S04011778 Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans Businessman, creates the "$".
S04011850 San Francisco County Government established.
S04011941 Navy takes over Treasure Island.
S04011960 TIROS I (Television & Infra-Red Observation Satellite) launched to improve weather prediction.
S04021792 Congress establishes Coin denominations of United States.
S04021935 Watson Watt granted a patent for RADAR.
S04031848 Thomas Douglas becomes first San Francisco public teacher.
S04041860 Pony Express begins service, from St. Joseph, Missouri.
S04041870 Golden Gate Park established by City Order #800.
S04051614 Pocahontas marries John Rolfe.
S04051941 Castro and Fillmore streetcars replaced by buses.
S04061862 Battle of Shiloh.
S04061868 Brigham Young marries number 27, his final wife.
S04061906 First animated cartoon is copyrighted.
S04061926 Four planes take off on first successful around-the-world flight.
S04061957 New York City ends trolley car service.
S04071931 Seals Stadium opens.
S04071933 Prohibition ends.
S04071948 World Health Organization is established.
S04081513 Ponce de Leon arrives in Florida.
S04081913 Seventeenth Amendment, requiring direct election of senators, ratified
S04081974 Hammerin' Hank Aaron hits 715th home run, beats Babe Ruth's record.
S04091865 Lee surrenders at Appomattox.
S04091953 TV Guide publishes their first issue.
S04091955 United Nations Charter hearing.
S04101825 First hotel in Hawaii opens.
S04101849 Safety pin patented.
S04101871 William Hammond Hall's maps & surveys of Golden Gate Park officially accepted.
S04101878 California Street Cable Car Railroad Company starts service.
S04101882 Matson founds his shipping company (San Francisco & Hawaii)
S04101953 House of Wax, first 3-D movie, released in New York.
S04111876 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks organized.
S04111895 Anaheim completes it's new electric light system.
S04111947 Jackie Robinson becomes first black in major league baseball.
S04111958 Brooks Hall in Civic Center dedicated.
S04111977 (Monday) Went into the farm at 11:43 AM for 24 days.
S04121859 Hibernia Savings & Loan Society of San Francisco incorporated.
S04121861 Fort Sumter, S. C., shelled by Confederacy, starts Civil War.
S04121898 Army transfers Yerba Buena Island to Navy.
S04121933 Moffatt Field is commissioned.
S04121961 Yuri A. Gagarin becomes first man to orbit Earth.
S04121962 San Mateo County withdraws from BART district.
S04121981 First launch of the space shuttle, Columbia.
S04131976 $2 bill re-introduced as United States currency.
S04141828 First edition of Noah Webster's dictionary is published.
S04141860 First Pony Express rider arrives in SF from St. Joseph, Missouri.
S04141865 Abraham Lincoln assasinated in Ford's Theater.
S04141900 Veteran's Hospital at Fort Miley established.
S04141928 Regular air passenger flights between San Francisco and Los Angeles started, by Maddux Air Lines.
S04141971 Fort Point dedicated as first National Park in Bay Area.
S04151850 City of San Francisco incorporated.
S04151912 Titanic sinks at 2:20 AM.
S04151922 The famed Poodle Dog Restaurant closes.
S04151923 Insulin becomes generally available for diabetics.
S04151928 Alioto's on Fisherman's Wharf is founded.
S04151955 Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants.
S04161866 Nitroglycerine at the Wells Fargo & Co. office explodes.
S04171524 New York Harbor discovered by Giovanni Verrazano.
S04171853 US Marine Hospital at the Presidio established.
S04171895 Treaty of Shimonoseki signed, ends first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95).
S04171941 Office of Price Administration established (handled rationing)
S04171961 Bay of Pigs, invasion.
S04181775 'The British are Coming!' Paul Revere rides.
S04181868 San Francisco Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals formed.
S04181869 First International Cricket Match, held in SF, won by Californian
S04181906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
S04181907 Fairmont Hotel opens.
S04181934 First "Washateria" (laundromat) is opened, in Fort Worth, Texas
S04181936 "Clipper" starts providing regular passenger flights from San Francisco to Honolulu.
S04181968 San Francisco's Old Hall of Justice demolished.
S04191775 At Lexington Common, the shot 'heard round the world'.
S04191852 California Historical Society founded.
S04191874 Barracks on Alcatraz Island destroyed in fire.
S04191892 Charles Duryea takes the first American-made auto out for a spin.
S04191939 Connecticut finally approves the Bill of Rights (only 148 years late)
S04201872 Bar Association of San Francisco organized.
S04201958 Buses replace Key System trains at 3AM.
S04211836 Texas defeats Mexico at the battle of San Jacinto
S04211862 Congress establishes US Mint in Denver, Colorado.
S04211892 First buffalo born in Golden Gate Park.
S04231871 Blossom Rock in San Francisco Bay blown up.
S04231949 Courtesy Mail Boxes for motorists started in San Francisco.
S04241800 Library of Congress founded.
S04241865 Fire Alarm & Police Telegraph system put into operation.
S04241900 The passing of Andrew Halliday, Cable Car Pioneer.
S04251891 President Benjamin Harrison visits San Francisco.
S04251901 New York becomes first state requiring license plates for cars
S04251945 United Nations Conference starts.
S04251961 Robert Noyce granted a patent for the integrated circuit.
S04261607 First British to establish an American colony land at Cape Henry, Va.
S04261906 First motion pictures shown in Hawaii.
S04261954 Nationwide test of the Salk anti-polio begins.
S04261971 San Francisco Lightship replaced by automatic buoy.
S04271565 First Spanish settlement in Phillipines, Cebu City, founded.
S04271897 Grant's Tomb (famed of song & legend) is dedicated.
S04271937 US Social Security system makes its first benefit payment.
S04271945 Founding of the Second Republic, in Austria.
S04281754 Mutiny on the HMS Bounty occurs.
S04281919 First successful parachute jump is made.
S04281974 Last Americans evacuated from Saigon.
S04291857 Headquarters for the US Army, Division of the Pacific, permanently established at the Presidio.
S04291913 The all-purpose zipper is patented.
S04301789 George Washington inaugurated as first president of the US
S04301798 Department of the Navy established.
S04301803 US more than doubles its size thru the Louisiana Purchase.
S04301857 Founding of what would be San Jose State University.
S04301869 The Hawaiian YMCA organized.
S04301939 NBC makes first US demo of TV at opening of NY World's Fair.
S08011790 First U.S. Census
S08011794 Whisky Rebellion
S08011852 Black Methodists in SF establish first black church, Zion Methodist.
S08011881 US Quarantine Station authorized for Angel Island.
S08011901 Burial within San Francisco City limits prohibited.
S08011907 Bank of Italy opens first branch at 3433 Mission Street.
S08011916 Hawaii National Park established.
S08011946 President Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission.
S08011953 California introduces it's Sales Tax (for Education).
S08011958 First Class postage up to 4 cents (had been 3 cents for 26 years).
S08011961 New San Francisco Hall of Justice opens.
S08021873 First trial run of an SF cable car, on Clay Street between Kearny and Jones, downhill all the way, at 4AM.
S08021877 San Francisco Public Library opens with 5000 volumes.
S08021923 President Harding dies at the Palace Hotel.
S08041693 Champagne is invented by Dom Perignon.
S08041790 United States Coast Guard founded.
S08051775 The first Spanish ship, 'San Carlos', enters San Francisco bay.
S08051861 US levies it's first Income Tax (3% of incomes over $800).
S08051864 The spectrum of a comet observed for first time, by Giovanni Donati.
S08051963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed.
S08061835 Bolivia gains it's independence
S08061926 The first woman swims the English Channel.
S08061945 The Atom Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the 'Enola Gay'.
S08071807 First servicable steamboat, the Cleremont, goes on first voyage.
S08071820 Potatoes first planted in Hawaii.
S08091803 First horses arrive in Hawaii.
S08091842 The US-Canada border defined by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.
S08091945 Atom Bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
S08091974 Richard Nixon resigns presidency.
S08101809 Ecuador gains it's independence.
S08101973 First BART train travels thru transbay tube to Montgomery St Station.
S08101981 Pete Rose tops Stan Musial's record of 3630 hits.
S08111888 The California Theatre closed (now a Pac Tel Phone Store).
S08121851 Issac Singer granted a patent for his sewing machine.
S08131876 Reciprocity Treaty between US and Hawaii ratified.
S08141846 Henry David Thoreau jailed for tax resistance.
S08141945 VJ Day - Japan surrendered to end World War II.
S08151901 Arch Rock, danger to Bay shipping, blasted with 30 tons of nitrogelatin (and that ain't jello).
S08151945 Riot in San Francisco celebrating end of World War II.  South Korea liberated from Japanese rule.
S08151960 The Congo (Brazzaville) gains it's independence.
S08161969 Woodstock festival begins in New York.
S08171858 First bank in Hawaii opens.
S08171908 Bank of Italy opens it's new headquarters at Clay & Montgomery.
S08171950 Indonesia gains it's independence.
S08191826 Canada Co. chartered to colonize Upper Canada (Ontario).
