Historical Events on April 15

Events 1 - 200 of 220

• 69 Battle at Bedriacum, North-Italy
• 1205 Battle at Adrianople: Bulgaria beats Emp Boudouin of Constantinople
• 1250 Pope Innoncent III refuses Jews of Cordova, Spain, request to build a synagogue
• 1250 Kublai is acclaimed the Great Khan by a Mongol Great Council
• 1450 French defeat English at Battle of Formigny in 100 Years' War

• 1528 Pánfilo the Narváez, Spanish conquistador arrives in Florida with 350 men to a hostile reception from native indians

• 1581 Cortes van Thomar accepts Philip II as king of Portugal
• 1594 Fleming Pieter Stevens appointed royal painter of Rudolf II (Prague)
• 1621 Hugo Grotius arrives in France after escaping prison in a book chest
• 1632 Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat Count Tilly of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
• 1654 England & Netherlands sign peace treaty

• 1697 Charles XII succeeds Charles XI as King of Sweden
• 1715 Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.


• 1716 Great Northern War: Prussian troops occupy Swedish controlled German port of Wismar

• 1755 Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language" published in London
• 1776 Duchess of Kingston found guilty of bigamy
• 1788 Britain, Netherlands & Prussia sign peace treaty
• 1793 Bank of England issues first £5 note

• 1817 1st American school for the deaf opens (Hartford, Connecticut)
• 1850 City of San Francisco incorporated
• 1851 Earl G Andressy sentenced to death in Hungary
• 1853 Protestant church questions king Willem III RC bishops
• 1858 Battle of Azimghur, Mexicans defeat Spanish loyalists

• 1864 General Steeles' Union troops occupies Camden, Arkansas

• 1865 Abraham Lincoln dies 9 hours after he is shot attending the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington
• 1870 Last day US silver coins allow to circulate in Canada
• 1874 NY legislature passes compulsory education law

• 1877 1st telephone installed: Boston-Somerville in Massachusetts
• 1878 Harley Procter introduces Ivory Soap

• 1895 Josephine Blatt (US) makes hip-and-harness lift of 3564 lb (record)
• 1896 I Summer Olympic Games close in Athens, Greece; USA wins gold medal count, 11; Greece wins total medal count, 46; IOC has retroactively assigned gold, silver & bronze medals to 3 best placed athletes in each event


• 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) in Paris opens (till 12th Nov)
• 1900 An early 50 mile race is won by an electric car in over 2 hrs
• 1901 1st British motorized burial
• 1901 5th Boston Marathon won for second straight year by Canadian Jim Caffrey in race record 2:29:23.6
• 1901 Pope Leo XIII issues an allocution deploring hostile actions against the Roman Catholic Church throughout Europe
• 1902 Pope Leo XIII encyclical "On Church in US"
• 1902 Rioting and arson continue in Russia with peasants plundering estates to find food.
• 1902 Russian minister of interior and head of secret police, Sipyengin, is assassinated by the 'Terror Brigade' of the Socialist Revolutionaries
• 1906 The Armenian organization AGBU is established.
• 1907 11th Boston Marathon won by Canadian Tom Longboat in race record 2:24:24
• 1909 NY Giant Red Ames 2nd no-hitter, loses in 13 on a 7 hitter to Dodgers
• 1910 William H. Taft is first US President to throw out a 1st ball at a baseball game
• 1911 Jack Lawrence Theater (Playhouse) opens at 137 W 48th St NYC

• 1912 16th Boston Marathon won by Mike Ryan in race record 2:21:18.2
• 1915 Manuel de Falla's ballet "El Amor Brujo" premieres in Madrid
• 1915 NY Giant Rube Marquard no-hits Bkln, 2-0

• 1918 22nd Boston Marathon won by Camp Devens relay team; race run as relay for 10-man military teams
• 1920 New Canadian small cent coin is released
• 1920 Sacco & Vanzetti Trial: paymaster shot and killed along with his guard
• 1921 Black Friday in Britain: leaders of transport and rail unions announce a decision not to call for strike action in support of the miners; despite widespread feeling decision a breach of solidarity and a betrayal of the miners
• 1922 The legendary Poodle Dog Restaurant closes in San Francisco
• 1923 1st sound on film public performance shown at Rialto Theater (NYC)
• 1923 Insulin becomes generally available for diabetics
• 1924 Flemish-Walloon riots in Louvain, Belgium, 1 dead
• 1924 WHO-AM in Des Moines Iowa begins radio transmissions
• 1924 Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
• 1925 NHL's NY Americans (formerly Hamilton Tigers) 1st game, lose 3-1

