Pitara Kids Home > Reference > History
December, 15: Historical Events
Chronological list of historical events for December, 15
0687 : St Sergius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Conon
1124 : Chancellor Haimeric selects pope (Lamberto becomes Honorius II)
1488 : Bartholomeus Diaz returns to Portugal after sailing round Cape of Good Hope
1569 : Westmoreland flees to Scotland
1582 : Leidse university names Rembert Dodoens prof of botany/medicine
1582 : Spanish Netherlands/Denmark/Norway adopt Gregorian calendar
1586 : Laevinus Torrentius, becomes bishop of Antwerp
1593 : State of Holland grants patent on windmill with crankshaft
1612 : Simon Marius, is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope
1640 : Duke of Bragan‡a crowned King Johan IV of Portugal
1660 : Philippines: Andres Malongs rebels plunders Bagnotan
1664 : English colonizing Connecticut
1667 : Brandenburg declares himself neutral in Devolutie War
1680 : Tax revolt on Terschelling due to tax on cereal
1688 : Lord Delamere sides with King James II [NS 12/25]
1745 : Battle at Kesseldorf: Prussia beats Saksen & Austria
1791 : 1st US law school established at University of Pennsylvania
1791 : Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gave its approval
1792 : 1st life insurance policy issued in US (Phila)
1794 : Revolutionary Tribunal abolished in France
1810 : 1st Irish magazine in US, Shamrock, is published
1811 : Earthquake hits New Madrid, Missouri
1815 : Rossini gets assignment for Il barbiere di Siviglia
1820 : 1st General pharmacopoeia in US published, Boston
1836 : Patent Office burns in Wash, DC
1854 : 1st street-cleaning machine in US 1st used in Philadelphia
1859 : GR Kirchoff describes chemical composition of Sun
1863 : Skirmish at Bean's Station, Tennessee (Knoxville Campaign)
1864 : Battle of Nashville, TN
1864 : Raid on Stoneman: Abingdon & Glade Springs, VA
1874 : 1st reigning king to visit US (of Hawaii) received by Pres Grant
1877 : Thomas Edison patents phonograph
1891 : James Naismith invents basketball (Canada)
1893 : Dvor ks "From the New World" premieres at Carnegie Hall NYC
1894 : Cricket day 2 1st T Aus v Eng Aus 586 (Gregory 201) England 3-130
1899 : Battle at Colenso, South Africa (Boers-British army)
1909 : Thomas J Lynch becomes president of baseball's National League
1914 : Battle of L˘dz ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow
1914 : British fleet forfeits chance to destroy German fleet in North Sea
1914 : Swedish troops over run Belgrade in Austria-Hungary
1916 : French defeat Germans in WW I Battle of Verdun
1917 : Moldavian Republic declares independence from Russia
1918 : American Jewish Congress holds it's 1st meeting
1919 : Edna St Vincent Millay's "Aria da Capo," premieres in NYC
1919 : Fiume (Rijeka) declares it's Independence
1922 : IVVV (association) peace congress on war forms in Hague
1925 : 1st hockey game at Madison Sq Garden, Mont Candiens 3, NY Americans 1
1925 : 1st road with a depressed trough (Texas) opens to traffic
1926 : Facist national symbol elevated in Italy
1927 : Ed Hickman kidnaps child he later beheads
1929 : Walter Mittelholzer flies as 1st about the Kilimanjaro
1930 : Don Bradman takes his 1st Test Cricket wicket (Ivan Barrow, WI, lbw)
1933 : Baseball owners agree to ban Sunday doubleheaders until after June 15
1934 : Fokker F18 Snip flies to Neth West Indies
1935 : Detroit Lions win NFL championship
1935 : Max Euwe becomes world champ chess beating Alexander Aljechin
1936 : KVL-AM in Seattle Wash changes call letters to KEEN (now KING)
1938 : Groundbreaking begins for Jefferson Memorial in Wash DC
1939 : "Gone With the Wind" premieres in Atlanta
1939 : 1st commercial manufacture of nylon yarn, Seaford, Delaware
1939 : Snip departs for 1st flight to Paramaribo/Cura‡ao
1941 : Gas/electrical use restricted in Holland
1941 : German submarine U-127 sinks
1941 : Nazi's transfers 100 Czech citizens/Heinrich Himmler falls faint
1941 : North Africa: allied assault up Italians Gazala-posing
1941 : USS Swordfish becomes 1st US sub to sink a Japanese ship
1942 : Massachusetts issues 1st US vehicular license plate tabs
1944 : Bandleader, Major Glenn Miller, lost over English Channel
1944 : Hizbu'allah (Arm forces for Allah) forms
1944 : US Congress gives General Eisenhower his 5th star
1944 : US troops lands on Mindoro
1945 : John J "Cardinal" O'Connor, ordained as a priest
1946 : Chic Bears beat NY Giants 24-14 in NFL championship game
1946 : Giants Filchock & Hapes suspended by NFL, didn't report bribe attempt
1948 : Former state dept official Alger Hiss indicted in NYC for perjury
1949 : Albert Camus' "Les Justes" premieres in Paris
1950 : Ezzard Charles KOs Nick Barone to retain heavyweight boxing title
1950 : NYC's Port Authority opens
1952 : "Two's Company" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 90 performances
1952 : Christine Jorgenson is 1st person to undergo a sex-change operation
1952 : KHON TV channel 2 in Honolulu, HI (NBC) begins broadcasting
1952 : Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Orientales Ecclesias
1953 : WJHG TV channel 7 in Panama City, FL (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
1954 : Fordham University scraps football team for financial reasons