S08191960 Francis Gary Powers convicted of spying by USSR (U-2 incident)
S08201942 Dimout regulations implemented in San Francisco.
S08201956 Republicans start convention at the Cow Palace.
S08201977 Voyager II launched.
S08211959 Hawaii became the 50th state.
S08211968 Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia.
S08221787 John Fitch's steamboat completes it's tests, years before Fulton builds his steamboat.
S08231869 First carload of freight (boots & shoes) arrives in San Francisco, from Boston, after a 16-day rail trip.
S08231872 First Japanese commercial ship visits San Francisco with a cargo of tea.
S08231889 First ship-to-shore wireless message received in US: US lightship to Cliff House.
S08241814 British sack Washington, DC.
S08241869 The Waffle Iron is invented.
S08241909 Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
S08241989 Voyager II flies past Neptune.
S08251825 Uruguay gains it's independence.
S08251864 Combination rail & ferry service available from SF to Alameda.
S08251929 Graf Zeppelin passes over San Francisco, headed for Los Angeles after trans-Pacific voyage from Tokyo.
S08251981 Voyager II flies past Saturn.
S08261629 Cambridge Agreement pledged.  Massachusetts Bay Co. stockholders agreed to emigrate to New England.
S08261791 John Fitch granted a US patent for his working steamboat.
S08261846 W. A. Bartlett appointed first US mayor of Yerba Buena (SF).
S08261907 Houdini escapes from chains underwater at Aquatic Park in 57 seconds.
S08261920 19th Amendment passes - Women's Suffrage granted (about time!)
S08261937 Pumping to build Treasure Island finished.
S08261952 Fluoridation of San Francisco water begins.
S08271859 First successful oil well drilled near Titusville, Penn.
S08271883 Krakatoa, WEST of Java, blew apart (Top that, St Helens).
S08271928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, where 60 nations agreed to outlaw war.
S08291914 'Arizonan' is the first vessel to arrive in SF via the Panama Canal.
S08291954 San Francisco International Airport (SFO) opens.
S08301850 Honolulu, Hawaii becomes a city.
S08301979 First recorded occurrance of a comet hitting the sun (the energy released was about equal to 1 million hydrogen bombs).
S08311850 The California Pioneers organized at Montgomery & Clay Streets.
S08311886 Crocker-Woolworth National Bank organized.
S08311980 Solidarity Labor Union in Poland is founded.
S12011913 First drive-up gasoline station opens, in Pittsburgh.
S12011922 First skywriting over the US - "Hello U.S.A." - by Capt Turner, RAF
S12011951 Golden Gate Bridge closed because of high winds.
S12021816 First savings bank in US opens as the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society
S12021823 President James Monroe declares his doctrine.
S12021942 First controlled nuclear reaction at University of Chicago.
S12021981 Moscone Convention Center opens at 11:30 AM.
S12021982 First permanent artificial heart successfully implanted.
S12031621 Galileo invents the telescope.
S12031866 Paid Fire Department takes over from volunteer companies.
S12031952 First television broadcast in Hawaii.
S12031954 Joseph McCarthy goes too far in his attacks and is condemned by the U.S. Senate.
S12031967 First human heart transplant performed, in Capetown, South Africa
S12041783 Gen. Washington bids his officers farewell at Fraunce's Tavern, NYC
S12041915 Panama Pacific International Exposition opens.
S12051776 Phi Beta Kappa, first American scholastic fraternity, founded.
S12061876 City of Anaheim incorporated for a second time.
S12061917 Finland gains it's independence.
S12071787 Delaware is the first state to ratify the Constitution.
S12071941 Pearl Harbor was attacked.
S12071972 Apollo 17, last of the Apollo moon series, launched.
S12081913 Construction starts on Palace of Fine Arts.
S12081941 San Francisco has first blackout, at 6:15PM.
S12091793 Noah Webster establishes New York's first daily newspaper.
S12091907 First Christmas Seals sold, in the Wilmington Post Office.
S12091941 300 Montgomery opens as new Bank of America headquarters.
S12101901 First distribution of Nobel Peace Prizes
S12101962 Hunters Point jitney ends service after 50 years.
S12111914 Stockton Street Tunnel completed.
S12111932 Snow falls in San Francisco.
S12111975 First Class Mail now costs 13 cents (had been 10 cents).
S12121901 Marconi receives first trans-Atlantic radio signal from England to US.
S12121963 Kenya gains it's independence.
S12131903 Wright brothers first airplane flight at Kittyhawk.
S12131918 Wilson becomes first to make a foreign visit while President.
S12131968 Playland at the Beach reopens.
S12131976 Golden Gate Bridge District starts ferry service to Larkspur.
S12131978 Susan B. Anthony dollar, first US coin to honor a woman, issued.
S12141819 Alabama admitted to the Union.
S12141911 South Pole first reached by Amundsen.
S12141971 Golden Gate Bridge lights out all night from power failure.
S12151791 Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gave its approval.
S12151877 Patent granted to Mr. Edison for the phonograph.
S12151965 First rendevous in space: Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 link up.
S12151969 SF Fire Dept. replaces leather helmets with plastic ones.
S12161773 Big Tea Party in Boston Harbor.  Indians welcome.
S12161905 "Variety", covering all phases of show business, first published.
S12161907 Great White Fleet sails from Hampton Downs on it's World Cruise
S12171791 New York City traffic regulation creates the first one-way street
S12171852 First Hawaiian cavalry organized.
S12171860 Anaheim Township created in Los Angeles County.
S12171903 At 10:35AM, for 12 seconds, first sustained motorized aircraft flight by Wright Brothers.
S12171933 First professional football game: Chicago Bears vs. NY Giants.
S12171944 M-OceanView streetcar resumes service & is extended to Market St.
S12181974 San Francisco Visitors Center at City Hall opens.
S12191732 Benjamin Frankin begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack"
S12191777 Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge for the winter.
S12191859 Grading started for Market Street Railroad.
S12191889 Bishop Museum founded in Hawaii.
S12191962 Street signs in Golden Gate Park approved by Park Commission.
S12201803 Louisiana Purchase officially transferred.
S12201850 Hawaiian post office established.
S12201929 Mt. Davidson dedicated as city park.
S12211620 The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock
S12211913 First crossword puzzle (with 32 clues), printed in New York World
S12211937 First feature-length cartoon with color and sound premieres...  "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"
S12211952 Broadway Tunnel opens.
S12221850 Hawaiian Post Office established.
S12231947 Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley in Bell Labs
S12241814 Treaty of Ghent signed, ending War of 1812 (this news did not Carrive until after the Battle of New Orleans).
S12241906 First known radio program in US is broadcast.
S12241910 Luisa Tetrazzini sings to 250,000 people at Lotta's Fountain.
S12251776 Washington crosses the Delaware and surprises the Hessians.
S12261865 James Mason invents the first American coffee percolator.
S12261925 First East-West football game at Ewing Park before 25,000 fans.
S12271831 Darwin begins his voyage onboard the HMS Beagle.
S12271850 Hawaiian Fire Department established.
S12271903 "Sweet Adaline", a barbershop quartet favorite, is first sung.
S12271932 Radio City Music Hall in New York City opens.
S12281669 A patent for chewing gum is granted to William Semple.
S12281902 Trans-Pacific cable links Hawaii to US.
S12281912 San Francisco Municipal Railway starts operation at Geary St.  (MUNI was the first municpally-owned transit system)
S12281915 City Hall dedicated by Mayor James Rolph.
S12291864 Fire Dept celebrates first annual ball.
S12291911 San Francisco Symphony formed.
S12291937 Pan Am starts San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand service.
S12301817 First coffee planted in Hawaii.
S12301853 Gadsden Purchase signed.
S12311879 Cornerstone laid for Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US).
S12311879 Edison gives public demonstration of his incandescent lamp.
S12311921 Last San Francisco firehorses retired.
S02011867 Bricklayers start working 8-hour days.
S02011920 The first armored car is introduced.
S02021848 Mexico sells US Texas, California, New Mexico & Arizona.
S02021848 First shipload of Chinese arrive in San Francisco.
S02021876 National Baseball League formed with 8 teams.
S02021880 SS Strathleven arrives in London with first successful shipment of frozen mutton from Australia.
S02021962 8 of the 9 planets aligned for the first time in 400 years.
S02031918 Twin Peaks Tunnel, longest (11,920 feet) streetcar tunnel in the world, begins service with the K-Ingleside streetcar.
S02041865 The Hawaiian Board of Education is formed.
S02041932 First Winter Olympics held (At Lake Placid, NY).
S02041948 Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) gains independence.
S02051887 Snow falls on San Francisco.
S02071914 Steel work completed on Exposition (Civic) Auditorium.
S02081693 Charter granted for College of William & Mary, 2nd college in US.
S02081883 Louis Waterman begins experiments that invent the fountain pen.
S02081908 Boy Scouts of America founded.
S02081922 Radio arrives in the White House.
S02081957 Public Library's bookmobile initiated in front of City Hall.
S02081977 Earthquake, at 5.0, strongest since 1966.
S02091877 U.S. Weather Service is founded.
S02091885 First Japanese arrive in Hawaii.
