin and the $1 Gold Liberty coin in the USA
• 1849 Territory of Minnesota organizes
• 1849 US Home Department (later renamed the Department of the Interior) established by Congress
• 1851 Congress authorizes smallest US silver coin (3 cent piece)
• 1853 Transcontinental railroad survey is authorized by US Congress
• 1853 US Assay Office in NYC authorized
• 1855 US Congress approves $30,000 to test camels for military use
• 1855 US Congress authorizes registered mail
• 1857 Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China

• 1862 Union forces under General Pope lay siege to New Madrid, Missouri (US Civil War)
• 1863 1st US wartime military conscription bill enacted

• 1863 Congress authorizes a US mint at Carson City, Nevada; coins identified with mint mark 'CC'
• 1863 Federal ironclad ships bombard Fort McAllister, Georgia
• 1863 Free city delivery replaces zone postage; 449 letter carriers hired
• 1863 Gold certificates (currency) authorized by US Congress
• 1863 Idaho Territory incorporated from parts of area split from Dakota, Nebraska, and Washington territories; now consists of states of Idaho. Montana, and most of Wyoming

• 1865 Opening of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group.
• 1865 US Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands established by Abraham Lincoln to help destitute free blacks
• 1869 University of South Carolina opens to all races
• 1871 US Congress changes Indian tribes status from independent to dependent
• 1871 US Congress establishes the civil service system
• 1873 US Congress & government retroactively raise own salaries
• 1873 US Congress authorizes federal departmental postage stamps
• 1873 US Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail
• 1875 1st recognised hockey game played at the Victoria Skating Rink, Montreal (according to International Ice Hockey Federation), though likely much earlier [1]

• 1875 US Congress authorizes 20 cent coin, lasts only 3 years

• 1878 Treaty of San Stefano signed by Russian and Ottoman empires grants independence to Bulgaria after 500 years of Turkish rule
• 1879 1st female lawyer heard by US Supreme Court (Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood)
• 1879 US Geological Survey director authorized in Department of the Interior
• 1882 NY Steam Corp begins distributing steam to Manhattan buildings
• 1883 Congress authorizes the 1st steel vessels in US navy
• 1885 1st US state (California) establishes a permanent forest commission
• 1885 American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) incorporates
• 1885 US Congress passes Indian Appropriations Act (Indians wards of federal government)
• 1885 US Post Office offers special delivery for 1st-class mail
• 1887 American Protective Association forms (anti-Catholic) in Clinton Iowa

• 1889 US President Harrison announced the government would open the 1.9 million-acre tract of Indian Territory for settlement precisely at noon on April 22
• 1891 The Penalty Spot Kick rule in Association Football is conceived, but does not come into effect until the next season.
• 1891 US Congress creates Courts of Appeal
• 1891 US Congress creates Office of Superintendent of Immigration (Treasury Dept)
• 1891 US Congress establishes the Office of Immigration
• 1892 1st cattle tuberculosis test in US made, Villa Nova, Penn
• 1893 US Congress authorizes 1st federal road agency, in Department of Agriculture
• 1893 US Mint issues Queen Isabella commemorative silver quarter in conjunction with the World’s Columbian Exposition [1]
• 1894 "NY Atlantis" 1st Greek-language publication in US begins
• 1894 4th & last British government of Gladstone resigns

• 1899 US Congress authorizes Lafayette silver dollar
• 1901 US Congress creates National Bureau of Standards, in Department of Commerce
• 1903 North Carolina becomes 1st state requiring registration of nurses

• 1905 US Forest Service forms
• 1906 Vuia I aircraft built by Romanian Traian Vuia tested in France

• 1911 1st US federal cemetery with Union & Confederate graves opens, Missouri

• 1915 US National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) created, the predecessor of NASA
• 1917 First major strike of the Russian "February Revolution" starts at the giant Putilov factory in Petrograd [OS=Feb 18]
• 1917 German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann publicly admits the "Zimmermann Telegram" is genuine; revelation generates support for the US declaration of war on Germany in April.
• 1917 Mexico and the USA renew diplomatic relations
• 1917 US Congress passes 1st excess profits tax on corporations
• 1918 Facing internal counterrevolutionary pressures and external German offensive, Bolsheviks forced to sign harsh Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany and Austria
• 1918 Richard Goering's "Seeschlacht" premieres in Berlin
• 1919 1st international air mail service from US, Seattle-Victoria, BC
• 1919 Communist Party in Germany announces a general strike
• 1920 Montreal Canadiens scores NHL record 16 goals beating Quebec Bulldogs
• 1921 The Asiatic Inquiry Commission, established by the South African Government, proposes a system of voluntary repatriation and segregation of Indians and prohibits Indians from buying agricultural land in a specified area along the coast
• 1922 Italian fascists occupy Fiume & Rijeka
• 1922 WWJ-AM in Detroit MI begins radio transmissions
• 1923 Time magazine publishes 1st issue featuring Joseph G. Cannon (Speaker of US House of Representatives)
• 1923 US Senate rejects membership of the International Court of Justice, The Hague
• 1924 German & Turkish friendship/trade treaty signed
• 1924 Sean O'Casey's "Juno & the Paycock" premieres in Dublin
• 1926 International Greyhound Racing Association formed (Miami, Fla)
• 1931 "The Star-Spangled Banner" officially becomes US national anthem by congressional resolution; lyrics by Francis Scott Key in 1814, set to John Stafford Smith's 18th century tune "The Anacreontic Song"

