April 15: Today in History – Historical Events
18th Century – What Happened on April 15 – The 1700s
1. 15th April 1784: The first balloon was flown today in Ireland.
2. 15th April 1793: The first £5 note was issued today by the Bank of England.
3. 15 April 1794: The French daily newspaper “Courrier Francais” became the first French daily to be published in the US.
19th Century – April 15 This Day That Year – The 1800s
4. 15th April 1813: U.S. troops led by James Wilkinson attacked “Mobile” the Spanish-held city that would in future be in the state of Alabama.
5. 15th April 1817: Today in Hartford, CT, the first American school for the deaf was opened.
6. 15th April 1850: The city of San Francisco was incorporated today.
7. 15th April 1853: Protestant church questions King Willem III Roman Catholic bishops.
8. 15th April 1858: The Mexicans defeated Spanish loyalists at the Battle of Azimghur.
9. 15th April 1861: The Federal army was on this day mobilized by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
10. 15th April 1864: Union troops led by General Steele occupy Camden in Arkansas.
11. 15th April 1865: German Statesman Otto von Bismarck was today elevated to the rank of Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen.
12. 15th April 1870: This is the last day that US silver coins were allowed to circulate in Canada.
13. 15th April 1871: “Wild Bill” Hickok became the marshal of Abilene in Kansas.
14. 15th April 1874: New York legislature passes compulsory education law.
15. 15th April 1877: The first telephone was installed today, Boston-Somerville in Massachusetts.
16. 15th April 1880: William Gladstone became Prime Minister of England.
17. 15th April 1892: The General Electric Company was organized on this day.
18. 15th April 1899: Thomas Edison today organized the Edison Portland Cement Company.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day April 15th – The 1900s
19. 15th April 1902: Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical “On Church in the US”.
20. 15th April 1912: The ocean liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg the previous evening. 1,517 people died and a little over 700 survived.
21. 15th April 1917: The British today defeated the Germans in the battle of Arras.
22. 15th April 1923: For people suffering from diabetes, Insulin became generally available.
23. 15th April 1940: French and British troops landed at Narvik in Norway.
24. 15th April 1941: A helicopter flight of 1 hr duration was achieved for the first time at Stanford, Ct.
25. 15th April 1942: King of Great Britain George VI awards the George Cross to the people of Malta.
26. 15th April 1943: Metropolitan Life Insurances today issued a check of $225 million to Chase.
27. 15th April 1945: Canadian and British troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Begen-Belsen, during the World War II.
28. 15th April 1945: US troops occupy concentration camp Colditz.
29. 15th April 1945: Pope Pius XII published encyclical Communion interprets dolorum.
30. 15th April 1947: Jackie Robinson who had previously appeared only in exhibition games, played his first major league baseball game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
31. 15th April 1947: Radio Netherlands World Radio begins operation.
32. 15th April 1948: The territory of Himachal Pradesh was created in India.
33. 15th April 1948: The Arabs suffered a defeat in the first Jewish-Arab battle.
34. 15th April 1949: Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Redemptoris nostril.
35. 15th April 1952: The prototype of the B-52 bomber was tested in the air.
36. 15th April 1952: The official Japanese peace treaty was today officially signed by U.S. President Harry Truman.
37. 15th April 1952: The first bank credit card was issued by the Franklin National Bank today.
38. 15th April 1952: The S today performed na clear test at the Nevada Test Site.
39. 15th April 1953: South African elections were won by the Malans National Party.
40. 15th April 1953: Charlie Chaplin who was accused of sympathizing with Communist groups, surrendered his US re-entry permit rather than face proceedings by the U.S. Justice Department.
41. 15th April 1953: In a rally addressed by President Peron in Buenos Aires, six people were killed by a bomb.
42. 15th April 1953: Pope Pius XII today gave approval for psychoanalysis but warned of possible abuses.
43. 15th April 1954: WHO TV channel 13 in Des Moines, IA (NBC) begins broadcasting today.
44. 15th April 1955: Entrepreneur Ray Kroc today opened the first McDonald’s Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines Illinois.
45. 15th April 1955: The S today performed na clear test at its Nevada Test Site.
46. 15th April 1956: The world’s first color station, WNBQ-TV in Chicago was dedicated. It is now WMAQ-TV.
47. 15th April 1956: It was today announced by General Motors that the first free-piston automobile had been developed.
48. 15th April 1957: Congress gives Post Office $41 million, restoring Saturday mail delivery, which was stopped because of a cash crunch.
49. 15th April 1957: John Forster Dulles today resigned as US Secretary of State.
50. 15th April 1959: Cuban leader Fidel Castro today began a goodwill tour of the U.S.
51. 15th April 1960: The Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee “SNCC” was organized today at Thaw University.