S02091891 First shipment of asparagus arrives from Sacramento.
S02091969 The Boeing 747 takes it's first commercial flight.
S02101870 City of Anaheim incorporated (first time).
S02101879 First electric arc light used (in California Theater).
S02111854 Major streets lit by coal gas for first time.
S02111929 Vatican City (world's Smallest Country) is made an enclave of Rome.
S02111936 Pumping begins to build Treasure Island.
S02121541 Santiago, Chile founded.
S02121934 Export-Import Bank incorporated.
S02121945 San Francisco selected for site of United Nations Conference.
S02131937 "Prince Valiant" comic strip appears; known for historical detail and fine detail drawing.  Thanks Hal.
S02141876 Bell files an application for a patent for the telephone.
S02151861 Fort Point completed & garrisoned (but has never fired it's cannon in anger).
S02151898 USS Maine sinks in Havana harbor, cause unknown.
S02151917 San Francisco Public Library (Main Branch at Civic Center) dedicated.
S02161883 Ladies Home Journal begins publication.
S02161914 First airplane flight to Los Angeles from San Francisco.
S02161923 Howard Carter finds the Pharoah Tutankhamun.
S02161951 City Hall dome fire.
S02171876 Sardines were first canned, in Eastport, Maine.
S02171878 First telephone exchange in San Francisco opens with 18 phones.
S02181849 First regular steamboat service to California started with the arrival of the "California".
S02181850 Legislature creates the 9 Bay Area counties.
S02181899 San Francisco named as a port of dispatch for Army transports.
S02181939 Golden Gate International Exposition opens on Treasure Island (built for the occasion) in San Francisco Bay.
S02191878 Thomas Alva Edison patents the phonograph.
S02191945 Marines land on Iwo Jima.
S02191977 President Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino ("Tokyo Rose").
S02201873 University of California gets its first Med School (UC/SF).
S02201901 First territorial legislature of Hawaii convenes.
S02201902 Heavy surf breaks over Seal Rocks and damages Sutro Baths.
S02201915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition opens in San Francisco.
S02201931 Congress allows California to build the Oakland-Bay Bridge.
S02201962 John Glenn is first American to orbit the Earth.
S02211804 First self-propelled locomotive on rails demonstrated, in Wales.
S02211874 Oakland Daily Tribune begins publication.
S02211878 First Telephone book is issued, in New Haven, Conn.
S02221900 Hawaii becomes a US Territory.
S02221913 Lowell High School opens (on it's first campus).
S02231887 Congress grants Seal Rocks to San Francisco.
S02231900 Steamer "Rio de Janiero" sinks in San Francisco Bay.
S02231958 Last Municipal arc light, over intersection of Mission & 25th Street, removed (it had been installed in 1913).
S02241857 Los Angeles Vineyard Society organized.
S02241942 Voice of America begins broadcasting (in German).
S02251919 Oregon is first state to tax gasoline (1 cent per gallon).
S02261863 President Lincoln signs the National Currency Act.
S02261891 First buffalo purchased for Golden Gate Park.
S02261933 Golden Gate Bridge ground-breaking ceremony held at Crissy Field.
S02271844 Dominican Republic gains it's independence.
S02281849 First steamship enters San Francisco Bay.
S02281883 First vaudeville theater opens.
S02281888 Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes.
S02281914 Construction begins on the Tower of Jewels for the Exposition.
S02281956 Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory.
S02281970 Bicycles now permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge.
S01011804 Haiti gains it's independence
S01011863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln.
S01011898 Lightship replaces whistling buoy at mouth of San Francisco Bay.
S01011902 First Rose Bowl game held in Pasadena, California.
S01011912 First running of SF's famed "Bay to Breakers" race (7.63 miles)
S01011934 Alcatraz officially becomes a Federal Prison.
S01011956 Sudan gains it's independence
S01011958 European Economic Community (EEC) starts operation.
S01011984 AT & T broken up into 8 companies.
S01021921 DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park opens.
S01021957 The San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge.
S01031852 First Chinese arrive in Hawaii.
S01031888 First drinking straw is patented.
S01031912 Southern Pacific RR offers to bring the Liberty Bell to the Exposition without charge.
S01031959 Alaska becomes the 49th state.
S01031977 Apple Computer incorporated.
S01041982 Golden Gate Bridge closed for the 3rd time by fierce storm.
S01051850 The California Exchange opens.
S01051911 San Francisco has it's first air meet.
S01051933 Work on Golden Gate Bridge begins, on Marin County side.
S01061914 Stock brokerage firm of Merrill Lynch founded.
S01071610 Galileo discovers the 4 major moons of Jupiter.
S01071714 The typewriter is patented (it was built years later)
S01071785 First balloon flight across the English Channel.
S01071822 First printing in Hawaii.
S01071929 "Tarzan", one of the first adventure comic strips appears.
S01071963 First Class postage raised from 4 cents to 5 cents.
S01071968 First Class postage raised from 5 cents to 6 cents.
S01081815 Battle of New Orleans, made a hero out of Andrew Jackson (the War of 1812 had ended on 12/24/1814, but nobody knew that).
S01081880 The passing of Norton I, Emperor of the US, Protector of Mexico
S01081932 Ratification of present San Francisco City Charter.
S01091793 First balloon flight in North America.
S01091799 First income tax imposed, in England.
S01091839 The daguerrotype process announced at French Academy of Science
S01091847 First San Francisco paper, 'California Star', published.
S01091848 First commercial bank in San Francisco established.
S01091915 Exposition (now Civic) Auditorium dedicated.
S01091982 5.9 earthquake in New England/Canada; last one was in 1855.
S01101776 "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine is published.
S01101840 The Penny Post mail system is started.
S01101863 First underground railway opens in London.
S01101945 Los Angeles Railway (with 5 streetcar lines) forced to close.
S01111813 First pineapples planted in Hawaii.
S01111892 Hawaii Historical Society founded.
S01111935 Amelia Earhart flies from Hawaii to California (non-stop, of course).
S01131854 Anthony Foss obtains patent for the Accordion.
S01131920 NY Times Editorial says rockets can never fly.
S01131971 Apollo 14 launched (what was that about rockets can't fly??)
S01141784 The Revolutionary War formally ends.
S01141914 Henry Ford introduces the Assembly Line for his cars.
S01141936 L.M. "Mario" Giannini elected president of Bank of America.
S01141939 All commercial ferry service to the East Bay ends.
S01151861 Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis, forming base for his Celevator company.
S01151927 Dunbarton Bridge, first bridge in Bay Area, opens.
S01151939 Municipal Railway and Market Street Railroad begin service to the Transbay Transit (East Bay) Terminal.
S01151948 The Pentagon Building in Washington is completed.
S01161865 San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle started (now San Francisco Chronicle)
S01161887 Cliff House badly damaged when a cargo of powder on the schooner "Parallel" explodes nearby.
S01171861 Flush toilet is patented by Mr. Thomas Crapper (Honest!!).
S01171871 First Cable Car is patented by Andrew S. Hallidie.
S01171893 The Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic.
S01171943 It was Tin Can Drive Day.
S01171957 9-county commission recommends creation of BART.
S01181644 First UFO sighting in America, by perplexed Pilgrims in Boston.
S01181778 Captain James Cook stumbles over the Hawaiian Islands.
S01181869 The elegant California Theatre opens in San Francisco.
S01181911 First shipboard landing of a plane (from Tanforan Park to the USS Pennsylvania).
S01191903 First regular transatlantic radio broadcast between US & England.
S01201872 California Stock Exchange Board organized.
S01211813 The pineapple is introduced to Hawaii.
S01211954 The submarine Nautilus launched.
S01211979 Neptune becomes the outermost planet (Pluto moves closer).
S01221850 The Alta California becomes a daily paper, first such in Calif.
S01221939 Aquatic Park dedicated.
S01221949 Chinatown telephone exchange closed.
S01241848 James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma.
S01241899 The rubber heel is patented by Humphrey O'Sullivan.
S01241935 First beer in cans is sold.
S01241982 San Francisco 49'ers win their first Super Bowl, 26-21.
S01241986 Voyager II flies past Uranus.
S01251915 Alexander Bell in New York calls Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
S01251949 First Emmy Awards are given out.
S01251959 First transcontinental commercial jet flight (LA to NY for $301).
S01261788 First settlement established by the English in Australia.
S01261950 India becomes a republic.
S01271894 Midwinter Fair opens in Golden Gate Park.
S01271926 First public demonstration of television.
S01271948 First Tape Recorder is sold.
S01271965 Groundbreaking for the 'Dragon Gateway' at Grant Avenue.
S01271971 Montgomery St. Station, last link in BART, 'holed thru'.
S01281807 London's Pall Mall is the first street lit by gaslight.
S01281878 George W. Coy hired as first full-time telephone operator.
S01281938 First Ski Tow starts running (in Vermont).
S01291861 Kansas becomes a state.
S01291904 First athletic letters given: to Univ of Chicago football team.
S01301847 Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco.
S01301862 US Navy's first ironclad warship, the "Monitor", launched.
S01301917 First jazz record in United States is cut.
