On this day...

1498 Vasco da Gama's fleet visits Mozambique Island
1776 Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston
1799 Congress standardizes US weights & measures
1807 Congress bans slave trade effective January 1, 1808
1817 First Evangelical church building dedicated, New Berlin,
Pennsylvania
1819 Territory of Arkansas organized
1829 New England Asylum for the Blind, first in US, incorporated, Boston
1831 John Frazee becomes first US sculptor to receive a federal
commission
1836 Texas declares independence from Mexico
1853 Territory of Washington organized
1858 Frederick Cook, New Orleans, patents a cotton-bale metallic tie
1861 Congress creates Dakota & Nevada Territories
1861 Government Printing Office purchases first printing plant, Washington
1866 First US company to make sewing needles by machine incorporated, Connecticut
1867 First Reconstruction act passed by Congress
1867 Congress abolishes peonage in New Mexico
1867 Howard University established
1867 US Congress creates the Department of Education
1868 University of Illinois opens
1876 Rutherford B. Hayes elected president
1887 American Trotting Association organized in Detroit
1893 First federal railroad legislation passed; required safety features
1899 President McKinley signs bill creating Mt. Rainier National Park (5th in US)
1901 Hawaii's first telegraph company opens
1903 Martha Washington Hotel, catering to women only, opens in NYC
1915 Vladmir Jabotinsky forms a Jewish military force to fight in Palestine
1917 Jones Act: Puerto Rico territory created, US citizenship granted
1925 Nationwide road numbering system & US shield marker adopted
1927 Babe Ruth becomes highest paid baseball player ($70,000 per year)
1929 Congress creates Court of Customs & Patent Appeals
1930 First US indoor glider flight, St Louis Terminal Building
1934 Union Pacific tests light-weight high-speed passenger train, Omaha
1938 Landslides & floods cause over 200 deaths (Los Angeles California)
1940 First intercollegiate track meet telecast, Madison Square Garden, NYC
1944 Fumes from locomotive stalled in a tunnel suffocates 521 in Italy
1949 First automatic street light (New Milford, Connecticut)
1949 Lucky Lady II (USAF B-50 Superfortress), completes first nonstop round-the-world flight at Fort Worth, Texas covering 23,452-miles in 94 hours
1951 First NBA all-star game
1958 First surface crossing of Antarctic continent is completed
1958 Yemen announces it would join the United Arab Republic
1962 Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in an NBA game
1969 First test flight of the supersonic Concorde
1974 first class postage raised from 8 cents to 10 cents
1986 First million-dollar purse for a handicap race won at Santa Anita
1989 Exxon Houston runs aground in Hawaii, spills 117,000 gallons of oil

Birthdays which occurred on March 2nd:

1545 Sir Thomas Bodley, England, diplomat/scholar
1760 Camille Desmoulins, France, journalist/pamphleteer/revolutionary leader
1769 DeWitt Clinton, (Governor/Senator-NY)
1793 Sam Houston, President of Texas (1836-38, 1841-44)
1817 J nos Arany, Hungary, epic poet (Toldi, Death of King Buda)
1900 Kurt Weill, Dessau, Germany, composer/Brecht collaborator
1902 Edward Uhler Condon, scientist (Manhattan Project)
1904 Dr. Seuss [Theodor Geisel], kid's book author
1905 Marc Blitzstein, Philadelphia, composer (Cradle Will Rock)
1913 Marjorie Weaver, Tennessee, actress (Young Mr. Lincoln)
1913 Mort Cooper, baseball player (NL MVP 1942)
1917 Desi Arnaz, Santiago Cuba, singer/actor (Ricky Ricardo-I Love Lucy)
1917 Jim Konstanty, baseball player (NL MVP 1950)
1919 Jennifer Jones [Phyllis Isley], Oklahoma, actress (Farewell to Arms)
1930 John Cullum, Knoxville, actor (Hamlet, Hawaii, Northern Exposure)
1931 Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Soviet leader (1985-91)
1931 Tom Wolfe, journalist/author (Right Stuff)
1935 Al Waxman, Toronto Canada, actor (Cagney & Lacey, Meatballs)
1938 Donald Schwall, baseball player (1961 AL rookie of year)
1939 Barbara Luna, NYC, actress (5 Weeks in a Balloon, Gentle Savage)
1942 John Irving, US, short-story writer (World According to Garp)
1944 Lou Reed [Louis Firbank], vocalist/guitarist (Walk on the Wild Side)
1945 Joy Garrett, actress (Jo-Days of Our Lives)
1949 Eddie Money [Mahoney], singer/guitarist (Take Me Home Tonight)
1950 Karen Carpenter, vocalist/drummer (We Only Just Begun)
1951 Cassie Yates, Macon Georgia, actress (Osterman Weekend, Dynasty)
1953 William Simmons, sax/keyboardist (Midnight Star-No Parking)
1955 Dale Bosworth, TV host (America's Most Wanted)
1955 Dale Bozzio, rock vocalist (Missing Persons-Destination Unknown)
1955 Jay Osmond, Ogden Utah, singer (Osmond Brothers)
1959 Andrew Farriss, rocker (Inxs-Kiss the Dirt)
1962 Jon Bon Jovi, Sayreville NJ, rocker
1963 Suzette Charles, NJ, replaced Vanessa Williams as Miss America

Deaths which occurred on March 2nd:

1972 Bill Lawrence, news anchor (ABC), dies at 56
1973 Cleo Noel, US ambassador to Sudan, is assassinated
1974 Barbara Ruick, actress/singer (Jerry Colonna Show), dies at 41
1979 Sir Richard Sykes, British ambassador, is assassinated in Holland
1981 Janear Hines, actress (Roberta-Julia), dies at 30
1984 Louis Basile, actor (Louie-The Super), dies at 48
1985 Sir Michael Redgrave, actor/writer, dies at 77 of Parkinson's disease
1992 Sandy Dennis, actress (Up the Down Staircase), dies of cancer at 54