52. 15th April 1962: US national debt crosses $300,000,000,000 mark.
53. 15th April 1964: Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the world’s longest bridge opened today.
54. 15th April 1967: Richard Speck was today found guilty of murdering eight student nurses.
55. 15th April 1969: North Korea today opened fire at an S airplane above The Japanese sea.
56. 15th April 1970: Libyan leader Gadaffi launches the “Green Revolution”.
57. 15th April 1972: British soldiers shoot a member of the Official Irish Republican Army to death at Joy Street in the Markets area of Belfast close to his home.
58. 15th April 1972: A member of the British Army was shot dead by the Official IRA in Divis area of Belfast.
59. 15th April 1974: In a military coup in Niger, president Diori Hamani was deposed.
60. 15th April 1975: Gabon amends its constitution.
61. 15th April 1978: Great Britain performs nuclear test.
62. 15th April 1978: Two express trains collided head-on south of Bologna in Italy killing 43 people.
63. 15th April 1979: A massive earthquake of magnitude 7.1 strikes the Montenegro coast.
64. 15th April 1982: Apollo Computer announces DN400, DN420 & landscape display.
65. 15th April 1983: The Tokyo Disneyland theme park was opened in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan.
66. 15th April 1984: USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk in USSR.
67. 15th April 1984: In Punjab in India, Sikh extremists plunder 40 stations across the state.
68. 15th April 1984: Ten members of a family were found murdered in their home in New York City. The lone survivor, an infant was found crawling among the corpses.
69. 15th April 1985: Spacecraft Challenger moves to launch pad.
70. 15th April 1986: The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya.
71. 15th April 1986: In response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on 5th April, Libya was attacked by U.S. F-111 warplanes.
72. 15th April 1987: In Northampton, MA, Amy Carter, Abbie Hoffman, and 13 others were today acquitted of civil disobedience related to a CIA protest.
73. 15th April 1988: A meteorite explodes over Indonesia.
74. 15th April 1989: The largest lottery in North America $69 million was drawn in Illinois.
75. 15th April 1989: When a crowd surged into an overcrowded standing area during a soccer game at Hillsborough Stadium, in Sheffield England, 96 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured.
76. 15th April 1989: Students in Beijing launched a series of pro-democracy protests upon the death of a former Communist Party leader Hu Yaoband, leading to the Tiananmen Square massacre.
77. 15th April 1991: East-Europe Bank forms in London.
78. 15th April 1991: Most of the remaining sanctions against South Africa were lifted by European foreign ministers today.
79. 15th April 1991: The maximum unemployment benefits in New York State were raised to $280 per week.
80. 15th April 1991: Basketball legend Magic Johnson sets the BA record for career assists with 9,898.
81. 15th April 1992: Billionaire Leona Helmsley was today sent to jail for tax evasion.
82. 15th April 1992: Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx loses its accreditation.
83. 15th April 1992: The National Assembly of Vietnam today adopted the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
84. 15th April 1994: The World Trade Organization was established today.
85. 15th April 1997: America On Line begins service in Japan.
86. 15th April 1997: Christopher Reeve today received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
87. 15th April 1997: A fire swept through the campsite of Muslims on Hajj pilgrimage. The official death toll was put at 343.
88. 15th April 1999: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and her husband Asif Ali Zardari were today convicted of corruption by a panel of two Lahore High Court Judges in Rawalpindi.
21st Century – April 15 This Day In History – The 2000s
89. 15th April 2000: 600 anti-International Monetary Fund protesters were today arrested in Washington DC for demonstrating without a permit.
90. 15th April 2002: An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashed into a hillside near Busan in South Korea due to heavy rain and fog. 128 people lost their lives in the crash.
91. 15th April 2009: Contrary to the expectation of official government sources that the GDP of Argentina will grow private consulting firms think that the country has been in recession since 2008.
92. 15th April 2010: Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe.
93. 15th April 2010: The Stinson Seafood plant in Prospect Harbor, ME, stopped sardine processing after 135 years of operation.
94. 15th April 2012: After an insurgent attack 400 Islamist Militants escape from a Pakistan Prison.
95. 15th April 2012: US Secret Service inappropriate conduct scandal begins with at least 11 people implicated.
96. 15th April 2012: China today loosened its monetary policy which allowed the Yuan to fluctuate up to 1% against the US dollar.
97. 15th April 2013: Nicolas Madura was elected President of Venezuela by a narrow margin.
98. 15th April 2013: In a wave of bombings across Iraq, 33 people were killed and 163 injured.
99. 15th April 2013: After two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, 3 people were killed and 183 injured.
100. 15th April 2017: Busses carrying Syrian evacuees at Rashidin were targeted by suicide car bombs killing 126 including 70 children.
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