S01311851 San Francisco Orphan's Asylum, first in California, founded.
S01311871 Birds fly over the western part of San Francisco in such large numbers that they actually darken the sky.
S01311911 Congress passes resolution naming San Francisco as the site of the celebration of the opening of the Panama Canal.
S01311958 First U.S. satellite launched, Explorer I.
S01311961 Ham the chimp is first animal sent into space by the US.
S01311971 Apollo 14 launched, first landing in lunar highlands.
S07011850 At least 626 ships lying at anchor around San Francisco Bay.
S07011861 First public schoolhouse opens at Washington and Mason Streets.
S07011867 Dominion of Canada formed.
S07011898 Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders charge up San Juan Hill.
S07011899 SF City Hall turned over to city, after 29 years of building.
S07011919 First Class Postage DROPS to 2 cents from 3 cents.
S07011944 Bretton Woods Conference starts, establishing world-wide financial systems (like the IMF and the World Bank).
S07011961 Haleakala National Park established in Hawaii.
S07011966 Construction crews begin tearing up Market St. to build BART.
S07011971 Golden Gate Bridge paid for (so why is there still a toll?).
S07021900 First flight of a Zeppelin (the LZ-1).
S07021937 Amelia Earhart Putnam and co-pilot Fred Noonan disappear near Howland Island in the Pacific ocean.
S07021964 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act.
S07031608 Quebec is founded.
S07031775 Washington takes command of Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass
S07031819 First savings bank in US (Bank of Savings in NYC) opens its doors
S07031861 Pony Express arrives in SF with overland letters from New York.
S07041845 Thoreau moves into his shack on Walden Pond.
S07041863 Boise, Idaho founded (now capital of Idaho).
S07041873 Aquarium opens in Woodward Gardens.
S07041876 First public exhibition of electric light in San Francisco.
S07041882 Telegraph Hill Observatory opens.
S07041894 Elwood Haynes successfully tests one of the first US autos
S07041903 Pacific Cable (San Francisco, Hawaii, Guam, Phillipines) opens.  President Roosevelt sends a message to the Phillipines, then a message around the world in 12 minutes.
S07041933 Work begins on the Oakland Bay Bridge.
S07051811 Venezuela gains independence from Spain.
S07051865 William Booth founds the Salvation Army, in London, England.
S07051935 First 'Hawaii Calls' radio program is broadcast.
S07051938 Herb Caen gets his first column in the S.F. Chronicle.
S07061885 First inoculation (for rabies) of a human being, by Louis Pasteur
S07061928 Preview of first all-talking motion picture took place in NYC
S07061932 First Class postage back up to 3 cents from 2 cents.
S07061933 First All-Star baseball game.  American League won 5-2.
S07071891 A patent was granted for the travelers cheque.
S07071898 Hawaii annexed to the US.
S07071908 The Great White Fleet leaves San Francisco Bay.
S07081796 First American Passport issued by the US State Department.
S07081835 The Liberty Bell cracks (again).
S07081889 Vol 1, No 1, of "The Wall Street Journal" published.
S07081896 William Jennings Bryan makes his 'cross of gold' speech at the Democratic Convention in Chicago.
S07081897 Harbor Hospital formally opens.
S07081905 Part of Angel Island allocated for Immigration Detention Center
S07091816 Argentina gains it's independence.
S07091846 Capt Montgomery claims Yerba Buena (San Francisco) for the U.S.
S07091979 Voyager II flies past Jupiter.
S07101890 Wyoming becomes the 44th state.
S07101925 The Scopes 'Monkey' Trial starts.
S07101962 Telstar, first geosynchonous communications satelite launched.
S07101985 French frogmen sink Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior in harbor at Auckland, New Zealand, killing a photographer.
S07111804 Burr and Hamilton duel.
S07111962 First transatlantic TV transmission via satellite (Telstar I).
S07121543 Henry VIII marries Catharine Parr (his 6th & last wife).
S07121812 US forces lead by Gen. Hull invade Canada (War of 1812).
S07121933 Congress passes first minimum wage law ($0.33 per hour).
S07121934 US Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island abandoned.
S07131865 Horace Greeley advises his readers to "Go west".
S07131898 SF Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street opens.
S07141789 The citizens of Paris storm the Bastille prison.
S07141850 First public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration.
S07141853 Commodore Perry requests trade relations with the Japanese.
S07141865 The first ascent of the Matterhorn.
S07141927 First commercial airplane flight in Hawaii.
S07151867 SF Merchant's Exchange opens.
S07161769 Father Serra founds Mission San Diego, first mission in Calif.
S07161790 Congress establishes the District of Columbia.
S07161861 First major battle of the Civil War -- Bull Run.
S07161945 First atomic blast, Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico.
S07161946 Attempt made to recall Mayor Lapham (first time in SF history).
S07161969 Apollo 11, first manned ship to land on the moon, launched.
S07171879 First railroad opens in Hawaii.
S07171954 Construction begins on Disneyland...
S07171955 ...Disneyland opens its doors in rural Orange County.
S07181872 Britain introduces voting by secret ballot.
S07181938 Wrong Way Corrigan lands in Ireland (not California??)
S07181968 Intel Corporation is incorporated.
S07191848 First Women's Rights Convention. Seneca Falls, NY
S07191880 SF Public Library allows patrons to start borrowing books.
S07191935 First parking meters installed in the Oklahoma City business district.
S07191955 The "Balclutha" ties up at Pier 43 & becomes a floating museum.
S07191961 First In-flight movie is shown (on TWA).
S07201810 Columbia gains it's independence.
S07201859 Admission fee first charged to see a baseball game (50 cents).
S07201878 First telephone introduced in Hawaii.
S07201969 Man landed on the Moon, 4:18PM EDT
S07201970 First baby born on Alcatraz Island.
S07201976 First pictures from Mars surface received (courtesy Viking 2).
S07211831 Belgium gains it's independence.
S07211867 City Gardens on Folsom opens.
S07211873 World's first train robbery, by Jesse James.
S07211969 Neil Armstrong steps on the moon at 2:56:15 AM (GMT).
S07231829 Typewriter is patented.
S07231852 First interment in US National Cemetary at Presidio.
S07231877 First telephone and telegraph line in Hawaii is completed.
S07231904 The Ice Cream Cone is invented.
S07251903 Castle on top of Telegraph Hill closes.
S07251909 First airplane flight across the English Channel.
S07251967 Construction begins on SF MUNI METRO (Market Street subway).
S07261775 Benjamin Franklin becomes Postmaster General.
S07261835 First sugar cane plantation started in Hawaii.
S07261847 Liberia gains it's independence.
S07271866 Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid (1,686 miles long).
S07271940 Billboard magazine starts publishing best-seller's charts.
S07281821 Peru gains it's independence.
S07281849 "Memmon" is first clipper to reach San Francisco, 120 days out of NY
S07281900 The Hamburger is created by Louis Lassing in Connecticut
S07281931 Congress makes "The Star-Spangled Banner" our 2nd National Anthem.
S07281933 First Singing Telegram is delivered (to Rudy Vallee).
S07291835 First sugar plantation in Hawaii begun.
S07291858 First commercial treaty between US and Japan is signed.
S07291914 First transcontinental phone link made.  Between NYC and San Francisco
S07291920 First transcontinental airmail flight from New York to San Francisco
S07291958 Southern Pacific Bay Ferries stop running.
S07301619 The House of Burgesses in Virginia is formed.  first elective governing body in a British colony.
S07301836 First English newspaper published in Hawaii.
S07311790 First US Patent granted (for a potash process).
S07311970 Chet Huntley retires from NBC, ending 'Huntley-Brinkley Report' (No more "Goodnight, David" "Goodnight, Chet")
S06011925 Lou Gehrig starts in first of 2130 consecutive games, a record.
S06021858 The Donati Comet first seen, named after it's discoverer.
S06021873 Ground broken on Clay Street for world's first cable railroad.
S06031888 "Casey at the Bat" is first published (by the SF Examiner)
S06031949 "Dragnet" is first broadcast on radio (KFI in Los Angeles).
S06041850 Empire Engine Company No. 1 organized.
S06051833 Ada Lovelace (future first computer programmer) meets Charles Babbage.
S06051849 Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy.
S06051875 Formal opening of the Pacific Stock Exchange.
S06051920 First rivet driven on Bank of Italy headquarters at 1 Powell.
S06051981 TODAY ran for first time
S06061933 First drive-in theatre opens, in Camden, New Jersey.
S06061944 D-Day
S06062012 Transit of Venus (between Earth and Sun) occurs.
S06071839 The Hawaiian Declaration of Rights is signed.
S06071860 Workmen start laying track for Market Street Railroad.
S06081786 First commercially-made ice cream sold in New York.
S06081889 Cable Cars begin service in Los Angeles.
S06082004 Transit of Venus (between Earth and Sun) occurs.
S06091851 The San Francisco Committee of Vigilence forms.
S06091868 First meeting of the Board of Regents, University of California.
S06101772 Burning of the Gaspee, British revenue cutter by Rhode Islanders
S06101869 The 'Agnes' arrives in New Orleans with the first ever shipment of frozen beef.
