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A page from the past - February
Gen. Billy Mitchell, a Milwaukee native recognized as the top American combat airman of World War I, resigns from the United States Air Service. Mitchell was found guilty of insubordination in arguing that the Army should focus on developing air power over maritime power. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Foundation
A welder accidentally sets fire to a pile of life preservers aboard the ocean liner Normandie. The ship was docked in New York Harbor to be converted from a luxury liner to an Allied troop transport ship, but it sank days before it was to be pressed into military service. Source: www.history.com Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Foundation Feb. 15, 1837 Madison establishes its first post office. John Catlin was appointed the first postmaster, and Eben Peck's log cabin served as the distribution point for the mail. The post office building was not officially opened until May 27, 1837. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society
After a mysterious explosion on board kills more than two-thirds of its crew, the U.S.S. Maine sinks in the harbor of Havana. Though no specific source was ever determined nor blame placed, the incident heightened tensions in the region and led to the Spanish-American War. Source: Library of Congress Photo courtesy of the Naval Historical Center
Archaeologist Howard Carter, after years of frustrated exploration, enters the inner chamber of the tomb of King Tutankhamen and finds the riches for which he has spent his career searching. His finds later became part of the traveling exhibition, "Treasures of Tutankhamen." Source: www.history.com Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Foundation Feb. 25, 1851 The Milwaukee & Mississippi Line steams into service as the first railroad in Wisconsin connecting Milwaukee and Waukesha. Source: www.history.com Feb. 26, 1931 Janesville dedicates its armory. The structure was built on the site of the old Lincoln School. The Rock County Historical Society archives reside there today. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society
Hundreds of homes and buildings are swept away in a flood in West Virginia's Buffalo Creek Valley. The flood, which killed about 120 people, started when a dam constructed of tailings, a byproduct of the local mining industry, collapsed. Source: www.history.com Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division Feb. 26, 1993 A bomb explodes in the parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people died, and 1,000 were injured, but the bomb failed to critically damage the structure of the building. Source: www.history.com
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Feb.
1, 1926
Feb.
9, 1942
Feb.
15, 1898
Feb.
16, 1923
Feb.
26, 1972