This Week in History

JANUARY 25

Mara Brady was born.

Kevin Boyle was born.

Janet McDonnell was born.

Ed Mills was born.

Fran Reddon was born.

1890 – Nellie Bly bested Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days by completing her circumnavigation in 72 days.

JANUARY 26

Diana Cinicola was born.

1979 – Former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller died in New York at age 70.

1988 – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway. It would go on to become the longest-running Broadway show.

JANUARY 27

Chris Cori was born.

Ruth Graves was born.

1945 – The Russians liberated Auschwitz concentration camp, where the Nazis had killed over 1.5 million people, including over 1 million Jews.

1951 – The U.S. Air Force started atomic testing in the Nevada desert.

JANUARY 28

Esther Grillo was born.

1915 – Congress passed legislation creating the U.S. Coast Guard.

1986 – U.S. shuttle Challenger exploded 72 seconds after lift-off, killing all seven crew members aboard.

JANUARY 29

Sunshine Hastings was born.

1886 – Karl Benz received a patent for the first successful gasoline-driven car.

1936 – Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson were the first players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

JANUARY 30

Frank Blum was born

Terence Moriarty was born.

1948 – Gandhi was assassinated.

1972 – British troops opened fire on civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland, sparking the “Bloody Sunday” massacre.

JANUARY 31

Lori Healey-Wasson was born.

1865 – The House of Representatives approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States.

1940 – The first social security check was issued to Ida Fuller for $22.54.