S06101898 US Marines land at Cuba in Spanish-American War.
S06101954 PBS reaches San Francisco: KQED (Channel 9) starts broadcasting.
S06101977 Apple Computer ships its first Apple II.
S06111864 300 feet of Meigg's Wharf washed away in storm.
S06111895 First auto race.
S06111980 K-Ingleside streetcar converts to METRO service.
S06121839 The first baseball game is played in America.  Thanks Abner!
S06121898 Phillipines gains its independence from Spain
S06121981 The 3rd baseball strike starts.
S06131963 Vostok 6 launched, pilot is first woman cosmonaut.
S06131983 Pioneer 10 is first man-made object to leave the Solar System.
S06141777 Stars and Stripes adopted as US flag, replacing Grand Union flag.
S06141846 California (Bear Flag) Republic proclaimed in Sonoma.
S06141847 Bunson invents a gas burner.
S06141850 Fire destroys part of San Francisco.
S06141876 California Street Cable Car Railroad Co. gets it's franchise.
S06141900 Hawaiian Territorial Government begins.
S06141919 First direct airplane crossing of the Atlantic.
S06141952 Keel laid for first nuclear powered submarine, the Nautilus.
S06151775 Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the American Army.
S06151857 San Francisco Water Works organized.
S06151878 First attempt at motion pictures (using 12 cameras, each taking one picture (done to see if all 4 of a horse's hooves leave the ground during a gallop. Leland Stanford bet they didn't. He lost).
S06151940 France surrendered to Hitler.
S06161775 The Battle of Bunker Hill (actually it was Breed's Hill).
S06161963 Valentina Tereshkova becomes first woman in space.
S06171944 Republic of Iceland proclaimed at Thingvallir, Iceland.
S06171972 The Watergate Break-in.
S06181812 War of 1812 begins.
S06181815 Battle of Waterloo.
S06181872 Woman's Sufferage Convention held at Merchantile Liberty Hall.
S06181892 Macademia nuts first planted in Hawaii.
S06191778 Washington's troops finally leave Valley Forge.
S06191861 Anaheim Post Office established.
S06191875 Formal opening of US Marine Hospital at the Presidio.
S06191932 First concert given in San Francisco's Stern Grove.
S06201782 The United States chooses the Eagle as it's symbol.
S06201855 Commissioners appointed to lay out streets west of Larkin.
S06201948 Ed Sullivan has his first really big 'shoe' on Sunday night TV.
S06201982 It's National Bald Eagle Day
S06211879 F. W. Woolworth opens his first store (failed almost immediately, so he found a new location and you know the rest...)
S06211917 Hawaiian Red Cross founded.
S06221808 Zebulon Pike reaches his peak.
S06221847 The doughnut is invented.
S06221849 Stephen C. Massett opens at courthouse as first professional entertainer, using the (allegedly) only piano in California.
S06221851 Fire destroys part of San Francisco.
S06221940 France falls to Nazi Germany.
S06221957 Kansas City stops using streetcars in it's transit system.
S06221978 The planet Pluto's partner, Charon, is discovered.
S06221983 First time a satellite is retrieved from orbit, by Space Shuttle.
S06231868 Typewriter patented
S06241817 First coffee planted in Hawaii, on the Kona coast.
S06241947 Flying Saucers sighted
S06251630 The Fork is introduced to American dining by Gov. Winthrop.
S06251835 Pueblo founded with construction of first building (start of Yerba Buena, later to be called San Francisco).
S06251982 San Francisco holds its first County Fair.
S06261934 FDR signs Federal Credit Union Act, establishing Credit Unions.
S06261945 UN Charter written in San Francisco.
S06271867 Bank of California opens its doors.
S06281820 The tomato is proved to be nonpoisonous.
S06281918 In Hawaii, the first inter-island flight.
S06281919 The Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I, was signed.
S06291776 Mission Dolores founded by San Francisco Bay.
S06291854 Congress ratifies Gadsden Purchase, adds parts of New Mexico, Arizona
S06291863 The very first first National Bank opens in Davenport, Iowa.
S06291927 First flight from the West Coast arrives in Hawaii.
S06301893 The Excelsior diamond (blue-white, 995 carats) discovered.
S06301908 A giant fireball impacts in Central Siberia (the Tunguska Event).
S06301914 Mahatma Gandhi's first arrest, in campaign for Indian equal Crights in South Africa.
S06301960 Zaire gains it's independence.
S03011781 The Articles of Confederation adopted by Continental Congress.
S03011859 Present seal of San Francisco adopted (2nd seal for city).
S03011864 Patent issued for taking & projecting motion pictures to Louis Ducos du Hauron (he never did build such a machine, though).
S03011867 Nebraska becomes a state.
S03011879 Library of Hawaii founded.
S03011927 Bank of Italy becomes a National Bank.
S03021836 Texas Independence Day
S03021861 Congress creates the Territory of Nevada.
S03021901 First telegraph company in Hawaii opens.
S03021929 US Court of Customs & Patent Appeals created by US Congress.
S03021974 First Class postage raised to 10 cents from 8 cents.
S03031791 Congress passed a resolution ordering U.S. Mint be established.
S03031812 Congress passes first foreign aid bill.
S03031849 Gold Coinage Act passed, allowing gold coins to be minted.
S03031851 Congress authorizes smallest US silver coin, the 3-cent piece.
S03031875 A 20-cent coin was authorized by Congress (It only lasted 3 years).
S03031885 American Telephone and Telegraph incorporated.
S03031923 Time magazine publishes their first issue.
S03031956 Morocco gains it's independence.
S03031972 Pioneer 10 launched.
S03041789 Congress declares the Constitution to be in effect.
S03041792 Oranges introduced to Hawaii.
S03041826 First railroad in US chartered, the Granite Railway in Quincy, Mass
S03041933 Roosevelt inaugurated, said "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"
S03041934 Easter Cross on Mt. Davidson dedicated.
S03051770 Boston Massacre
S03051845 Congress appropriates $30,000 to ship camels to western US.
S03051979 Voyager I flies past Jupiter.
S03061665 "The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" was first published, and is still published today.
S03061836 Alamo falls.  Remember it!
S03071848 In Hawaii, the Great Mahele (division of lands) is signed.
S03071933 The game "Monopoly" is invented.
S03081862 The Confederate ironclad "Merrimack" launched.
S03091862 The ironclads "Monitor" (Union) & "Merrimack" (Rebel) battle in Hampton Roads.  It was a standoff.
S03101847 First money minted in Hawaii.
S03101876 The first telephone call made by Alexander Graham Bell
S03101933 Big earthquake in Long Beach (W.C. Fields was making a movie when it struck & the cameras kept running).
S03111867 Great Mauna Loa eruption (volcano in Hawaii).
S03111892 First public game of basketball.
S03121850 First $20 Gold piece issued.
S03121966 Pioneer Plaza dedicated.
S03131970 4-day strike by SF city employees starts.
S03131970 Digital Equipment Corp introduces the PDP-11 minicomputer.
S03141870 Legislature approves act making Golden Gate Park possible.
S03141896 Sutro Baths opens by Cliff House (closed Sept 1, 1952).
S03141935 The 36-Folsom becomes first line to use 1-man streetcars.
S03141948 Freedom Train arrives in San Francisco.
S03151913 Woodrow Wilson holds the first Presidential Press Conference.
S03151968 US Mint stops buying and selling gold.
S03151999 Pluto again becomes the outermost planet.
S03171860 Japanese Embassy arrives aboard the "Candinmarruh" <sic>.
S03181850 American Express founded.
S03181881 Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth opens in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
S03191895 Los Angeles Railway established to provide streetcar service.
S03191928 'Amos and Andy' debut on radio.
S03221733 Joseph Priestly (father of soda pop) invents carbonated water.
S03221957 Earthquake gives San Francisco the shakes.
S03221968 President Johnson's daughter, Lynda, ordered off Cable Car because she was eating an ice cream cone (no food on cars!).
S03221978 Robert Frost Plaza, at California, Drumm & Market, dedicated.
S03221981 First Class Postage raised to 18 cents from 15 cents.
S03231775 Patrick Henry asks for Liberty or Death.
S03231929 First telephone installed in the White House.
S03231937 Los Angeles Railway Co starts using PCC streetcars.
S03231962 President John F. Kennedy visits San Francisco.
S03231965 Gemini 3 launched, first US 2-man space flight.
S03241860 Clipper "Andrew Jackson" arrives in 89 days from New York.
S03251821 Greece gains it's independence.
S03251954 RCA manufactures the first COLOR television set.
S03261878 Hastings College of Law founded.
S03261970 Golden Gate Park Conservatory made a City Landmark.
S03271968 Japanese Trade & Cultural Center (Japan Center) dedicated.
S03281794 Nathan Briggs gets patent for the washing machine.
S03281871 San Francisco Art Association holds opening reception at 430 Pine.
S03281888 San Francisco Cable Car transportation system begins operation.
S03291886 Coca-Cola is created (with cocaine)
S03301853 Patent granted to Hyman Lipman for a pencil with an ERASER!
S03301870 15th Amendment passes, guarantees right to vote regardless of race.
