Today:
54: Roman Emperor Claudius died, believed to have been poisoned by his wife Agrippina.
1307: King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of hundreds of Knights Templar.
1775: The Continental Congress authorized the establishment of the Continental Navy, the precursor to the United States Navy.
1792: The cornerstone of the White House was laid in Washington, D.C.
1884: The International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. established the meridian of Greenwich, England as the prime meridian.
1903: The Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the first modern World Series.
1943: Italy declared war on its former Axis partner, Germany.
1962: “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, a play by Edward Albee, opened on Broadway.
1983: The first commercial cellular telephone system in the U.S. began service in Chicago.
2010: The last of 33 miners trapped for 69 days in a collapsed mine in Chile were rescued.