On this day...

1733 Georgia founded by James Oglethorpe, at Savannah
1793 First US fugitive slave law passed; requires return of escaped slaves
1818 Chile gains independence from Spain
1821 Mercantile Library of the City of New York opens
1850 Original Washington's Farewell Address manuscript sells for $2,300
1865 Henry Highland Garnet, is first black to speak in US House of Representatives
1877 First news dispatch by telephone, between Boston & Salem, MA
1878 Frederick Thayer patents the catcher's mask
1879 First artificial ice rink in North America (Madison Square Garden)
1908 Anna Jeanes bequeaths $1,000,000 to Swarthmore to become all female
1908 Around the World Autombile Race begins in NYC
1909 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded
1912 China adopts the Gregorian calendar
1912 Last Ch'ing (Manchu) emperor of China, Henry P'u-i, abdicates
1915 Cornerstone laid for Lincoln Memorial in Wash DC
1925 First federal arbitration law approved by Congress
1934 France hit by a general strike
1937 Cleveland Rams granted an NFL franchise
1950 Senator Joe McCarthy claims to have list of 205 communist government employees
1953 USSR breaks relations with Israel
1955 McGuire Sisters' "Sincerely" single goes to #1 & stays #1 for 10 weeks
1955 President Eisenhower sends first US advisors to Vietnam
1962 Bus boycott starts in Macon, Georgia
1973 First US POW's in North Vietnam released
1981 Pete Squires sets record for 1,575 steps of Empire State Building, 10 minutes
1984 Cale Yarborough becomes first Daytona 500 qualifier above 200 MPH
1989 5 Pakistani Moslem rioters killed protesting "Satanic Verses" novel
1991 North & South Korea form a joint team for table tennis competition

Birthdays which occurred on February 12th:

1663 Dr. Cotton Mather, witchcraft authority
1775 Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams
1791 Peter Cooper, industrialist (Cooper Union)
1809 Abraham Lincoln (R) 16th President (1861-65)
1809 Charles Darwin, Shrewsbury England, discovered evolution
1828 George Meredith, England, poet/novelist (Shaving of Shagpat)
1831 John Morrissey, boxer/developer of Saratoga Springs horse race track
1867 Joe Howard, NYC, singer (Gay Nineties Revue)
1880 John Llewellyn Lewis, union leader (United Mine Workers)
1883 Ludwig Stossel, Austria, actor (Man With a Camera)
1893 Omar Bradley, Last US Five Star General, WW II "The GI General"
1898 Leroy "Roy" Harris, OK, composer (When Johnny Comes Marching Home)
1898 Wallace Ford, Batton England, actor (The Deputy)
1904 Ted Mack, Denver, TV host (Original Amateur Hour)
1905 Harry Bellaver, actor (Sgt. Arcaro-Naked City)
1909 Barry Wood, New Haven CT, singer (Your Hit Parade)
1910 Lee Byung Chull, Korean industrialist, founder of Samsung Business
1912 Ernest Clark, London England, actor (Doctor in the House)
1915 Lorne Greene, Ottawa Canada, actor (Bonanza, Battlestar Galactica)
1918 Dominic DiMaggio, baseball outfielder (Boston Red Sox)
1919 Forrest Tucker, Plainfield IN, actor (O'Rourke-F Troop, Dusty Trail)
1926 Joe Garagiola, St Louis Mo, baseball player/sportscaster
1934 Bill Russell, US, NBA star (Olympic Gold-1956)
1935 Ray Manzarek, keyboardist (The Doors-Light My Fire)
1936 Joe Don Baker, Groesback TX, actor (Eischied, Walking Tall, Fletch)
1936 Paul Shenar, Milwaukee, actor (Carrington-Roots)
1938 Judy Blume, author (Wifey)
1941 Naomi Uemura, mountain climber, first Japanese to scale Everest
1945 Cliff DeYoung, LA, actor (F/X, Hunger, Shock Treatment)
1951 Gil Moore, rocker (Triumph)
1953 Joanna Kerns, actress (Maggie Seaver-Growing Pains)
1953 Simon MacCorkindale, Cambridge England, actor (Falcon Crest)
1956 Arsenio Hall, comedian (Arsenio, Coming to America)
1958 Andie MacDowell, [Rosalie Anderson], Gaffney SC, actress
1959 Sigrid Thornton, Australia, actress (Amelia Lawson-Guns of Paradise)
1967 Stephen Baldwin, actor (William Cody-The Young Riders)
1968 Chynna Phillips, LA, singer (Wilson Philips-Hold On)


Deaths which occurred on February 12th:

1804 Immanuel Kant, philosopher, dies at 79 in Prussia
1955 Tom Moore, actor (Ladies be Seated, Majority Rules), dies at 71
1965 Henry Kulky, actor (Otto-Life of Riley), dies at 53
1971 George Shelton, actor (It Pays to be Ignorant), dies at 86
1976 Clifton Williams, band master (Sinfonians), dies at 52
1985 Nicholas Colssanto, actor (Coach-Cheers), dies at 61
1986 Sid Stone, comedian (Milton Berle Show), dies at 82
1987 Lang Jeffries, actor (Skip-Rescue 8), dies at 55