S03301932 Amelia Earhart is first woman to make solo crossing of the Atlantic.
S03301981 John W. Hinckley Jr. shot President Reagan and Press Secy. Jim Brady as they left the Washington Hilton hotel following an address.
S03311849 Col. John W. Geary arrives as first postmaster of San Francisco.
S03311868 Chinese Embassy arrives aboard the steamship "China".
S03311889 Eiffel Tower completed.
S03311941 Ground broken for Union Square Garage.
S03311963 Los Angeles ends streetcar service after nearly 90 years.
S05011840 First adhesive postage stamps ("Penny Blacks" from England) issued.
S05011850 John Geary becomes first mayor of City of San Francisco.
S05011860 First school for the deaf founded.
S05011869 Folies-Bergere opens in Paris.
S05011873 First U.S. postal card issued.
S05011884 Construction begins in Chicago on the first skyscraper.
S05011892 US Quarantine Station opens on Angel Island.
S05011928 Lei Day begun (a Hawaiian celebration)
S05021925 Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park opens.
S05021939 Lou Gehrig sets record for being in most consecutive games (2130).
S05021946 Prisoners revolt at Alcatraz, 5 die.
S05031830 First regular steam train passenger service starts.
S05031898 Camp Merriman established at the Presidio.
S05031919 America's first passenger flight (New York-Atlantic City)
S05031971 National noncommercial network radio begins programming.
S05041626 Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons.
S05041851 First of the major San Francisco fires.
S05041866 Woodward's Gardens opens to public.
S05041878 Phonograph shown for first time at the Grand Opera House.
S05051908 The Great White Fleet arrives in San Francisco.
S05051949 Council of Europe established.
S05051961 Alan Shepard becomes first American in space (onboard Freedom 7).
S05051977 (Thursday) Out of the farm at 11:00 AM after 24 days.
S05061851 Patent granted to Dr. John Farrie for a "refrigeration machine"
S05061851 Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco starts.
S05061860 The Olympic Club, first athletic club in US, founded.
S05061906 "Temporary" permit to erect overhead wires on Market Street allows United Railroads to run electric streetcars.
S05071824 Beethoven's Ninth Symphony presented for first time.
S05071927 San Francisco Municipal Airport (Mills Field) dedicated.
S05071941 Cornerstone of BofA building at 300 Montgomery laid.
S05071945 World War II ends in Europe.
S05071963 Telstar 2 launched (apogee 6,700 miles).
S05081541 Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River.
S05081945 Germany surrendered, ending World War II in Europe.
S05091882 Telegraph Hill Railroad Company organized.
S05101775 Continental Congress issues paper currency for first time.
S05101869 The Driving of the Golden Spike, Promontory Point, Utah.  The Transcontinential railroad is completed.
S05101930 First US planetarium opens, in Chicago.
S05111752 First US fire insurance policy is issued, in Philadelphia.
S05111850 Work starts on first brick building in San Francisco.
S05111907 Bank of San Francisco incorporated.
S05111929 First regularly scheduled TV broadcasts (3 nights per week).
S05111951 Jay Forrester patents computer core memory.
S05121901 President William McKinley visits San Francisco.
S05131607 English land to found Jamestown (first permanent settlement)
S05131835 First foreign embassy in Hawaii is established.
S05131846 US declares war on Mexico.
S05131884 Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) founded
S05141811 Paraguay gains it's independence.
S05141853 Gail Borden applies for patent for making condensed milk.
S05141903 President Theodore Roosevelt visits San Francisco.
S05141948 State of Israel proclaimed.
S05141973 United States launches space station "Skylab".
S05151856 2nd San Francisco Vigilance Committee organized.
S05151940 First nylon stockings are sold in America.
S05151963 Last of the Mercury flights, the 'Faith 7', launched.
S05161866 Congress authorizes nickel 5-cent piece (the silver half-dime was used up to this point).
S05161872 Metropolitan Gas Company lamps lit for first time.
S05161914 Ewing Field, near Masonic Street, opens.
S05161929 First Oscars announced (best film was 'Wings').
S05161971 First Class Mail now costs 8 cents (was 6 cents).
S05171792 24 brokers meet to found the New York Stock Exchange
S05171804 Lewis & Clark begin their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase
S05171872 Bohemian Club incorporated.
S05171875 First Kentucky Derby run at Churchill Downs, Louisville.
S05171898 Camp Merritt established in the Presidio.
S05171921 President Harding opens (via telephone) first Valencia Orange Show in Anaheim.
S05171954 Supreme Court rules on Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, overthrowing the principle of 'separate but equal'.
S05171962 Marin County withdraws from BART district.
S05181933 TVA Act signed by President Roosevelt.
S05181980 Mount St. Helens blew it's top in Washington State.
S05191862 The Homestead Act becomes law.
S05201845 First legislative assembly convenes in Hawaii.
S05201927 At 7:40am, Lindbergh takes off from New York to cross Atlantic
S05211846 First steamship arrives in Hawaii.
S05211881 The American Red Cross is founded.
S05211927 Lindburgh lands in Paris, after first solo across Atlantic.
S05211933 Mount Davidson Cross lit by President Roosevelt in Washington via Telegraph.
S05221846 First steamer arrives in Hawaii.
S05221909 First San Francisco fireboat, the "David Scannell", launched.
S05231873 Postal Cards sold in San Francisco for first time.
S05231898 First Phillipine Expeditionary Troops sail from San Francisco.
S05231908 Dirigible explodes over SF Bay, 16 passengers fall, none die.
S05231956 World Trade Center dedicated in Ferry Building.
S05241844 Samual F.B. Morse taps out "What Hath God Wrought"
S05241866 Berkeley named (for George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne).  Never turn your back on it.
S05241883 The Brooklyn Bridge opened by Pres. Arthur & Gov. Cleveland.
S05241899 In Boston, the first auto repair shop opens.
S05251787 Constitutional Convention convenes in Philadelphia.
S05251940 Golden Gate International Exposition reopens.
S05251927 Henry Ford stops producing the Model T car (begins Model A).
S05251948 San Francisco receives its first telecast.
S05251978 "Star Wars" is released.
S05251983 "Return of the Jedi" (Star Wars 3) is released.
S05261868 President Johnson avoids impeachment by 1 vote.
S05261898 San Francisco approves new City Charter, allowing Municipal ownership of utiliies (charter effective Jan 1, 1900).
S05261937 Golden Gate Bridge opens.
S05261946 Patent filed in US for the H-Bomb.
S05261958 Union Square becomes State Historical Landmark.
S05271854 Marine Telegraph from Fort Point to San Francisco completed.
S05271896 Bay District Race Track closes.
S05271907 Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco
S05271937 Golden Gate Bridge dedicated.
S05271951 Maritime Museum at Aquatic Park opens.
S05281926 United States Customs Court created by Congress.
S05291953 Hillary & Norkay reach top of Mount Everest.
S05291978 First Class postage now 15 cents (was 13 cents for 3 years).
S05301911 Indianapolis 500 car race run for first time.
S05311678 Lady Godiva takes a ride through Coventry
S05311868 First recorded bicycle race, 2 kilometers in Paris.
S05311879 First electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition.
S05311889 Johnstown Flood
S11011863 Fortifications built on Angel Island by troops.
S11011870 US Weather Bureau begins operations.
S11011943 Dimout ban lifted in San Francisco Bay area.
S11011947 First Aloha Week Parade held in Hawaii.
S11011981 First Class Mail raised from 18 to 20 cents.
S11021854 Cobblestone paving of Washington St between Dupont & Kearny starts.
S11021917 Lansing-Ishii Agreement
S11021920 KDKA (Pittsburgh) on the air as first commercial radio station.
S11021947 Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose flies for first (& last) time.
S11021948 Truman beats Dewey, confounding pollsters and newspapers.
S11031903 Panama gains it's independence from Columbia.
S11031917 First Class Mail now costs 3 cents.
S11031930 Bank of Italy becomes Bank of America.
S11031952 Charles Birdseye markets frozen peas.
S11041854 Lighthouse established on Alcatraz Island.
S11041867 90 kegs of powder used to get rock from Telegraph Hill for seawall.
S11041922 Howard Carter discovers the tomb of Tutankhamen.
S11041924 First woman governor in US elected in Wyoming.
S11051781 John Hanson elected first 'President of the United States in Congress assembled' (8 years before Washington was elected).
S11051895 First US patent granted for the automobile, to George B Selden
S11051973 BART starts San Francisco-Daly City train shuttle service.
S11061850 Yerba Buena & Angel Islands reserved for military use.
S11061850 First fire engine arrives in Hawaii.
S11061862 Direct Telegraphic link between New York and San Francisco established
S11061869 First intercollegiate football game played (Rutgers 6, Princeton 4).
S11061939 WGY-TV (Schenectady NY), first commercial-license station begins service
S11061962 BART bond issue just gets by with a 66.9% favorable vote.
S11071805 Lewis and Clark first sighted the Pacific Ocean.
S11071811 Battle of Tippecanoe, gave Harrison a presidential slogan.
S11071875 Verney Cameron is first European to cross equitorial Africa from sea to sea.
