This Day in History Class

On this day in 1851, retired sea captain Thomas Sullivan helped establish the first YMCA in the United States in Boston.

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On this day in 1734, Rob Roy MacGregor, a Scottish bandit turned folk hero, died at his home in the village of Balquidder.

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On this day in 1850, King Kamehameha III established and joined the Honolulu Fire Department, the first in the Hawaiian Islands and the only one in the world to include monarchs as active members.

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On this day in 1946, notorious gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel opened the glamorous Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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On this day in 1924, screenwriter and television producer Rod Serling was born in Syracuse, New York.

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On this day in 1923, President Calvin Coolidge pushed a button to light the first National Christmas Tree of the United States.

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On this day in 1888, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh mutilated his own left ear with a razor blade while living in Arles, France.

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On this day in 1956, for the first time ever, a live gorilla was born in captivity.

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On this day in 1944, Walt Disney’s seventh animated feature, The Three Caballeros, had its world premiere in Mexico City.

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On this day in 1995, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II sent a letter to her son Prince Charles and his wife Princess Diana, urging the couple to get a divorce.

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