Historical Events in 1937

Events 1 - 200 of 288

• Jan 1 23rd Rose Bowl: #3 Pittsburgh beats #5 Washington, 21-0
• Jan 1 3rd Orange Bowl: #14 Duquesne beats Mississippi State, 13-12
• Jan 1 3rd Sugar Bowl: Santa Clara beats LSU, 21-14

• Jan 1 Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua
• Jan 1 German officer Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to captain
• Jan 1 Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in Great Britain.
• Jan 1 US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory completed, Ohio

• Jan 5 Only unicameral state legislature in US opens 1st session in Nebraska
• Jan 6 Bradman scores 270 Aust v England at the MCG, incl 110 singles
• Jan 8 -50°F (-45.6°C), San Jacinto, Nevada (state record)
• Jan 9 Italian regime bans marriages between Italians & Abyssinians

• Jan 12 Plough for laying submarine cable patented
• Jan 15 Spanish Civil War: Second Battle of the Corunna Road ends after both forces withdraw

• Jan 20 -45°F (-43°C), Boca, California (state record)
• Jan 20 1st US Presidential Inauguration day held on Jan 20th, (previously March 4th)

• Jan 25 1st broadcast of "Guiding Light" on NBC radio
• Jan 25 Miami-to-Tampa bus overturned in a canal, kills 13

• Jan 30 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Nancye Wynne Bolton wins her first of 6 Australian singles titles; beats Emily Hood Westacott 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Feb 1 Stapleton, Staten Island, becomes a customs-free port
• Feb 3 Don Bradman scores 212 (in 441 minutes!) in 5th cricket test v England
• Feb 4 Jim Margie, Philadelphia, bowls 900 in 3 (unsanctioned) games

• Feb 6 K Elizabeth Ohi becomes 1st Japanese-US female lawyer
• Feb 8 Maxwell Anderson's dramatic play "Masque of Kings" premieres in NYC
• Feb 11 44-day sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint Mich ends
• Feb 12 Cleveland (now Los Angeles) Rams granted an NFL franchise
• Feb 13 "Prince Valiant" comic strip appears; known for historical detail
• Feb 13 Boston Redskins receive approval from NFL to move to Washington, D.C; to share baseball's Griffith Stadium with first Washington Senators of the American League

• Feb 13 US male Figure Skating championship won by Robin Lee
• Feb 16 DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace Carothers

• Feb 20 1st automobile/airplane combination tested, Santa Monica, California
• Feb 21 Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman's Arrowbile
• Feb 21 The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War
• Feb 24 1st US group hospital-medical cooperative authorized, Washington, D.C.
• Feb 26 Christopher Isherwood and W. H. Auden's "Ascent of F6" premieres in London
• Feb 27 Australian cricketer Don Bradman scores 169 in 5th Test match v England in 223 minutes, ensuring Australia wins the Ashes 3-2
• Mar 1 1st permanent automobile license plates issued (Ct)
• Mar 1 Governor Wouters innaugrates the radio station on the Dutch Antilles
• Mar 1 US Steel raises workers' wages to $5 a day
• Mar 2 Mexico nationalizes oil
• Mar 3 Australia snatches series against England 3-2 after being 2-0 down

• Mar 7 Bucharin, Jagoda & Rykov pushed out of CPSU in USSR

• Mar 15 1st state contraceptive clinic opens in Raleigh, North Carolina
• Mar 15 First American blood bank in a hospital is opened at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois
• Mar 18 Gas explosion in school in New London, Texas: 294 die
• Mar 18 The human-powered aircraft, Pedaliante, flies 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) outside Milan.
• Mar 19 96th Grand National: With King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in attendance, aptly-named Royal Mail ridden by jockey Evan Williams wins at odds of 100/6; estimated crowd, 300,000
• Mar 19 Astronomer Fritz Zwicky publishes his research on stellar explosion in which he coins the term "supernova" and hypothesizes that they were the origin of cosmic rays
• Mar 19 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini redemptoris against communism
• Mar 20 England beats Scotland, 6-3 at Murrayfield, Edinburgh to clinch the Home Nations Rugby Championship and Triple Crown

• Mar 21 Ponce massacre, police kill 19 at Puerto Rican Nationalist parade
• Mar 23 LA Railway Co starts using PCC streetcars
• Mar 24 Bus carrying a roller skater troupe to Cincinnati from St.Louis crashes into a bridge abutment in Salem, Illinois, killing 21 people
• Mar 24 National Gallery of Art established by Congress

• Mar 25 Italy & Yugoslavia sign non-aggression treaty (Pact of Belgrade)
• Mar 25 Lionel Conacher misses on 1st Stanley Cup penalty shot
• Mar 25 Washington Daily News is 1st US newspaper with perfumed advertising page

• Mar 26 Spinach growers of Crystal City, Texas, erect statue of Popeye
• Mar 26 William H. Hastie becomes 1st black federal judge (Virgin Islands)
• Mar 27 Feijenoord Stadion, home ground of Dutch football club Feyenoord Rotterdam and nicknamed De Kuip opens after 2 years in construction
• Apr 1 Aden becomes a British crown colony

• Apr 12 Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at Rugby, England.
• Apr 15 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
• Apr 19 41st Boston Marathon won by Walter Young of Canada in 2:33:20
• Apr 22 NYC college students stage 4th annual peace strike

