On this day...

1691 Thomas Neale granted British patent for American postal service
1772 First partition of Poland-Russia & Prussia, joined later by Austria
1776 First volume of Gibbon's "Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire" published
1801 House breaks electoral college tie, chooses Jefferson as President over Burr
1854 British recognize independence of Orange Free State (South Africa)
1864 CSS "HL Hunley" becomes first submarine to sink an enemy ship
1865 Columbia SC burns down during the Civil War
1867 First ship passes through Suez Canal
1870 Mississippi becomes 9th state readmitted to US after Civil War
1876 Sardines first canned (Eastport, Maine)
1897 National Congress of Parents & Teachers organizes (Wash DC)
1905 Frances Willard becomes first woman honored in National Statuary Hall
1906 Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice marries in the White House
1911 First hydroplane flight to & from a ship, by Glenn Curtiss, San Diego
1913 First minimum wage law in US takes effect, in Oregon
1915 Edward Stone, first US combatant to die in WW I, is mortally wounded
1926 75 buried in Sap Gulch, Bingham, Utah avalanche, 40 die
1931 First telecast of a sporting event in Japan (baseball)
1934 First high school auto driving course offered, State College, Pennsylvania
1941 Joe Louis retains heavyweight boxing crown, KO'ing Gus Dorazio
1947 Voice of America begins broadcasting to USSR
1949 Chaim Weitzman elected first president of Israel
1950 31 die in a train crash in Rockville Center NY
1953 Baseball star/pilot Ted Williams uninjured as plane shot down in Korea
1955 Mike Souchak sets PGA 72-hole record of 257
1958 Comic strip "B.C." first appears
1959 First weather satellite launched, Vanguard 2, 9.8 kg
1964 US Supreme court rules - 1 man 1 vote
1972 President Nixon leaves the USA for China
1974 49 die in stampede for seats at soccer match, Cairo, Egypt
1979 China invades Vietnam
1980 Buddy Baker wins Daytona 500
1981 Chrysler reports largest corporate losses in US history
1985 First class postage rises from 20 cents to 22 cents
1987 Don Mattingly wins highest salary arbitration ($1,975,000 per year

Birthdays which occurred on February 17th:

1774 Raphaelle Peale, US, painter (After the Rain-1823)
1820 Henri Vieuxtemps, Verviers Belgium, composer/teacher (Brussels Cons)
1844 A Montgomery Ward, founded mail-order business
1857 Samuel Sidney McClure, Irish-American newspaper editor/publisher
1867 William Cadbury, England, chocolate manufacturer
1874 Thomas J. Watson, Sr. founded IBM
1889 H.L. Hunt, Texas oil multimillionaire
1908 Walter L "Red" Barber, sports announcer (Bkln Dodgers, NY Yanks)
1914 Arthur Kennedy, Worcester Mass, actor (Fantastic Voyage, Peyton Place)
1916 Raf Vallone, Italy, actor (El Cid, 2 Women, Greek Tycoon)
1919 Jock Mahoney, Chicago, actor (Yancy Derringer)
1919 Kathleen Freeman, Chicago, actress (Beverly Hillbillies)
1925 Hal Holbrook, Cleveland, actor (All the President's Men, Mark Twain)
1926 Lee Hoiby, Madison Wisconsin, composer (1957 Arts & Letters)
1929 Chaim Potok, novelist (The Promise, My Name is Asher Lev)
1933 Bobby Lewis, rocker (Tossin' & Turnin')
1934 Alan Bates, actor (Zorba the Greek, Unmarried Woman)
1936 Jim Brown, Georgia, NFL fullback (Cleveland Browns), actor (Dirty Dozen)
1942 Huey Newton, Black Panther leader
1945 Brenda Fricker, actress (My Left Foot)
1945 Patricia Morrow, actress (Rita-Peyton Place)
1946 Zina Bethune, NYC, actress (Gail-The Nurses)
1950 Rick Medlocke, rocker (Blackfoot)
1952 Guillermo Vilas, tennis player (1977 US Open)
1958 Heidi Hagman, actress (Linda-Archie Bunker's Place)
1962 Lou Diamond Phillips, actor (La Bamba, Stand & Deliver)
1963 Michael Jordan, NBA guard/forward (Chicago Bulls)

Deaths which occurred on February 17th:

1688 Rev. James Renwick, hanged in Scotland for being a Presbyterian
1856 Heinrich Heine, German poet, dies at 58 in Paris
1908 Geronimo, Apache hero, dies at about 79
1959 Tim Mara, co-founder of NFL's NY Giants
1962 Joseph Kearns, actor (George-Dennis the Menace), dies at 55
1977 Quincy Howe, newscaster (CBS Weekend News), dies at 76
1982 Thelonius Monk, jazz great dies at 64
1984 Lucille Benson, actress (Lilly-Bosom Buddies), dies at 69
1989 Lefty Gomez, NY Yankee pitching great, dies at 80