Today:
1784 – John Wesley charters the first Methodist Church in the United States.
1827 – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first U.S. railroad chartered for commercial transport of passengers and freight.
1849 – Regular steamship service from the east coast of the United States to the west coast begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay.
1885 – The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) is incorporated in New York as a subsidiary of the Bell Telephone Company.
1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon, a revolutionary synthetic polymer used in countless applications.
1947 – The February 28 Incident occurs in Taiwan, leading to thousands of deaths and marking the beginning of the White Terror period under Kuomintang rule.
1953 – James Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have discovered the structure of DNA, a breakthrough in genetics.
1983 – The final episode of the TV series MASH* airs in the United States, becoming the most-watched television broadcast in U.S. history at the time.
1993 – The Waco siege begins as the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) raids the compound of the Branch Davidians in Texas, leading to a 51-day standoff.
2022 – Russia is banned from international soccer competitions by FIFA and UEFA due to its invasion of Ukraine.