Today in History

[goofywife]

1979: 'Terrible Tuesday' tornadoes hit
Thirteen tornadoes ripped through Texas and Oklahoma today in a deadly outbreak that meteorologists later referred to as "Terrible Tuesday." The twisters destroyed thousands of homes, and one Texas resident compared the storm’s effect to bomb damage.

"Tornadoes smashed into four communities in North Texas and Oklahoma, sucking up people and property, tossing cars about and leveling homes and businesses. Authorities said at least 57 persons were killed and more than 800 were injured," reported the Syracuse Herald Journal on April 11, 1979. "Gov. Bill Clements toured the north Texas city of Wichita Falls, site of the worst damage, as National Guard troops patrolled debris-strewn streets today to ward off any looters who might want to take advantage of the disaster that struck yesterday afternoon."

NOTE: Wichita Falls, Texas, was hit the hardest, with at least 42 people reported dead and more than $200 million in property damage. The tornado that hit the city was estimated to have traveled 47 miles, remaining on the ground for at least an hour.

(We had one worse than this a few years ago)

1998: Belfast Agreement is signed
The Belfast Agreement was signed today by the British and Irish governments. The accord raised hopes for an end to the violence that ravaged Northern Ireland. On April 11, 1998, the Daily Herald commented on the agreement, explaining, "In a sweeping accord that reduced many hard-bitten politicians to tears, negotiators cleared the way Friday for a 'new beginning' for Northern Ireland after 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks. Exhilarated and exhausted, the eight participating parties approved a settlement presented by the talks chairman, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, after a 32-hour negotiating marathon."

1970: Beatles split
Paul McCartney announced today that he has split from the Beatles. "Paul, 27-year-old song writer, lead guitar and singer, blamed the break on 'personal differences, business differences, musical differences - but most of all because I have a better time with my family,'" informed The Port Arthur News on April 10, 1970. NOTE: The announcement coincided with the release of his first solo album. After the split, McCartney’s album spent three weeks at the top of the American charts.

1963: Submarine lost at sea
The nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Thresher was lost at sea today during a deep-diving routine. Admiral George W. Anderson, chief of naval operations, determined that the vessel and her crew of 129 had sunk. "The Navy said an oil slick had been sighted – the traditional sign that a submarine has met disaster," reported The Post Standard on April 11, 1963. "The craft was missing some 220 miles east of Boston – in an area where the ocean is 8,400 feet deep. Underwater pressure at the depth makes rescue impossible, the Navy said, even if a submarine could survive the hydraulic force."

1919: Emiliano Zapata is shot
Mexican rebel and revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata was shot today by government soldiers. The former sharecropper had joined forces with Pancho Villa to oppose the Mexican government, fighting for agrarian reform and land redistribution. "The rebel chief is said to have been killed in an unnamed part of the mountains of southern Morelos by troops under command of Colonel Guajardo. The war department has promoted the colonel to a generalship for his feat," explained The Van Wert Daily Bulletin on April 12, 1919.

1912: Titanic sets sail
The RMS Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage today from Southampton, London to New York. "The Titanic is a sister ship to the Olympic, placed in commission last year. She is 840 feet in length and has a displacement of 60,000 tons," explained The Evening News on April 10, 1912. "She is literally a floating hotel, provided with dancing rooms, smoking rooms, cafes, a library and even a garden of Oriental palms and beds of roses and carnations. A swimming tank and a skating rink are among her other features." NOTE: The Titanic's passengers spent just five days on the ship before it collided with an iceberg and sank.

[Janet]

I love these Michelle. Thank you so much sweetie for posting them everyday, I really appreciate it.

[DianaB]

There is a building in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It's been turned into a museum and it's very interesting! They also have some furniture that was designed by him too! I was with a Girl Scout troop that went to see it otherwise I'd have never known that we had one of his buildings so close.

[katcarasella]

When I first got married I lived 4 blocks from this house in Oak Park. (15 min. away now.)

Studio2.jpg
This extraordinary building in Oak Park, Illinois was the Wright family residence from 1889 to 1909. Wright began the construction of this house in 1889 shortly after his marriage to Catherine Tobin, using $5,000 borrowed from Louis Sullivan. The Wright family - Frank and Catherine, and their six children - lived here while he developed his architectural practice, creating what became the "Prairie Style" of architecture.

[goofywife]

That house is beautiful.

Originally Posted by katcarasella

When I first got married I lived 4 blocks from this house in Oak Park. (15 min. away now.)

