This Day in History – May 14, 2011

1607 1st permanent English settlement in New World, Jamestown VA 1787 Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US constitution 1796 1st smallpox inoculation administered, by Edward Jenner 1804 Lewis & Clark set out from St Louis for the Pacific Coast 1853 Gail Borden patents his process for condensed milk 1862 Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents the chronograph 1863 Battle of Jackson MS 1878 Vaseline is 1st sold (registered trademark for petroleum jelly) 1896 Lowest US temperature in May recorded (-10ºF – Climax CO) 1904 1st Olympics in the US are held (St Louis) 1908 1st passenger flight in an airplane 1918 Sunday baseball is made legal in Washington DC 1921 Florence Allen is 1st woman judge to sentence a man to death 1932 “We Want Beer!” parade in New York 1942 US Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is founded 1961 Bus with 1st group of Freedom Riders bombed & burned in Alabama 1964 Underground America Day is 1st observed 1966 1st reported monitoring of pirate radio station WBBH (New Jersey) 1967 Mickey Mantle’s 500th homerun off Oriole’s Stu Miller 1969 Last Chevrolet Corvair built 1970 Cops kill 2 students in racial disturbance (Jackson State University, Mississippi) 1973 Gold hits record $102.50 an ounce in London 1973 US Supreme court approves equal rights to females in military 1980 Department of Health & Human Services begins operation 1983 “She Blinded Me with Science” by Thomas Dolby hits #5 1986 Institute for War documents publishes Anne Franks complete diary 1986 Reggie Jackson hit his 537th homerun passing Mickey Mantle into 6th place 1987 Colt revolver (Peacemaker) of 1873 sells for $242,000 1989 Final TV episode of “Family Ties” airs 1990 Dow Jones average hits a record 2,821.53 1991 Winnie Mandela sentenced to 6 years for complicity in kidnapping & beating of four youths, one of whom died, She is freed pending appeal 1991 World’s Largest Burrito created at 1,126 lbs 1995 Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima 11th reincarnation of Panchen Lama, Tibet’s 2nd most senior spiritual leader 1997 Baseball’s Exec Council suspends New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner 1998 Last episode of Seinfeld on NBC (commercials are $2 million for 30 seconds)]]]]> ]]>