May 14 One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition leaves St. Louis, Mo., on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. – 1804. In Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims
May 7 Martinique’s Mount Pele, near the city of Saint Pierre, begins the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century. The city of Saint Pierre was buried within minutes and virtually everyone died instantly. – 1902. Two die, 20 are injured in “Bloody Tuesday” when strikebreakers attempt to run San
April 30 Representatives of the United States and Napoleonic France conclude negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, a massive land sale that doubles the size of the young American republic. What was known as Louisiana Territory comprised most of modern-day United States between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, with the
April 23 Brian Boru, the high king of Ireland, is assassinated by a group of retreating Norsemen shortly after his Irish forces defeat them. – 1014. Historians believe legendary English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-on-Avon on this day in 1564, the same day he died in
As part of the Little White School Museum’s year-long celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary, they will share the fascinating story of Kendall County’s long heritage and history. Starting Saturday, April 18 at 1 p.m., museum director Roger Matile will present “The History of Kendall County, Part I, From Prehistoric
April 16 Employers lock out 25,000 New York City garment workers in a dispute over hiring practices. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union calls a general strike; after 14 weeks, 60,000 strikers win union recognition and the contractual right to strike. – 1916. Vladimir Lenin, leader of the revolutionary Bolshevik
April 9 At Appomattox, Va., Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union
April 2 The U.S. Supreme Court declares unconstitutional a 1918 Washington, D.C. law establishing a minimum wage for women. – 1923. German Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, “the Desert Fox,” resumes his advance into Cyrenaica, modern-day Libya, to signal the beginning of what nine days later will become the recapture of
March 19 At the beginning of the Great Depression, Nevada’s mines were in decline, and its economy was in shambles. In an attempt to lift the state out of the hard times, the Nevada state legislature votes to legalize gambling. – 1931. Underdog Texas Western College defeats Kentucky, 72-65, in
March 12 In a dramatic speech to a joint session of Congress, U.S. president Harry S Truman asks for U.S. assistance for Greece and Turkey to forestall communist domination of the two nations. Some historians often have cited Truman’s address, which came to be known as the Truman Doctrine, as
By Ricky Rieckert Dear readers, This week I will continue with St. Mary’s Parish, and an Aurora affiliation at Blessed Sacrament Parish in North Aurora. Monsignor Edward S. Wright served as the assistant pastor at St. Mary’s Parish, from May of 1954 to August of 1959. I didn’t realize until
March 5 A mob of American colonists gather at the Customs House in Boston and begin taunting the British soldiers guarding the building. The protesters, who called themselves Patriots, were protesting the occupation of their city by British troops. The colonists threw snowballs and other objects at the British and
By Ricky Rieckert Dear readers, This week I’m writing about St. Mary’s Parish, on the northwest corner of Downer Place and Root Street in Aurora. In the winter of 1848, Mr. I. E. Labrie, an influential citizen, went to Bourbonnais, to explain to the Parish Priest there, the needs of
February 26 On this day, two national parks were established in the United States 10 years apart: The Grand Canyon in 1919 and the Grand Tetons in 1929. – 1919 and 1929. A coal slag heap doubling as a dam in West Virginia’s Buffalo Creek Valley collapses, and floods the
By Ricky Rieckert Dear readers, This week I’m going to finish up with the history of the buildings at Sacred Heart Parish. When I was in grade school, there was a white house on State Street, just south of the original church, that was on the southeast corner of Fulton
February 19 The first rescuers reach surviving members of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. – 1847. U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 to initiate a controversial World War II policy with lasting consequences for Japanese Americans.
Long before Troy became a forgotten name on old maps, it was a busy industrial suburb of the growing Village of Oswego, shaped by water, business, and railroads. Its story began in the 1830s, when early entrepreneurs followed settlers into the Oswego area and built one of the earliest dams
February 12 Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic goes on trial at The Hague, Netherlands, on charges of genocide and war crimes in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo. Milosevic served as his own attorney for much of the prolonged trial, which ended without a verdict when the so-called “Butcher of the Balkans”
Oswego’s Little White School Museum will host a special presentation, “The History of Fermilab,” starting at noon at the museum Saturday, Feb. 7. The museum is at 72 Polk Street, just two blocks from Oswego’s historic downtown business district. Batavia’s Fermilab is the United States’ premier high-energy particle physics laboratory.
February 5 President Bill Clinton signs the Family and Medical Leave Act. The law requires most employers of 50 or more workers to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a family for medical emergency. – 1993. In what turns out to be a bad business decision, Circuit
