Today In History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1000 - Leif Ericson discovers Vinland, becoming the first known European to set foot in North America
1446 - The Hangul alphabet is created in Korea.
1635 - Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he spoke out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land.
1701 - The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) is chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
1776 - Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California
1871 - The Great Chicago Fire is brought under control.
1888 - The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public
1919 - Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds "win" the World Series.
1936 - Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to transmit electricity from the Colorado River 266 miles to Los Angeles, California
1963 - Uganda becomes a republic
1963 - In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it

Births
1835 - Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (d. 1921)
1944 - John Entwistle, British bassist of The Who (d. 2002)
1953 - Tony Shalhoub, actor
1954 - Scott Bakula, American television actor (Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Enterprise)

Deaths
1806 - Benjamin Banneker, American astronomer
1958 - Pope Pius XII
1974 - Oskar Schindler, businessman

Holidays
Hangul Day - South Korea: celebrating the invention of Hangul, the native Korean phonetic alphabet

Recorded This Date
1922 "Song Of The Volga Boatman" (trad Russ. arr. Koenemann)
- Feodor Chaliapin with O/George W. Byng
1941 "Cielito Lindo" (w.m. Quirino Mendoza y Cortez)
- Deanna Durbin with O/Victor Young
1947 "Blue Moon" (w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers)
- Billy Eckstine with O/Hugo Winterhalter