• 1933 German presidential candidate Earnest Thalmann (KPD) arrested

• 1935 Dutch Revolutionary Socialist Worker's party (RSAP), forms
• 1936 Clarrie Grimmett ends his Test career with 13 wkts in 5th Test v South Africa
• 1937 Australia snatches series against England 3-2 after being 2-0 down
• 1938 American Bowling Congress' largest tournament (24,765 competitors)

• 1940 American bandleader Artie Shaw records "Frenesi" on RCA Victor label

• 1942 1st combat flight for Canadian British-built Avro Lancaster bomber
• 1943 Battle of the Bismarck Sea: Australian and American air forces devastate Japanese navy convoy
• 1943 Bethnal Green Tube disaster: 173 die in a stampede sheltering in an air raid, UK's greatest loss of civilian life in WWII (details censored till January 20 1945)
• 1943 F Ryerson & Cohn Claues' "Harriet" premieres in NYC

• 1945 RAF bombing error hits The Hague killing 511
• 1945 Roermond & Venlo, Netherlands, liberated
• 1945 US & Philippine forces recaptures Corregidor
• 1945 US 7th Army occupies last part of Westwall

• 1950 National-American Football League reverts to calling itself the NFL after 3 months
• 1951 Bill Mikvy of Temple University scores NCAA basketball record 73 points, including 54 straight, in 93-69 win on the road at Wilkes College [1]
• 1952 Puerto Rico approves its 1st self-written constitution
• 1953 Boston Braves, who own Milwaukee minor league franchise, block St Louis Browns attempt to shift their franchise to Milwaukee
• 1953 Canadian Comet crashes at Karachi, 11 killed
• 1956 Dutch swimmer Cockie Gastelaars breaks 20-year old world record for 100m freestyle (1:04.2)

• 1956 Indonesian government of Harahap resigns
• 1956 Manhattan Borough President Hulan Jack makes plans for a new 110,000-seat stadium to entice Giants to stay in NY
• 1957 Ice Dance Championship at Colorado Springs won by Markham & Jones of Great Britain
• 1957 Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Springs won by Wagner & Paul of Canada
• 1957 Men's Figure Skating Champ in Colorado Springs won by David Jenkins of the USA
• 1957 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champ in Colorado Springs won by Carol Heiss (US)
• 1958 KTVU TV channel 2 in Oakland-San Francisco, California (IND) 1st broadcast
• 1958 Nuri ash Said becomes premier of Iraq
• 1959 1st US probe to enter solar orbit, Pioneer 4, launched
• 1959 British government arrests Hastings Banda of Nyasaland, ends emergency crisis
• 1959 San Francisco Giants rename their stadium Candlestick Park
• 1959 The Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts opens in Yerevan, Armenia, with a collection of over 23,000 manuscripts [1]
• 1960 9th largest snowfall in NYC history (14.5")

• 1962 British Antarctic Territory forms
• 1963 American country blues musician "Mississippi" John Hurt 're-discovered' by musicologist Tom Hoskins in Avalon, Mississippi [1]
• 1963 Senegal adopts a new constitution
• 1965 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1965 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan

• 1966 Twister hits Jackson Mississippi; 3 minutes after 1st sighting, 57 die
• 1966 WRFT (now WVFT) TV channel 27 in Roanoke, Virginia (IND) begins broadcasting
• 1967 Grenada gains partial independence from Britain
• 1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1967 White Sox given permission to use semi-DH in training camp with home club permission (use of pinch hitter twice in same game)
• 1968 "Here's Where I Belong" opens/closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC
• 1968 Greek, Portuguese & Spanish embassies bombed in the Hague

• 1968 Pirate station "Radio Caroline" goes off the air when its ships Mi Amigo and Caroline are boarded and seized before the day's broadcasting began
• 1969 Apollo 9 launched for 151 Earth orbits (10 days)

• 1974 Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes in the Ermenonville Forest outside Paris, killing all 346 people onboard

• 1976 5 workers are killed by the police in a demonstration in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
• 1976 Mozambique closes border with Rhodesia
• 1977 Ice Pairs Champs at Tokyo won by Irina Rodnina/Alexandr Zaitsev (URS)
• 1977 Islanders allow Red Wings only 11 shots on goal
• 1977 Libyan Socialist Arabs People's Republic forms
• 1977 Men's Figure Skating Champions in Tokyo won by Vladimir Kovalev (USSR)
• 1978 1st day of Test cricket for Desmond Haynes (WI v Australia)
• 1980 1st nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus is decommissioned
• 1980 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll

• 1981 NY Islanders & Edmonton Oilers play to an 8-8 tie

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