August 22 The Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field is adopted by 12 nations meeting in Geneva. The agreement calls for non-partisan care to the sick and wounded in times of war and provided for the
By Ricky Rieckert This week, we start at Illinois Avenue and North Lake Street in Aurora. At the northeast corner was Golden Bear Restaurant. I remember going there at midnight, with a couple of friends on a Friday night. There was a waiting list, to be seated. One friend, gave
August 15 The American-built waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is inaugurated with the passage of the U.S. vessel Ancon, a cargo and passenger ship. – 1914. Emperor Hirohito broadcasts the news of Japan’s surrender to the Japanese people. In Japan’s Shinto religious
August 8 President Harry S Truman signs the United Nations Charter and the United States becomes the first nation to complete the ratification process and join the new international organization. – 1945. August 9 A second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally
August 1 Four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two more great European powers, Russia and Germany, declare war on each other; the same day, France orders a general mobilization. The so-called Great War that ensued would be one of unprecedented destruction and loss of life, resulting in the
July 25 Workers stage a general strike, believed to be the Nation’s first, in St. Louis, in support of striking railroad workers. The successful strike was ended when approximately 3,000 federal troops and 5,000 deputized special police kill at least 18 individuals in skirmishes around the city. – 1877. Louise
By Bela “Bill” Suhayda “To the victor go the spoils” is a factual statement. “Winners write the history” is just as true. So when we want to know what has transpired throughout history, we need to hear from all who lived it, not just the winners. We should examine every
July 18 A fire erupts in Rome and spreads rapidly throughout the market area in the center of the city. When the flames finally die out more than a week later, nearly two-thirds of Rome is destroyed. Emperor Nero used the fire as an opportunity to rebuild Rome in a
July 11 On this day in 1916, in a ceremony at the White House, president Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Aid Road Act. The law established a national policy of federal aid for highways. – 1916. Fulfilling agreements reached at various war-time conferences, the Soviet Union promises to hand power
July 4 In Philadelphia, Pa., the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of the United States of America from Great Britain and its king. The declaration came 442 days after the first volleys of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts
June 27 The Germans set up two-way radio communication in a newly-occupied French territory and employ their most sophisticated coding machine, Enigma. – 1940. U.S. president Harry S Truman announces that he is ordering U.S. air and naval forces to South Korea to aid the democratic nation in repulsing an
By John & Nisha Whitehead “Take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties.” — James Madison James Madison, often referred to as the “Father of the Constitution,” once predicted that the Bill of Rights would become mere “parchment barrier,” words on paper ignored by successive generations of Americans. How
June 20 Oil begins moving through the Alaska pipeline. Seventy thousand persons worked on building the pipeline, history’s largest privately-financed construction project. – 1977. June 21 In Neshoba County in central Mississippi, three civil rights field workers disappear after investigating the burning of an African American church by the Ku
The site of the Grove School south of Oswego where the Lucas children (shown above in 1894), members of one of the area’s Black farming families attended classes, will be one of the stops when Oswego’s Little White School Museum hosts “Oswego History Tour – African American Heritage” at noon Sunday, July 7.
June 13 Alexander the Great, the young Macedonian military genius who forged an empire stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to India, dies in Babylon, in present-day Iraq, at the age of 33. – 323 B.C.E.. The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Miranda v. Arizona to establish the
June 6 The Ashmolean, the world’s first university museum, opens in Oxford, England. -1683. A general strike by some 12,000 auto workers and others in Lansing, Mich. shuts down the city for a month in what was to become known as the city’s “Labor Holiday.” The strike was precipitated by
May 30 At Rouen in English-controlled Normandy, France, Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresy. – 1431. Former U.S. president William Howard Taft dedicates the Lincoln Memorial on the Washington Mall. At the time, Taft was serving as
May 23 An estimated 100,000 textile workers, including more than 10,000 children, strike in the Philadelphia area. Among the issues: 60-hour work weeks, including night hours, for the children. – 1903. Famed fugitives, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, are killed in a police ambush near Sailes, La.. A contingent of
There were smiles, cheers, and a few tears, when Aurora’s longest-serving teacher was feted. Mayor of Aurora, Richard Irvin joined the students and staff members of Holy Angels School to bid farewell to Laura Waegner, 79, who has taught at the school for the past 54 years. Her first year