Attachment 2842
This extraordinary building in Oak Park, Illinois was the Wright family residence from 1889 to 1909. Wright began the construction of this house in 1889 shortly after his marriage to Catherine Tobin, using $5,000 borrowed from Louis Sullivan. The Wright family - Frank and Catherine, and their six children - lived here while he developed his architectural practice, creating what became the "Prairie Style" of architecture.

[DianaB]

It's called Price Tower. It's suppose to be the only skyscraper that he built. Here's some pictures--

http://www.merryweatherphoto.com/web/price.html#

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/o...ice/price.html

[goofywife]

1970: Apollo 13 blasts off

NASA today launched Apollo 13, America's third manned moon-landing mission, from Cape Kennedy, Florida. NASA officials had almost postponed the mission when crew member Thomas Mattingly was exposed to the German measles. Instead, Mattingly was replaced less than 24 hours before lift-off by backup astronaut John Swigert, Jr.

"The target for man's third lunar mission is the mountainous Fra Mauro region where the astronauts hope to find rocks dating perhaps five billion years to the beginning of the moon. In the most difficult space maneuver ever attempted, [James] Lovell and [Fred] Haise are to steer their lunar lander toward a precision touchdown in a narrow valley surrounded by high hills, ridges, craters and rocks as big as automobiles," reported The News on April 12, 1970.

NOTE: Two days after the launch, an oxygen tank on the spacecraft exploded, forcing the astronauts to abandon their mission. Although they had only a small supply of oxygen, water and power, the Apollo 13 crew managed to safely return to Earth in the spaceship's lunar module.

1968: Johnson signs Civil Rights Act

President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 today, which prohibited housing discrimination and provided protection for civil rights workers. "President Johnson, voicing outrage at the slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King and the violence that followed it, has signed an historic open-housing bill," informed The Daily Times-News on April 12, 1968. "The new law will prohibit discrimination in 80 per cent of all housing sales and rentals by 1970, but much of it takes effect next Jan. 1. The law also makes it a federal crime to use threats or violence to interfere with anyone seeking to exercise his civil rights and prohibits the crossing of state lines with intent to incite rioting."

1961: Nazi war crime trial begins

Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking Nazi accused of playing a central role in the Holocaust, went on trial in an Israeli courthouse today. "After 16 years in hiding and in jail, Eichmann walked into public view when he entered the bullet proof glass defendant's box in the court room at 8:58 a.m.," reported the Middlesboro Daily News on April 11, 1961. "Except for a moment of apparent nervousness as he first looked about the court room through heavy horn-rimmed glasses, the accused mass murderer was still very much the Nazi colonel." NOTE: Eichmann was later convicted on all charges and was hanged in a prison near Tel Aviv.

1947: Dodgers sign Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson made history today when the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, announced the purchase of his contract from the Montreal Royals. The purchase made Robinson the first African American to play baseball in the major leagues, breaking baseball's color barrier. "He is confident he can make good in the majors, thus opening the door for others of his race to compete on equal footing as they do in boxing, college and professional football, college and professional basketball and as jockeys," explained The Fresno Bee on April 11, 1947. NOTE: Robinson went on to appear in six World Series with the Dodgers and was named Rookie of the Year in 1947.

1945: U.S. forces liberate Buchenwald

United States forces liberated a concentration camp in Buchenwald, Germany today. "Twenty thousand inmates of one of the most dreaded of German concentration camps were free today after its capture by Berlin-bound American troops unfolded a story of horror dating from the inception of the Nazi regime in 1933," reported The Lowell Sun on April 14, 1945. "In those years approximately 200,000 persons doomed to sadistic death or a living hell passed through the gates of the electrically-charged barbed-wire enclosure as infamous as the camps at Dachau and Oranienburg."

1899: Treaty ends Spanish-American war

"The final ceremony in the re-establishment of peaceful relations between the United States and Spain took place at the White House at 2 o'clock this afternoon, when the president and Ambassador Cambon, the latter acting for Spain, exchanged ratifications of the treaty of peace," informed The News on April 11, 1899. NOTE: The treaty marked the formal end to the Spanish-American war, and in conjunction with the peace agreement, Spain ceded several of its colonies to the United States, including the island of Puerto Rico.

[goofywife]

That is too cool. I didn't know it was there.

Originally Posted by DianaB

There is a building in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It's been turned into a museum and it's very interesting! They also have some furniture that was designed by him too! I was with a Girl Scout troop that went to see it otherwise I'd have never known that we had one of his buildings so close.