• 1927 Switzerland & USSR agree to diplomatic relations
• 1928 Alioto's on Fisherman's Wharf (San Francisco) forms
• 1929 33rd Boston Marathon won by Canadian Johnny Miles in 2:33:08.6; his second win in the event
• 1931 1st backwards walk across American begins
• 1935 39th Boston Marathon won by John A Kelley in 2:32:07.4
• 1937 Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings beat New York Rangers, 3-0 for a 3-2 series win; back-to-back titles for Red Wings
• 1939 Albert Lebrun elected president of France
• 1940 British troops land at Narvik, Norway
• 1940 44th Boston Marathon won by Gérard Côté of Canada in 2:28:28.6; first of 4 wins in the event
• 1941 1st helicopter flight of 1 hr duration, Stratford, Ct

• 1943 Metropolitan Life Insurances issues a $225 million check to Chase
• 1945 British Army liberates Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen

• 1945 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Communium interpretes dolorum
• 1945 US troops occupy concentration camp Colditz
• 1946 50th Boston Marathon won by Stylianos Kyriakides of Greece in 2:29:27; first and only Cypriot athlete to win the event

• 1947 Operations begin at Radio Netherlands World radio
• 1948 1st Jewish-Arab military battle, arabs defeated
• 1948 Indian territory of Himachal Pradesh created
• 1948 KCPX (now KTVX) TV channel 4 in Salt Lake City, UT (ABC) 1st broadcast
• 1949 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Redemptoris nostri
• 1951 Michael Gorsira is 1st person in charge of Curacao
• 1952 Franklin National Bank issues 1st bank credit card
• 1952 Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Canadiens, 3-0 for a 4-0 series sweep
• 1952 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1952 The maiden flight of the B-52 Stratofortress prototype
• 1953 Malans National Party wins South African elections
• 1953 WHP TV channel 21 in Harrisburg, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1954 KARK TV channel 4 in Little Rock, AR (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1954 Orioles 1st game in Baltimore beat White Sox 3-1
• 1954 WHO TV channel 13 in Des Moines, IA (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1954 Yankees dedicate a plaque to Edward Barrow

• 1955 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1957 KTVI TV channel 2 in Saint Louis, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1957 Saturday mail delivery restored in the US after Congress gives the Post Office $41 million
• 1957 61st Boston Marathon won by John J Kelley in 2:20:05; course length changed

• 1958 1st baseball game in California, SF Giants beat LA Dodgers, 8-0

• 1960 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), organizes at Shaw U
• 1960 Guy Carawan sings "We Shall Overcome" to a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh - popularising the song as a protest anthem
• 1961 "Music Man" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 1375 performances
• 1961 France wins it’s 2nd outright Five Nations Rugby Championship with an 15-3 victory over Ireland at Lansdowne Road, Dublin
• 1962 US national debt above $300,000,000,000
• 1963 "Sophie" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 8 performances
• 1963 67th Boston Marathon won by Aurèle Vandendriessche of Belgium in race record 2:18:58
• 1964 Chesapeake Bay Bridge opens (world's longest)

• 1965 NFL changes penalty flag from white to bright gold
• 1966 KHET TV channel 11 in Honolulu, HI (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1966 Rolling Stones release "Aftermath"
• 1967 "Wait A Minim!" closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 457 performances
• 1967 France wins it’s 4th outright Five Nations Rugby Championship with an 11-6 win over Ireland at Lansdowne Road, Dublin
• 1968 Houston Astros beat NY Mets, 1-0, in 24 innings
• 1968 72nd Boston Marathon: Amby Burfoot wins in 2:22:17; Bobbi Gibb 1st woman for 3rd straight year in 3:30:00 (unsanctioned)
• 1969 North Korea shoots at US airplane above Japanese sea
• 1970 "Cry for Us All" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 8 performances
• 1970 Libyan leader Gadaffi launches "Green Revolution"
• 1970 WMGZ TV channel 16 in Mayaguez, PR ([M]) begins broadcasting
• 1970 WPSJ TV channel 14 in Ponce, PR ([P]) begins broadcasting
• 1971 "70, Girls, 70" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 35 performances