S11071885 Canada completes its own transcontinental railway.
S11081793 The Louvre, in Paris, was opened to the public.
S11091848 Post Office at Clay & Pike opens.
S11091965 Giant power failure in New England & Ontario, Canada.
S11101871 Stanley presumes to meet Livingston in Ujiji, Central Africa.
S11101891 First Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting held (in Boston)
S11101951 First Long Distance telephone call without operator assistance.
S11101980 Voyager I flies past Saturn.
S11111889 Washington admitted as the 42nd state.
S11111918 World War I ends.
S11111924 Palace of Legion of Honor dedicated.
S11111931 Cornerstones laid for Opera House and Veteran's Building.
S11111957 Demolition begins on cable car barn at California & Hyde.
S11111959 Seals Stadium demolished.
S11111982 Space Shuttle 'Columbia' makes first commercial flight.
S11121873 Bay District Race Track opens.
S11121933 First known photo of Loch Ness monster is taken.
S11121936 Oakland Bay Bridge opened.
S11121946 The first "autobank" (banking by car) was established, in Chicago
S11121981 First time a spacecraft is launched twice -- the Space Shuttle 'Columbia' lifts off again.
S11131849 Peter Burnett is elected first governor of California.
S11131895 First shipment of canned pineapple from Hawaii.
S11131921 The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, was released.
S11141792 Capt. George Vancouver is first Englishman to enter San Francisco Bay.
S11141832 First streetcar appears, in New York
S11141851 "Moby Dick", by Herman Melville, is published.
S11141889 Nellie Bly beats Phineas Fogg's time for a trip around the world by 8 days (72 days).
S11141910 First airplane flight from the deck of a ship.
S11141959 Kilauea's most spectacular eruption (in Hawaii).
S11141981 The old Dutch Windmill in Golden Gate Park repaired & working again.
S11151869 Free Postal Delivery formally inaugurated.
S11151926 National Broadcasting Company goes on-the-air, with 24 stations
S11151939 Social Security Administration approves first unemployment check.
S11151941 Cow Palace opens.
S11151949 KRON (Channel 4, San Francisco) signs on, from 7 to 10 PM.
S11161933 Roosevelt establishes diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
S11171800 Congress convened for its first Washington, DC session.
S11171853 Street signs authorized at San Francisco intersections.
S11171869 Suez Canal opens.
S11171913 Panama Canal opens for use.
S11181889 Oahu Railway begins public service in Hawaii.
S11181903 Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, gave US exclusive canal rights thru Panama.
S11181820 Antarctica discovered by US Navy Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer.
S11181928 Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse debuts in New York in "Steamboat Willie"
S11181936 Main span of Golden Gate Bridge joined.
S11191863 Lincoln delivers his address in Gettysburg.
S11191895 The pencil is invented.
S11191970 Golden Gate Park Conservatory becomes a California State Historical Landmark.
S11201888 William Bundy invents the first timecard clock.
S11201914 The State Department starts requiring photographs for passports
S11211794 Honolulu Harbor discovered.
S11211959 Jack Benny (Violin) & Richard Nixon (Piano) play their famed duet.
S11221906 The International Radio Telegraphic Convention adopts "SOS" as the new call for help.
S11221943 Lebanon gains it's independence (would that it could keep it)
S11221963 President John Kennedy assasinated in Dallas.
S11231852 Just past midnight, a sharp jolt causes Lake Merced to drop 30 feet.
S11231863 Patent granted for a process of making color photographs.
S11231911 Post Hospital at Presidio renamed Letterman General Hospital.
S11241874 Patent granted to Joseph Glidden for barbed wire.
S11251948 Fort Funston's 16-inch coastal guns removed.
S11261778 Captain Cook discovers Maui (in the Sandwich Islands).
S11261895 Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association formed.
S11261868 First baseball game played in enclosed field at 25th & Folsom.
S11271890 First signal box for SF Police Department goes into operation.
S11281520 Magellan begins crossing the Pacific Ocean.
S11281895 America's auto race starts; 6 cars, 55 miles, winner averaged 7 MPH
S11291887 US receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii.
S11291890 First Army-Navy football game.  Score: Navy 25, Army 0.
S10011851 First Hawaiian stamps issued.
S10011869 First postcards are issued in Vienna.
S10011896 Yosemite becomes a National Park.
S10011898 Henry Huntington buys the Los Angeles Railway.
S10011903 First World Series starts between the National & American Leagues
S10011908 Henry Ford introduces the Model T car.
S10011960 Nigeria gains it's independence.
S10011962 Johnny Carson hosts his first Tonight Show.
S10011964 Cable Cars declared a National Landmark.
S10011971 Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida opens.
S10021608 Hans Lippershey offers the Dutch government a new invention -- the telescope.
S10021836 Darwin returns to England aboard the HMS Beagle.
S10021939 Birdbaths installed in Union Square.
S10021958 Guinea gains it's independence.
S10031789 Washington proclaims the first national Thanksgiving Day on Nov 26
S10031863 Lincoln designates the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day
S10031955 Captain Kangaroo premieres.  Good Morning, Captain!
S10031913 Federal Income Tax is signed into law (at 1%).
S10031960 San Francisco's White House department store is first to accept the BankAmericard in lieu of cash.
S10041916 Market Street's "Path of Gold" lit for first time.
S10041926 The dahlia is officially designated as the City Flower.
S10041957 USSR launches Sputnik, the first artificial earth satellite.
S10041977 Pier 39 opens.
S10051875 Palace Hotel on Market Street opens.
S10051921 First radio broadcast of the World Series.
S10051963 Hyde St. Pier re-opens as State Historical Park.
S10051964 Fire Department Museum dedicated.
S10051970 PBS becomes a network.
S10061889 Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture.
S10061927 "The Jazz Singer", first movie with a sound track, premieres.
S10061935 Market Street Railway starts using trackless trolley coaches.
S10061940 Zoological Gardens opens (on Sloat and Skyline).
S10071826 Granite Railway (first chartered railway in US) begins operations
S10081840 First Hawaiian constitution proclaimed.
S10081860 Telegraph line between Los Angeles and San Francisco opens.
S10081865 Earthquake.
S10081871 The Great Fire destroys over 4 square miles of Chicago.
S10081896 Dow Jones starts reporting an average of industrial stocks.
S10081933 Coit Tower dedicated.
S10091776 Mission Delores founded.
S10091975 Emperor Hirohito of Japan visits San Francisco.
S10101911 The Manchu Dynasty is overthrown in China.
S10101980 Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope network dedicated.
S10111890 Daughters of the American Revolution founded.
S10111968 Apollo 7 launched, first manned flight of the Command & Service modules.
S10121933 Alcatraz becomes a federal prison (unofficially).
S10121957 First commercial flight between California and Antartica.
S10121963 At 4AM, traffic on Bay Bridge is 1-way on each deck.
S10131792 George Washington lays the cornerstone of the Executive Mansion
S10141774 First declaration of colonial rights in America.
S10141947 First supersonic flight (Mach 1.015 at 42,000 feet).
S10151860 Grace Bedell writes to Lincoln, tells him to grow a beard.
S10151863 Cliff House opens (first of many on the site).
S10151969 Bank of America World Headquarters (555 California) dedicated.
S10161859 John Brown attacks the armory at Harper's Ferry.
S10161869 A hotel in Boston becomes the first to have indoor plumbing.
S10161941 Gordo (by Gus Arriola) first appeared in newspapers.
S10161952 Woolworth's at Powell & Market opens.
S10161971 Amphitheater in McLaren Park dedicated.
S10171781 Cornwallis defeated at Yorktown.
S10171850 Knickerbocker Engine Co. Number 5 organized.
S10171899 Sutro RR sold to Robert F. Morrow for $215,000.
S10171904 Bank of Italy (Bank of America) opens its doors.
S10181869 The United States take possession of Alaska.
S10181873 The Ivy League establishes rules for college football.
S10181892 First commercial long-distance phone line opens (Chicago - New York)
S10181922 British Broadcasting Corporation established.
S10191781 Cornwallis surrenders at 2PM, the fighting is over.
S10191845 Wagner's opera 'Tannhauser' is performed for first time.
S10191853 First flour mill in Hawaii begins operations.
S10191968 Golden Gate Bridge charges tolls only for southbound cars.
S10201600 Battle of Sekigahara, which established the Tokugawa clan as rulers of Japan (SHOGUN) until 1865 (basis of Clavell's novel).
S10201820 Spain gives Florida to the United States.
S10201906 Dr Lee DeForest gives a demonstration of his radio tube.
S10201929 Bayshore Highway opens.
S10211805 Battle of Trafalgar, where Nelson established British naval supremacy for the next century.
S10211868 Severe earthquake at 7:53AM.
S10211869 First shipment of fresh oysters comes overland from Baltimore.
S10211879 Thomas Edison commercially perfects the light bulb.
S10221936 First commercial flight from mainland to Hawaii.
S10221981 US National debt topped $1 TRILLION (nothing to celebrate).
S10231956 The ill-fated revolt in Communist Hungary starts, later crushed by Soviet tanks.
