A page from the past - January
Jan. 1, 1892Annie Moore, a 15-year-old girl from Ireland, becomes the first of more than 12 million immigrants to pass through the Ellis Island Immigration Station off the New Jersey coast. Source: Library of Congress Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
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Jan. 3, 1949The nation's labor movement takes a hit as the U.S. Supreme Court maintains that states can outlaw closed shops. The decision increased management's negotiating leverage and stunted labor's power. Source: www.historychannel.com |
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Jan. 3, 2000The "Peanuts" gang rides off into the sunset as Charles Schulz retires. The final daily comic strip ran in 2,600 newspapers. Source: www.historychannel.com |
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Jan. 4, 1865The New York Stock Exchange takes up residence in its first permanent home at 10-12 Broad St. in New York City. The NYSE stayed there until 1903, when it moved its headquarters to 18 Broad St., and that's where it remains. Source: Library of Congress Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, |
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Jan. 5, 1933Construction begins on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, which was designed by Joseph Baermann Strauss. The project reached completion on May 27, 1937. Source: www.historychannel.com Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, |
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Jan. 11, 1949The Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., gets its cornerstone. The Islamic Center, designed by Italian architect Mario Rossi, features carpets from Iran, tiles from Turkey and a 160-foot minaret. Source: www.theislamiccenter.com Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, |
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Jan. 12, 1984Sometimes modern techniques just can't stand up to the old way of doing things. That was the conclusion of the restoration team for Egypt's Great Pyramids when restorers, realizing that water in modern cement cracked the limestone in the ancient structures, switched to the system of interlocking blocks practiced by the original pyramid builders. Source: www.historychannel.com Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Foundation |
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Jan. 26, 1905A routine inspection at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, reveals a 3,106-carat diamond. Called the Cullinan, the diamond was the largest ever discovered. It was cut into 106 diamonds, valued at millions of dollars, and the largest was dubbed the Star of Africa I, which now resides in the Tower of London among the other Crown Jewels. Source: www.historychannel.com |
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Jan. 27, 1850Samuel Gompers is born in England. Gompers, who became a major player in the U.S. labor movement, helped form the American Federation of Labor, and he led the organization for the better part of 40 years. He died in Texas on Dec. 13, 1924. Source: www.historychannel.com Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, |
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Jan. 28, 1932Wisconsin becomes a model for the rest of the country when Gov. Philip F. La Follette signs into law an unemployment-insurance bill, making the state the first to approve unemployment compensation. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society |