On this day...

1600 British East India Company chartered
1775 Battle of Quebec; Americans unable to take British stronghold
1781 Bank of North America, first US bank opens
1805 End of French Republican calendar; France returns to Gregorianism
1841 Alabama becomes first state to license dental surgeons
1852 Future president & Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes marry
1857 Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada
1862 Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee
1862 President Lincoln signs act admitting West Virginia to the Union
1862 Union ironclad ship "Monitor" sunk at Cape Hatteras, NC
1879 Edison gives first public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
1890 Ellis Island opens as a US immigration depot
1897 Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into New York City
1907 For the First time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the new year
1923 First transatlantic radio broadcast of a voice, Pittsburgh-Manchester
1934 Helen Richey becomes first woman to pilot an airmail transport
1944 48 people die in a train accident in Ogden, Utah
1945 Ratification of UN Charter completed
1946 French troops leave Lebanon
1946 President Truman officially proclaims end of WW-II
1950 Jockeys Willie Shoemaker & Joe Culmone set record of 388 wins in a year
1951 First battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical announced
1953 Willie Shoemaker shatters record, riding 485 winners in a year
1961 First performance of the Beach Boys
1961 Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion
1962 American Basketball League announces suspension of operation
1962 Katanga becomes part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
1964 Donald Campbell (UK) sets world water speed record (276.33 mph)
1966 Monkee's "I'm a Believer" hits #1 & stays there for 7 weeks
1967 Packers beat Cowboys 21-17 in NFL championship game (-13ø F)
1968 First supersonic airliner flown (Russian TU-144)
1970 Congress authorizes the Eisenhower dollar coin
1970 Paul McCartney files a lawsuit to dissolve the Beatles
1974 Free agent pitcher Catfish Hunter signs $3 million Yankee contract
1974 Gold legal in US, Franklin Mint strikes Panama's Gold 100 balboa coin
1976 TV soap "Somerset" ends 6 year run
1977 Ted Bundy escapes from jail in Colorado
1979 Winterland Rock Concert Hall in SF closes after 556 concerts
1982 TV soap "The Doctors" ends 19 year run
1983 Brunei gains complete independence from Britain
1984 NYC subway gunman Bernhard Goetz surrenders to police in NH
1984 Rajiv Gandhi takes office as India's 6th PM - succeeds his mother, Indira
1986 Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 97
1990 Iraq begins a military draft of 17 year olds
1990 The Sci-Fi Channel on cable TV begins transmitting
1991 Dow Jones closes at record high 3168.83
1999 Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama

Birthdays which occurred on December 31st:

1514 Andreas Vesalius, Brussels Belgium, anatomist (Fabrica)
1738 Charles Lord Cornwallis, solider/statesman 
1869 Henri Matisse, France, impressionist painter (Odalisque)
1870 Thomas Connolly, baseball's major league umpire for 50 years
1880 George C Marshall, Uniontown PA, authored Marshall Plan (Nobel 1953)
1882 Ben Jones, Missouri, horse trainer (Citation, Whirlaway)
1892 Jason Robards, Michigan, actor
1899 Silvestre Revueltas, Santiago Papasquiaro, Mexico, composer
1904 Nathan Milstein, Odessa Russia, concert violinist 
1905 Jule Styne, England, songwriter/composer 
1910 Dick Kollmar, Rigewood NJ, actor (Broadway Spotlight, Guess What)
1914 Pat Brady, Toledo Ohio, actor (Roy Rodgers Show)
1921 Rocky Graziano, NY, boxer/actor (Miami Undercover)
1922 Joan McCracken, Philadelphia, actress 
1922 Rex Allen, Wilcox AZ, cowboy singer (Dr. Baxter-Frontier Doctor)
1924 Victoria Draves, US, platform/springboard diver (Olympic Gold-1948)
1928 Hugh McElhenny, NFL halfback (SF, Minnesota, Giants, Detroit)
1928 Ross Barbour, Columbus, singer (4 Freshmen)
1932 George Schlatter, TV producer (Laugh-in)
1937 Anthony Hopkins, Wales, actor (Elephant Man, QB VII, Magic, Bounty)
1938 Rosalind Cash, Atlantic City NJ, actress (Omega Man, Wrong is Right)
1941 Sarah Miles, Essex, England, actress (Ryan's Hope, Big Sleep, Venom)
1942 Andy Summers, rocker (Police)
1943 Ben Kingsley, Scarborough England, actor (Gandhi, Betrayal, Maurice)
1943 John Denver, singer and actor
1946 Barbara Carrera, Managua Nicaragua, actress (Angelica-Dallas)
1947 Burton Cummings, rock guitarist (Guess Who-These Eyes)
1947 Tim Matheson, actor (Animal House, Fletch, Up the Creek)
1948 Donna Summer, Boston, singer (On the Radio)
1948 Joe Dallesandro, Pensacola, actor (Heat, Trash, AW Frankenstein)
1949 Claude Daniel Marks, Buenos Aires, one of FBI's most wanted
1951 Fermin Goytisolo, rocker (KC & Sunshine Band)
1951 Tom Hamilton, rocker (Aerosmith)
1953 James Remar, Boston, actor (48 Hours, Rent-a-Cop, Cotton Club)
1959 Val Kilmer, actor (Top Secret, Top Gun)
1961 Joanna Johnson, actress (Caroline-Bold & Beautiful)
1969 Martha Byrne, actress (Lily-As the World Turns)
1972 Joseph Mulrey McIntyre, rocker (New Kids on the Block)

Deaths which occurred on December 31st:

1384 John Wycliffe, English religious reformer, Bible translator
1719 John Flamsteed, first Astronomer Royal, dies at 73
1968 Carl Oscar Ahuesf International Chess Master (1950), dies at 84
1971 Peter Deuelf actor (Gidget, Love on a Rooftop), commits suicide at 31
1972 Roberto Clemente, Hall of Fame baseball player, dies in a plane crash
1977 Nora Marlowe, actress (Sara-Gov & JJ)
1983 Frank Link, actor (Burns & Schreiber Comedy Show), dies at 46
1985 Rick Nelson, snger/actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet), dies at 45 in plane crash
1985 Sam Speigel, Academy Award winning producer dies at 84
1986 Lloyd Haynes, actor (Pete Dixon-Room 222), dies at 54