On this day...

1782 First nautical almanac in US published by Samuel Stearns, Boston
1813 British burn Buffalo, NY during the War of 1812
1837 Canadian militia destroy Caroline, a US steamboat docked at Buffalo
1837 Steam-powered threshing machine patented, Winthrop, Maine
1845 Texas admitted as the 28th US state
1848 Gas lights first installed at White House (Polk's administration)
1851 First Young Men's Christian Association chapter opened (Boston)
1852 Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants
1867 First telegraph ticker used by a brokerage house, Groesbeck & Co, NY
1876 11 passenger cars crash in a ravine near Ashtabula Ohio
1890 Federal troops massacre 200+ captive Sioux at Wounded Knee, SD
1891 Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically" (radio)
1908 Patent granted for a 4-wheel automobile brake, Clintonville, WI
1913 First movie serial, "Adventures of Kathlyn," premieres in Chicago
1921 William Lyon Mackenzie King succeeds Arthur Meighen as Canadian PM
1934 Japan renounces Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 & London Treaty of 1930
1937 Second Irish constitution goes into effect; Irish Free State renamed Erie
1937 Pan Am starts San Francisco-to-Auckland, New Zealand service
1940 Germany begins dropping incendiary bombs on London (WW II)
1948 US State Dept. announces work on placing objects into Earth orbit
1949 First UHF television station operating on a regular basis (Bridgeport CT)
1949 Hungary nationalizes its industries
1952 First transistorized hearing aid offered for sale (Elmsford NY)
1955 Barbara Striesand's first recording "You'll Never Know" at age 13
1957 Singers Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme wed in Las Vegas
1958 TV soap "Young Dr. Malone" debuts
1965 CBS purchases NFL TV rights for 1966-68 at $18.8 million per year
1967 Star Trek's "The Trouble With Tribbles" first airs
1972 Eastern Tristar Jumbo Jet crashes near Everglades killing 101
1975 11 killed, 75 hurt by terrorist bomb at LaGuardia Airport in NYC
1983 US announced withdrawal from UNESCO
1984 Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi claims victory in parliamentary elections
1988 Victorian Post Office Museum in Australia closes
1989 Vaclav Havel becomes President of Czechoslovakia
1989 Wayne Gretzky & Martina Navratilova are named athletes of the decade by the AP
1990 Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton weds Shannon Kelley

Birthdays which occurred on December 29th:

1721 Marquise de Pompadour, mistress of French King Louis the XV
1776 Charles Macintosh, Scotland, patented waterproof fabric
1800 Charles Goodyear, inventor (vulcanization process for rubber)
1808 Andrew Johnson, Raleigh NC, 17th US President (1865-69)
1859 Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico (1915-20)
1879 Billy Mitchell, aviation hero General (WW I)
1912 Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Melbourne Australia, composer (Triad)
1915 Robert Ruark, US writer (Something of Value)
1920 Viveca Lindfors, actress (The Way We Were, Welcome to LA)
1921 Mala Powers, actress (Cyrano de Bergerac, Death in Small Doses)
1925 Dina Merrill, NY, actress (Operation Petticoat, Butterfield 8)
1927 Jim Simpson, Washongton DC, sportscaster (Monday Night Baseball)
1928 Bernard Cribbins, Oldham England, actor (Val Doonican Show)
1931 Barbara Steele, England, actress (Castle of Blood, Dark Shadows)
1932 Inga Swenson, Omaha Nebraska, actress (Gretchen-Benson)
1934 Ed Flanders, Minneapolis MN, actor (Dr. Westphall-St Elsewhere)
1934 Tom Jarriel, LaGrange GA, newscaster (ABC Weekend News, 20/20)
1936 Ray Nitschke, NFL linebacker (Green Bay Packers)
1938 Jon Voight, actor (Deliverance, The Champ)
1941 Ray Thomas, rocker (Moody Blues)
1946 Laffit Pincay, Jr., jockey
1947 Ted Danson, San Diego, actor (Sam Malone-Cheers)
1949 Angel Tompkins, actress (Bees, Prime Cut, Murphy's Law)
1951 Laurel Masse, Holland Michigan, jazz singer (Manhattan Transfer)
1952 Gelsey Kirkland, ballerina/druggie (Nutcracker)
1952 Nikolai Andrianov, USSR, gymnast (Olympic Gold-1972, 76, 80)
1959 Leslie Graves, Silver City NM, actress (Brenda-Capitol)
1964 Kimberly Russell, actress (Sarah-Head of the Class)

Deaths which occurred on December 29th:

1170 Thomas Beckett, archbishop, assassinated by 4 knights of King Henry II
1980 Roy Engle, actor (Police Chief-My Favorite Martian), dies at 67
1984 Leo Robin, lyricist, dies of heart failure at 84
1986 Harold Macmillan, former British PM dies in Sussex, England, at 92