On this day...

1637 Ferdinand III succeeds Ferdinand II as Holy Roman Emperor
1764 St. Louis founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclade Ligue
1799 First US printed ballots authorized, Pennsylvania
1851 Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescuing a fugitive slave
1869 Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped
1870 Ground broken for Northern Pacific Railway near Duluth, MN
1879 Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before the Supreme Court
1898 USS Maine blows up in Havana harbor, cause unknown-258 sailors die
1903 First Teddy Bear introduced in America, made by Morris & Rose Michtom
1905 First race meet at Oaklawn Park (Hot Springs, Ark)
1918 First WW I US army troopship torpedoed & sunk by Germany, off Ireland
1918 Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania adopt the Gregorian calendar
1919 American Legion organizes in Paris
1926 Contract air mail service begins in US
1930 Weona beats Toluca in Illinois Basketball Tournament in 10 overtimes
1932 US bobsled team member Eddie Eagan becomes only athlete to win gold in both Summer & Winter Olympics (1920 boxing gold)
1933 Pres-elect Franklin Roosevelt survives assassination attempt
1942 Singapore surrenders to the Japanese
1950 Walt Disney's "Cinderella" released
1957 Andrei A. Gromyko succeeds Dmitri Shepilov as Soviet Foreign Minister
1961 Entire US figure skating team dies in Belgian Sabena 707 crash
1965 Canada replaces the Union Jack flag with the Maple Leaf

Birthdays which occurred on February 15th:

1483 Babur, founded Mughal dynasty in India (1526-30)
1497 Philipp Melanchthon, Germany, Protestant reformer
1564 Galileo Galilei, Pisa, Italy, astronomer/physicist
1571 Michael Praetorius, German music theorist/composer (Syntagma music)
1710 Louis XV, King of France (1710-74)
1726 Abraham Clark, farmer/lawyer, signed Declaration of Independence
1748 Jeremy Bentham, Utilitarian philosopher/economist
1797 Henry Engelhard Steinway, piano maker
1809 Cyrus Hall McCormick, inventor (Mechanical reaper)
1812 Charles Lewis Tiffany, Killingly CT, jeweler
1820 Susan Brownell Anthony, woman's suffragette
1834 Sir William Preece, English electrical engineer, wireless pioneer
1845 Elihu Root, US Sec. of State (1905-09)/Nobel Peace Prize (1912)
1861 Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician/philosopher
1874 Earnest Shackleton, Ireland, explorer (Antarctica)
1886 Sax Rohmer, England, author (Dr Fu Manchu)
1894 Oswaldo Aranha, Brazil, lawyer/statesman (first President of UN)
1897 Earl H Blaik, Detroit, college football hall of fame coach
1899 Gale Sondergard, Litchfield MN, actress (Cat & Canary, Road to Rio)
1899 Georges Auric, LodŠve France, composer (It Always Rains on Sunday)
1905 Harold Arlen, composer (Over the Rainbow)
1907 Cesar Romero, NYC, actor (Joker-Batman)
1911 Leonard Woodcock, labor leader (UAW)
1912 George Mikes, Hungary, British writer (How to Be an Alien)
1914 Kevin McCarthy, Seattle, (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Howling)
1918 Alan Arbus, NYC, actor (Dr Sidney Freedman-M*A*S*H)
1922 Herman Kahn, NJ, writer (Thinking About the Unthinkable)
1923 Keene Curtis, Salt Lake City Utah, actor (Magician, Amanda's)
1923 Yelena Bonner, Moscow, Soviet dissident/wife of Andre Sakharov
1927 Harvey Korman, Chicago, actor (Carol Burnett Show, Blazing Saddles)
1929 Graham Hill, auto racer (1962, 68 international racing champ)
1929 James Schlesinger, US Secretary of Defense (1973-75)
1934 Niklaus Wirth, Switzerland, computer programmer/inventor (PASCAL)
1935 John R. Block, US Secretary of Agriculture (1981-86)
1935 Susan Brownmiller, Brooklyn, feminist author (Against Our Wills)
1944 Mick Avory, rock drummer (Kinks)
1947 Marisa Berenson, NY, actress (Barry Lyndon, Death in Vienna)
1947 Rusty Hamer, Tenafly NJ, actor (Rusty-Make Room for Daddy)
1948 Ron Cey, Tacoma Washington, 3rd baseman (LA Dodgers)
1949 Ken Anderson, NFL quarterback (Cincinnati Bengals)
1951 Jane Seymour, Middlesex England, actress (Somewhere in Time, Dr. Quinn)
1951 Melissa Manchester, Bronx, NY, singer (Don't Cry Out Loud)
1954 Matt Groening, cartoonist (Simpsons)
1968 Kurt Robin McKinney, Louisville KY, actor (Ned-General Hospital)

Deaths which occurred on February 15th:

1933 Anton J. Cermak, (Chicago mayor), assassinated in Miami
1955 S.Z. Sakall, actor (Dolly Sisters, Casablanca), dies at 71
1965 Nat King Cole, singer (Unforgettable, Mona Lisa), dies at 65
1973 Wally Cox, actor (Mr Peepers, Hollywood Squares), dies at 48
1981 Mike Bloomfield, rocker (Electric Flag), dies at 37
1982 Rolfe Sedan, actor (Mailman-George Burns Show), dies at 85
1984 Avon Long, dancer/actor, dies of cancer at 73
1984 Ethel Merman, singer/actress, dies in her sleep at 76