If today is your birthday, you share it with some very interesting people including: Edith Wharton (1862), Ernest Borgnine (1917), Mary Lou Retton (1968), Natassja Kinski (1961), Yakov Smirnoff (1951), John Belushi (1949), Aaron Neville (1941), Neil Diamond (1941), Marial Tallchief (1925), Oral Roberts (1918), Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712), and the Roman Emperor, Hadrian (76 CE).
It was a good day for discovery in 1848 when James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in Northern California on this day. Thus began the California Gold Rush of 1949.
Humphrey O’Sullivan patented the rubber heal on January 24, 1899.
On this day in 1908 the first Boy Scout troop was organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell. In 1922 on this date, Christian K. Nelson patented the Eskimo Pie, and many of us are eternally grateful.
In 1924 on this day, St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad. It has now been changed back, but Leningrad stands as a reminder of the years of Communist rule in the U.S.S.R..
On this date in 1964, CBS Television acquired the rights to televise the National Football League’s 1964-1965 regular season, and nothing has been the same since. The NFL stayed on CBS for 30 years.
On this day in 1965 one of the greatest leaders of the modern world , Winston Churchill died.
On this day in 1985, Penny Harrington became the woman police officer in a major U.S. city. She became the head of the Portland, Oregon police force. She had under her command, 940 officers and staff.
On this day in 1986, the Voyager 2 space probe, flew past the planet Uranus, coming within 50, 679 miles of the planet.
On this day in 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began operations under the leadership of Tom Ridge.
What, that is happening today, do you think will leave a lasting impression?
This month in the history of Monterey and Central California:
On January 18, 1777 San Jose California was founded.
On the 9th of January, 1847 the first San Francisco newspaper, The California Star, was published.
On the 16th of January 1847 John C. Fremont was appointed governor of the New California Territory.
On the 22nd of January1850 Alta California became a daily newspaper, the first in California.
On the 31 of January 1851 the San Francisco Orpha’s Asylum, the first in California, was founded.
In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt established 1500 acres as Pinnacles National Monument, and in January, 2013, thanks to the efforts of Congressman Sam Farr, Pinnacles National Monument became Pinnacles National Park.
And something that makes many of us happy, on January 23 1862 Agoston Haraszthy became the first vintner in California when he imported 10,000 grape vine cuttings starting California’s reputation for fine wines.
The first junior high school opened in Berkeley, Calfironia on the 2nd of January 1910.
The first city-owned street cars began operating in San Francisco on January 28, 1917.
One of my favorite tidbits of history is the story of Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, becomes the first woman to drive across the United States. With three female companions, none of whom could drive a car, in fifty-nine days she drove a Maxwell automobile the 3,800 miles from Manhattan, New York, to San Francisco, California.
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