• 1972 A member of the Official Irish Republican Army is shot dead by British soldiers at Joy Street in the Markets area of Belfast close to his home
• 1972 A member of the British Army is shot dead by the Official IRA in the Divis area of Belfast.
• 1974 78th Boston Marathon: Neil Cusack of Ireland takes men's race in 2:13:39; American Miki Gorman women's winner in 2:47:11
• 1974 Military coup in Niger, president Diori Hamani deposed
• 1975 1st appearance of San Diego Chicken
• 1975 Gabon amends constitution
• 1976 Yankee stadium reopens, Yanks beat Twins after trailing 4-0
• 1977 1st baseball game at Montreal's Olympic Stadium
• 1978 43 die as 2 express trains collide head-on south of Bologna, Italy
• 1978 Great Britain performs nuclear test

• 1979 A disastrous earthquake (of M 7.1) on Montenegro coast.


• 1981 Janet Cooke says her Pulitzer award winning stry about an 8-year-old heroin addict is a lie, Washington Post relinquishes Pulitzer Prize on fabricated story
• 1982 Apollo Computer announces DN400, DN420, & landscape display
• 1983 Tokyo Disneyland opens
• 1984 "Human Comedy" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 13 performances
• 1984 48th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Ben Crenshaw wins the first of his 2 green jackets, 2 strokes ahead of 1977 & 1981 champion Tom Watson
• 1984 Extremist Sikhs plunder 40 stations in Punjab India
• 1984 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1985 89th Boston Marathon: Englishman Geoff Smith repeats as men's champion in 2:14:05; American Lisa Larsen Weidenbach takes women's title in 2:34:06
• 1985 Challenger moves to launch pad for 51-B missing
• 1986 US air raids Libya, responding to La Belle disco, Berlin bombing
• 1986 Viv Richards century off 56 balls v England in Antigua Test Cricket
• 1986 The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya.
• 1987 "Barbara Cook: A Concert" opens at Ambassador NYC for 13 performances
• 1987 Alfred Uhry's "Driving Miss Daisy" premieres in NYC
• 1988 Meteorite explode above Indonesia
• 1988 Wendy Wasserstein's "Heidi Chronicles" premieres in NYC
• 1989 96 crushed to death at Hillsborough Football Stadium, Sheffield England
• 1989 Students in Beijing pro-democracy protests
• 1989 Sue Marchiano wins 3rd World Cup female marathon (2:30:48)
• 1989 Then largest lottery in North America ($69M) drawn in Illinois
• 1990 "In Living Color" premieres on FOX-TV
• 1990 Greenidge & Haynes make 298 opening stand (v England), combination best
• 1991 "Secret Garden" opens at St James Theater NYC for 706 performances
• 1991 95th Boston Marathon: Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya wins his 2nd men's title in 2:11:06; Wanda Panfil of Poland woman's champion in 2:24:18
• 1991 East-Europe Bank forms in London
• 1991 Europe foreign ministers lift most remaining sanctions against S Afr
• 1991 Former child actor Adam Rich charged with burglary

• 1991 Maximum NY State unemployment benefits raised to $280 per week
• 1991 Sacramento Kings set NBA record, losing 35th consecutive game on road
• 1991 Ton Sijbrands improves world record blind checker games (15 wins)
• 1992 Billionaire Leona Helmsly is sent to jail for tax evasion

• 1992 Lincoln Hospital in Bronx loses its accreditation
• 1992 NY Islander, Al Arbour, coaches most NHL games (1,438)

• 1992 The National Assembly of Vietnam adopts the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
• 1994 Indians loses 1st game at Jacobs Field, KC wins 2-1
• 1994 WMMS-FM's Jeff & Flash, & entire station staff, are fired
• 1996 "Apple Doesn't Fall" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC after 1 performance
• 1996 100th Boston Marathon: Moses Tanui of Kenya takes centenary men's title in 2:09:15.9; 3-peat for Uta Pippig of Germany in women's race in 2:27:12
• 1997 America On Line begins service in Japan
• 1997 Baseball honors Jackie Robinson by retiring #42 for all teams
• 1997 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Charlotte NC on WXRC 95.7 FM
• 1997 Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage; the official death toll is 343.

• 2000 NFL Draft: Penn State defensive end Courtney Brown first pick by Cleveland Browns
• 2002 An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 128.
• 2002 106th Boston Marathon: Kenyan double; Rodgers Rop claims men's event in 2:09:02; Margaret Okayo women's winner in 2:20:43

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