S10241945 United Nations Charter goes into effect.
S10251825 Erie Canal opens for business in New York.
S10251854 The Light Brigade charges (Battle of Balaklava).
S10261861 Telegraph service inaugurated in US (end of Pony Express).
S10261881 Shootout at the OK corral, in Tombstone, Arizona.
S10261903 The "Yerba Buena" is first Key System ferry to cross San Francisco Bay.
S10261956 International Atomic Energy Agency established.
S10261970 The "Doonesbury" comic strip debuts in 28 newspapers
S10261972 Guided tours of Alcatraz (by Park Service) begin.
S10271787 The 'Federalist' letters started appearing in NY newspapers.
S10271858 RH Macy & Co. opens first store, on 6th Avenue, New York City.
S10271896 First Pali Road completed in Hawaii (the Pali is a cliff where the winds are so strong streams flow UP! Honest!).
S10271904 New York opens first section of it's subway system.
S10271972 Golden Gate National Recreation Area created.
S10281636 Harvard University founded.
S10281886 Statue of Liberty dedicated.
S10281904 St. Louis Police try a new investigation method - fingerprints.
S10281919 Volstead Act passed by Congress, starting Prohibition.
S10281965 The Gateway Arch (630 feet high) completed in St. Louis, Missouri.
S10291833 First College Fraternity founded.
S10291863 International Committee of the Red Cross founded.
S10291894 First election of the Hawaiian Republic.
S10291923 Turkey is proclaimed to have a republican government.
S10291929 "Black Tuesday", the Stock Market crash.
S10291939 Golden Gate International Exposition closes (first closure).
S10291956 "Goodnight, David" "Goodnight, Chet" heard on NBC for first time.  (Chet Huntley & David Brinkley, NBC News, team up).
S10301864 Helena, capital of Montana, founded.
S10301938 Orson Welles panics a nation with his broadcast of 'War of the Worlds'
S10311956 Brooklyn, NY ends streetcar service.
S09011807 Aaron Burr aquitted of charges of plotting to set up an empire.
S09011849 California Constitutional Convention held in Monterey.
S09011863 Railroad & Ferry connection with Oakland inaugurated.
S09011878 First woman telephone operator starts work (Emma Nutt in Boston).
S09011939 Germany invades Poland, starts World War II.
S09011952 Sutro Baths purchased by George Whitney.
S09021620 The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth with 102 Pilgrims.
S09021789 US Treasury Department established by Congress.
S09021859 Gas lighting introduced to Hawaii.
S09021956 Washington-Jackson cable line replaced by bus service.
S09031783 Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War, is signed.
S09031849 California State Constitutional Convention convenes in Monterey
S09031939 England declares war on Germany.
S09041781 Los Angeles founded in the Valley of Smokes (Indian Name)
S09041833 The first newsboy in the US hired (Barney Flaherty), by the NY Sun.
S09041862 North Beach & Mission Railway Company organized.
S09041866 First daily newspaper in Hawaii published.
S09041888 George Eastman patents first rollfilm camera & registers "Kodak".
S09051781 Battle of Virginia Capes, where the French Fleet defeats the British rescue fleet, trapping Cornwallis at Yorktown.
S09051885 First gasoline pump is delivered to a gasoline dealer.
S09051977 Voyager II launched.
S09061716 First lighthouse in US built, in Boston.
S09061869 The first westbound train arrives in San Francisco.
S09061873 Regular Cable Car service begins on Clay Street.
S09061876 Southern Pacific line from Los Angeles to San Francisco completed.
S09061966 Star Trek appears on TV for the first time (on NBC)
S09071907 Sutro's ornate Cliff House destroyed by fire.
S09081565 First permanent settlement in US founded at St Augustine, Florida
S09081858 Lincoln makes a speech about when you can fool people.
S09081920 First US Air Mail service begins.
S09091776 Continental Congress authorizes the name "United States".
S09091850 California becomes the 3first state.
S09091875 Lotta's Fountain (Kearny & Market) dedicated.
S09091880 President Hayes visits San Francisco.
S09091926 NBC created by the Radio Corporation of America.
S09091982 "Conestoga I", first private rocket, is launched.
S09101608 John Smith elected president of the Jamestown colony council.
S09101846 Elias Howe receives patent for his sewing machine.
S09101847 First theater opens in Hawaii.
S09101913 Lincoln Highway opens as first paved coast-to-coast highway.
S09101953 Swanson sells it's first "TV Dinner".
S09101955 "Gunsmoke" premieres on CBS television.
S09111853 First electric telegraph in use, Merchant's Exchange to Pt Lobos.
S09111910 First commercially successful electric bus line opens, in Hollywood.
S09111926 Aloha Tower dedicated (in Honolulu).
S09111929 Mayor Rolph inaugurates new pedestrian traffic light system.
S09111972 BART begins service with a 26 mile line from Oakland to Fremont
S09131788 New York City becomes the capitol of the United States.
S09141716 First lighthouse in US is lit (in Boston Harbor).
S09141814 Francis Scott Key inspired to write 'The Star-Spangled Banner'.
S09141886 The typewriter ribbon is patented.
S09141892 A.P. Giannini marries Clorinda Cuneo.
S09141899 While in New York, Henry Bliss becomes first automobile fatality
S09141940 Congress passes first peace time draft law.
S09151821 Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatamala, Honduras & Nicaragua all gain their independence.
S09151937 WPA extends the L-Taraval streetcar to the Zoo (at Sloat Blvd).
S09151957 San Francisco Seals (Pacific Coast League) play their last game.
S09161620 The Mayflower departs from Plymouth, England with 102 pilgrims.
S09161782 Great Seal of the United States is used for first time.
S09161857 Patent is issued for the typesetting machine.
S09161919 The American Legion is incorporated.
S09161974 BART begins regular transbay service.
S09171776 The Presidio of San Francisco was founded as Spanish fort.
S09171787 US Constitution is adopted in Philadelphia.
S09171819 First whaling ship arrives in Hawaii.
S09171927 Charles Lindbergh in San Francisco.
S09171972 BART begins passenger service.
S09181810 Chile gains it's independence.
S09181851 "The New York Times" goes on sale, at 2 cents a copy.
S09181882 Pacific Stock Exchange opens (as the Local Security Board).
S09181927 The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air.
S09191849 First commercial laundry established, in Oakland, California.
S09191873 Black Friday: Jay Cooke & Co. fails, causing a securities panic
S09191968 Baby born on Golden Gate Bridge (those Marin County folk!).
S09191982 Streetcars stop running on Market St after 122 years of service
S09201519 Magellan starts first successful circumnavigation of the world.
S09201797 US frigate "Constitution" (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston.
S09201859 Patent granted on the electric range.
S09201879 The U.S. Grants come to San Francisco for an elaborate extended visit.
S09201884 Equal Rights Party founding convention in San Francisco, nominates female candidates for President, Vice President.
S09211784 First daily newspaper in US begins publication in Pennsylvania.
S09211895 First auto manufacturer opens -- Duryea Motor Wagon Company.
S09211930 Johann Ostermeyer patents his invention, the flashbulb.
S09211954 The nuclear submarine "Nautilus" is commissioned.
S09211982 Cable Cars cease operations for 2 years of repairs.
S09221789 The US Post Office was established.
S09221863 President Lincoln makes his Emancipation Proclamation speech.
S09221893 First auto built in US runs in Springfield (built by Duryea brothers)
S09221903 Patent is granted for the Ice Cream Cone.
S09221981 Senate votes 99-0 to confirm the appointment of Sandra Day O'Connor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
S09231780 John Andre reveals Benedict Arnold's plot to betray West Point.
S09231779 Naval engagement between 'Bonhomme Richard' and 'HMS Serepis'.
S09231912 First Mack Sennett "Keystone Comedy" movie is released.
S09231952 First closed circuit pay-TV telecast of a sports event.
S09241789 Congress creates the Post Office.
S09241845 First baseball team is organized.
S09241852 A new invention, the dirigible, is demonstrated.
S09241853 First round-the-world trip by yacht (Cornelius Vanderbilt).
S09241865 James Cooke walks tightrope from Cliff House to Seal Rocks.
S09241869 Black Friday: crashing gold prices causes stock market panic.
S09241895 First round-the-world trip by a woman on a bicycle (took 15 months).
S09241954 "The Tonight Show" premieres.
S09241960 First atomic powered aircraft carrier, the "Enterprise", is launched.
S09251513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa is the first European to sail the Pacific Ocean.
S09251978 144 people died in a PSA air crash in San Diego.
S09261966 Japan launches its first satellite in to space.
S09261983 Australia II won the America's Cup yacht race.
S09271919 Democratic National Committee voted to admit women.
S09271938 The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth was launched at Glasgow.
S09281924 2 US Army planes completed first around the world flight.
S09291892 The first night football game was played in Mansfield, Pennsylvania.
S09291982 Cyanide laced Tylenol capsules killed seven in Chicago.
S09301846 William Morris first used ether in a tooth extraction.
S09301955 James Dean was killed in an auto accident.
S07291981 The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana
S03121936 FDR conducts his first "Fireside Chat"
