On this day...

1673 First recorded wine auction held (London)
1768 First American chartered fire insurance company receives charter, Pennsylvania
1792 US postal service created
1809 Supreme Court rules federal government power greater than any state
1816 Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville" premiers in Rome
1831 Polish revolutionaries defeat Russians in battle of Growchow
1835 Concepcion, Chile destroyed by earthquake
1839 Congress prohibits dueling in District of Columbia
1846 British occupy Sikh citadel of Lahore
1856 John Rutledge, Liverpool-NY steamer, hits iceberg
1864 Civil War battle of Olustee, Florida
1865 M.I.T. establishes first US collegiate architectural school
1872 Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus Baldwin
1872 Toothpick manufacturing machine patented in US
1877 First cantilever bridge in US completed, Harrodsburg, Kentucky
1895 Congress authorizes the US mint in Denver, Colorado
1901 First territorial legislature of Hawaii convenes
1921 Riza Khan Pahlevi seizes control of Iran
1929 American Samoa organized as a territory of US
1931 Congress allows California to build Bay Bridge in Oakland
1933 House of Representativess completes congressional action to repeal Prohibition
1937 First automobile/airplane combination tested, Santa Monica, CA
1938 UK Foreign Sec Eden resigns, says PM Chamberlain appeased Germany
1941 First transport of Jews to concentration camp (Plotsk, Poland)
1941 Nazis order Polish Jews barred from using public transportation
1942 Lt. E.H. O'Hare single-handedly shoots down 5 Japanese heavy bombers
1943 New volcano Paracutin erupts in farmer's corn patch. (Mexico)
1944 Batman & Robin comic strip premiers in newspapers
1947 Chemical mixing error causes explosion that destroys 42 city blocks in LA
1950 Dylan Thomas arrives in NYC for his first US poetry reading tour
1952 First black umpire in organized baseball certified (Emmett Ashford)
1958 Jockey Eddie Arcaro rides his 4,000th winner
1962 John Glenn is first American to orbit Earth (Friendship 7)
1963 Willie Mays (SF Giants) signs a record $100,000 per year contract
1965 Ranger 8 makes hard landing on the Moon, returns photos, other data
1968 State troopers used tear gas to stop demonstration at Alcorn A & M
1971 Nationall Emergency Center erroneously orders US radio & TV stations to go off the air. The mistake wasn't corrected for 30 minutes
1981 Flight readiness firing of Columbia's main engines; 20 seconds
1988 500 die in heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro Brazil
1988 Brian Boitano wins Olympic gold medal in figure skating
1989 Total eclipse of the Moon


Birthdays which occurred on February 20th:

1494 Johan Friis, chancellor of Denmark; helped establish Lutheranism
1507 Gentile Bellini, Italian artist (Sultan Mohammed II)
1632 Thomas Osborne, Duke of Leeds, English chief minister/founded Tories
1844 Ludwig Eduard, Boltzmann Austria, physicist (statistical mechanics)
1870 Pieter Cornelis Boutens Holland, mystic poet/scholar (Verzen)
1883 Shiga Naoya, Japan, novelist (Road Through the Dark Night)
1888 Georges Bernanos, France, novelist (Diary of a Country Priest)
1893 Russel Crouse, journalist/novelist/playwright (Life with Father)
1897 Ivan Albright, Illinois, painter (The Door, The Window)
1898 Enzo Ferrari, Italy, sportscar manufacturer
1899 Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, NY, founder of Pan Am Airways
1901 Muhammad Naguib Khartoum, President of Egypt (1952-54)
1902 Ansel Adams, photographer (1966 ASMP Award)
1904 Aleksei N. Kosygin, Soviet premier (1964-80)
1906 Gale Gordon, actor (Here's Lucy)
1910 Julian Trevelyan, English Surrealist painter/collage maker
1911 Robert Guyn McBride, Tucson Arizona, composer (Mexican Rhapsody)
1914 John Daly, South Africa, newscaster/TV game show host (What's My Line)
1916 Jackie Gleason, Brooklyn, comedian (Ralph Kramden-Honeymooners)
1921 Amanda Blake, Buffalo, actress (Kitty Russell-Gunsmoke)
1924 Gloria Vanderbilt, women's fashion designer
1925 Robert Altman, movie director (M*A*S*H)
1927 Roy Cohn, attorney, "Grand Inquisitor" for Senator Joe McCarthy
1928 Elroy Face, baseball pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates)
1929 Amanda Blake, actress (Miss Kitty-Gunsmoke)
1934 Bobby Unser, auto racer
1936 Larry Hovis, Wapito WA, comedian (Gomer Pyle, Hogan's Heroes)
1936 Marj Dusay, Russell KS, actress (Kate-Maverick)
1937 Nancy Wilson, Chillicothe Ohio, jazz singer (Feel Like Making Love)
1937 Robert Huber, Germany, biochemist (Nobel 1988)
1941 Buffy Sainte-Marie, Maine, folksinger (Now That the Buffalo Are Gone)
1942 Peter Strauss, NY, actor (Rich Man Poor Man)
1942 Phil Esposito, NHL player/coach/GM (Bruins, Rangers)
1946 J. Geils, rock guitarist/vocalist (J. Geils Band-Centerfold)
1946 Sandy Duncan, Henderson TX, actress (Sandy Duncan Show)
1947 Jennifer O'Neill, Rio de Janeiro Brazil, actress (Summer of '42)
1949 Ivana Trump, Gottwaldov Czechoslovakia, ex-wife of Donald Trump
1950 John Voldstad, Oslo Norway, actor (Darryl-Newhart)
1950 Walter Becker, rock bassist (Steely Dan-Peg)
1951 Edward Albert, LA Ca, actor (Jeff-Falcon Crest, Butterflies are Free)
1953 Riccardo Chailly, Milan Italy, conductor (West Berlin Symphony Orchestra)
1954 Patty Hearst Shaw, SF, famous kidnap hostage and bank robber
1955 Kelsey Grammer, actor (Dr. Fraiser Crane-Cheers and Frasier)
1963 Charles Barkley, NBA forward
1966 Cindy Crawford, Dekalb IL, super model

Deaths which occurred on February 20th:

1895 Frederick Douglass, escaped slave, antislavery leader, dies at 78
1916 Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish politician, Nobel winner
1958 Thurston Hall, actor (Mr. Schuyler-Topper), dies at 75
1966 Chester Nimitz, US naval admiral, WWII leader
1975 Robert Strauss, actor (Sgt. Gruzewsky-Mona McCluskey), dies at 61
1983 James G. Richardson (Tim Cassidy-Sierra), dies at 37 in ski accident
1985 Clarence Nash, voice of Donald Duck, dies at 80 of leukemia
1992 Dick York, actor (Bewitched), dies at 63
1999 Gene Siskel, movie critic (Siskel & Ebert), dies at 53