1850, Paul Julius Reuter, the founder of the news agency that bears his name, used 40 pigeons to carry stock market prices between Brussels and Athens.
1859, ground was broken in Egypt for the Suez Canal, which would connect the Red and Mediterranean Seas.
1901, New York became the first state to require automobile license plates. The fee was $1.
1917 Singer Ella Fitzgerald was born. She died in 1996.
1928, “Buddy,” the first seeing-eye dog, was presented to Morris S. Frank.
1945, during World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces met up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany.
1950, the Boston Celtics broke the NBA color barrier when they chose Chuck Cooper in the draft. The Washington Capitals, however, selected another black player, Earl Lloyd, seven rounds later, and it’s Lloyd who was the first black player to compete in an NBA game.
1967, The first law legalizing abortion was signed by Colorado Governor John Arthur Love. The law allowed therapeutic abortions in cases in which a three-doctor panel unanimously agreed.
1976, Chicago Cubs outfielder Rick Monday took an American flag away from two fans who were about to set it on fire at Dodger Stadium.
1982, Jane Fonda released her first workout video.
1983, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the 10-year-old American schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.
1998, Whitewater prosecutors questioned Hillary Rodham Clinton on videotape about her work as a lawyer for the failed savings-and-loan at the center of the investigation.
2001, Forty-two-year-old San Diego Padres outfielder Rickey Henderson broke Babe Ruth‘s career walks record, receiving his 2,063rd base on balls.