1954 : Netherlands Antilles becomes co-equal part of Kingdom of Netherlands
1956 : Emergency crisis in North Ireland proclaimed after IRA strikes
1956 : KGW TV channel 8 in Portland, OR (NBC) begins broadcasting
1956 : WRAL TV channel 5 in Raleigh-Durham, NC (CBS) begins broadcasting
1959 : Everly Brothers record "Let It Be Me"
1960 : King Boudouin of Belgium marries do¤a Fabiola de Mora y Aragon
1961 : Adolf Eichmann convicted of crimes against humanity in Israel
1961 : Equal access rule, political parties get TV broadcasting time
1961 : JFK visits Puerto Rico
1961 : L J Suenens appointed archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels
1962 : Vaughn Meader's "1st Family," album goes #1 & stays #1 for 12 wks
1964 : 1st time 4 people in space
1964 : American Radio Relay League (organization for hams) founded
1964 : Canada adopts maple leaf flag
1965 : 3rd cyclone of year kills another 15,000 at mouths of Ganges River
1965 : Bangladesh windstorm kills 10,000
1965 : D Heneker & J Taylor's musical "Charlie Girl," premieres in London
1965 : Gemini 6 launched; makes 1st rendezvous in space (with Gemini 7)
1965 : Queen Juliana opens Zeeland Bridge to Oosterschelde
1965 : William Eckert replaces Ford Frick as 4th commissioner of baseball
1966 : "Joyful Noise" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 12 performances
1966 : Audouin Dollfus discovers 10th satellite of Saturn, Janus
1966 : John W Mecom Jr becomes 1st owner of New Orlean Saints
1967 : Beatles release "Christmas Time is Here Again"
1967 : Joe Garagiola joins Today Show panel
1967 : Silver Bay bridge (Oh-WV) collapes during afternoon rush hr, 34 die
1969 : Plastic Ono Band, play their only concert at London's Lyceum Ballroom
1969 : SF Fire Dept replaces leather helmets with plastic ones
1970 : Ferryboat capsized in Korean Strait drowning 261
1970 : S Korean ferry Namyong-Ho sinks in Strait of Korea, 308 killed
1970 : Soviet Venera 7 is 1st spacecraft to land on another planet (Venus)
1971 : USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1973 : American Psychiatric Assn declares homosexuality is not mental illness
1973 : Golf Resort (Disney Inn) opens
1973 : Pirates of Caribbean ride opens at Disneyland
1973 : Sandy Hawley becomes 1st jockey to win 500 races in 1 year
1973 : Tennessee beats Temple 11-6 in low scoring NCAA basketball game
1973 : US Psychiatrist say homosexuals are not mentally ill
1974 : A's Catfish Hunter is ruled a free agent (later signs with Yankees)
1976 : Argo Merchant tanker off Massachusetts' SE coast, spills 7.6 m gallons of crude when ship ran aground
1976 : Jamaica premier Manley wins elections
1978 : Saint Maarten Patriotic Movement (SPM) forms under W James
1978 : Test Cricket debut of Malcolm Marshall, v India at Bangalore
1979 : Deposed Shah of Iran leaves US for Panama
1979 : World Court in Hague rules Iran should relase all US hostages
1980 : NY Yankee Dave Winfield becomes highest-paid player, 10 years $15M
1980 : Premier Queddei troops conquers Chad capital N'djamena
1980 : ZBZ Sangha registered after 5 yrs of administrative hassles in Warsaw
1981 : 4th Emmy Sports Award presentation
1981 : NASA launches Intelsat V
1982 : Bill Parcells becomes 12th head coach of NY Giants
1982 : Roy Williams, Teamsters pres, & 4 others convicted of bribery
1982 : Sao Tome & Principe constitution approved
1982 : Spain reopens border with Gibraltar
1983 : 3 KC Royals suspended due to cocaine usage
1983 : Columbia flies to Kennedy Space Center via El Paso, Kelly AFB
1983 : Last 80 US combat soldiers in Grenada withdrew
1983 : Wendy Wasserstein's "Isn't It Romantic," premieres in NYC
1984 : USSR launches Vega 1 for rendezvous with Halley's Comet
1985 : Sylvester Stallone & Brigitte Nielson wed
1986 : 150 killed during race riot in Karachi
1986 : CIA director William Casey suffers a cerebral seizure
1986 : Carnegie Hall reopens after a $50 million facelift
1987 : "Les Miserables" opens at Shubert Theatre, Boston
1988 : Lori Davis of Long Island sues Mike Tyson for grabbing her buttocks
1990 : Rocker Rod Stewart marries super model Rachel Hunter
1991 : "Nick & Nora" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 9 performances
1991 : Deb Richard wins JBP Cup LPGA Match Play Golf Championship
1992 : Arthur Ashe is named Sports Illustrated Sportman of Year
1992 : WNew AM (1130) NYC resigns air, replaced by WBBR
1993 : C-130 flies into a Philippines hill & explodes, 16 killed
1993 : Haitian premier Robert Malval resigns
1993 : John Williams final appearance as conductor of Boston Pops
1993 : Lee Aspen resigns as secretary of defense
1993 : Y-12 crashes at Phonesavanh, Laos: 18 killed
1993 : British premier Major/Irish premier Reynolds signs Downing Street Declaration concerning Northern Ireland self determination
1994 : "Tuna Christmas" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 20 performances
1994 : John Bruton becomes Ireland's premier
1994 : Liberia militia kills 48 inhabitants of Monrovia
1995 : Playboy goes back on sale after 36 year ban in Ireland
1996 : Dottie Pepper & Juli Inkster win LPGA Diner's Club Golf Matches
1996 : Jim Colbert & Bob Murphy wins Diner's Club Senior PGA Golf Matches
1996 : Tom Lehman & Duffy Waldoff wins Diner's Club PGA Golf Matches
1997 : SF 49ers retire Joe Montana's #16
