February 15: This Day in History

Featured Fact, 1898:
Explosive event in Havana Harbor -- the U.S. battleship "Maine" blows up, killing 260 crew members. Although no foul play is evident, tension ignites between the U.S. and Spain fueling the Spanish-American War.

Also Today:
1564: Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, astronomer, and inventor of the first telescope, is born in Pisa.
1764: Pierre Laclade Ligue establishes St. Louis, Missouri, as a French trading post.
1797: William Steinway, father of the Steinway piano, is born.
1842: The first adhesive postage stamp is invented by a private mail company in New York City.
1933: President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt escapes assassin Giuseppe Zangara's bullets in Miami.
1936: Hitler orders Volkswagens to be built.
1965: The Maple Leaf, Canada's new flag, flies over Ottawa. The Union Jack design is retired.

February is Black History Month. Today:
1804: Slavery is abolished in New Jersey -- the last northern state to do so.

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