• Apr 26 German Luftwaffe destroys Basque town of Guernica in Spain
• Apr 27 1st US social security payment made
• Apr 28 1st animated cartoon electric sign displayed (NYC)
• Apr 28 1st commercial flight across Pacific operated by Pan Am
• Apr 29 Symbolic 'Golden Rivet', completing the Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, is driven (later replaced with a more structurally sound steel version)
• Apr 30 The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative
• May 1 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act, banning travel on belligerent ships and imposes an arms embargo on warring nations

• May 8 63rd Kentucky Derby: Charley Kurtsinger on War Admiral wins 2:03.2
• May 9 Reds beat Phillies 21-10 (Ernie Lombardi goes 6 for 6)
• May 10 Busmen strike in London
• May 11 Los Glaciares National Park established in Patagonia, Argentina, the country's largest national park (UNESCO World Heritage Site 1981) [1]

• May 12 St Louis Cards beat Philadelphia Phillies, 15-3
• May 15 62nd Preakness: Charley Kurtsinger aboard War Admiral wins in 1:58.4
• May 17 Juan Negrin succeeds Largo Caballero as Spain's premier

• May 25 1st airmail letter to circle globe returns to NY
• May 26 Dutch Rail NV at law forms
• May 27 Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opens to pedestrians
• May 27 New York Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell wins his MLB record 24th consecutive game in a 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field; streak starts July 17, 1936
• May 28 Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opens to vehicular traffic

• May 30 42nd Men's French Championships: Henner Henkel beats Bunny Austin (6-1, 6-4, 6-3)
• May 30 42nd Women's French Championships: Hilde Sperling beats Simonne Mathieu (6-2, 6-4)
• May 30 Memorial Day Massacre: Chicago Police Department shoot and kill 10 unarmed demonstrators during the "Little Steel Strike" in the United States

• May 31 1st quadruplets to finish college (Baylor University)
• May 31 German warships bombard Almeria, Spain
• May 31 Indianapolis 500: Wilbur Shaw and riding mechanic 'Jigger' Johnson win race from Ralph Hepburn by 2.16 seconds, closest finish to that point; Johnson last winning riding mechanic
• May 31 Second largest crowd in Polo Grounds history (61,756) sees Brooklyn Dodgers beat NY Giants, 10-3, ending Carl Hubbell's record consecutive-game winning streak at 24
• Jun 1 Chicago White Sox pitcher Bill Dietrich no-hits St Louis Browns, 8-0 at Comiskey Park, Chicago

• Jun 1 Prince Konoye becomes Japanese premier

• Jun 5 69th Belmont: Charley Kurtsinger aboard War Admiral wins in 2:28.6

• Jun 6 Philadelphia Phillies trailing 8-2 to St Louis, forfeit game

• Jun 8 "Carmina Burana", the first work of Carl Orff's Trionfi cantata trilogy, premieres at the Oper Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany
• Jun 8 World's largest flower blooms in NY Botanical Garden, 12' calla lily
• Jun 11 Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races", directed by Sam Wood, is released in the US
• Jun 12 After a one-day show trial, eight Soviet generals are sentenced to death and executed by the NKVD

• Jun 13 Joe DiMaggio hits 3 consecutive HRs against St Louis Browns
• Jun 19 Francisco Franco's troops conquer the Bilbao Basques
• Jun 19 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Beverly CC: Helen Hicks wins the first of her 2 major titles, defeating amateur Bea Barrett 6 & 5 in the final

• Jun 21 French People's Popular Front government of Socialist Léon Blum falls

• Jun 25 Cub Augie Galan becomes 1st player to switch hit HRs in a game
• Jun 26 Test cricket debut of all-time great English batsman Len Hutton v New Zealand in 1st Tests at Lord's; scores 0 & 1
• Jun 30 The world's first emergency call telephone service is launched in London using the number 999
• Jul 1 Rev Martin Niemöller arrested in Nazi Germany for activities against the State
• Jul 1 Spanish bishops support Francisco Franco and his fascist movement

• Jul 2 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Don Budge beats Germany's Gottfried von Cramm 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 for first of back-to-back titles

• Jul 3 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Dorothy Round of England beats Poland's Jadwiga Jędrzejowska 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 for her second Wimbledon title
• Jul 5 117°F (47°C), Medicine Lake, Montana (state record)
• Jul 5 NY Yankees outfielder Joe DiMaggio hits 20th HR of the season but 1st career grand slam in 8-4 win vs Boston Red Sox
• Jul 5 Republican offensive by Brunete in Spain
• Jul 5 Spam, the luncheon meat is first introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation

• Jul 7 Japanese and Chinese troops clash at the Marco Polo Bridge, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War
• Jul 9 British Open Men's Golf, Carnoustie: Henry Cotton wins second of his 3 Open titles, 2 strokes ahead of fellow Englishman Reg Whitcombe

• Jul 12 -13) Tupolev ANT-25 non-stop flight Moscow to San Jacinto, California
• Jul 15 Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens
• Jul 15 Japanese attack Marco Polo Bridge, invade China
• Jul 19 Entartete Art Fair opens in Munich
• Jul 19 Joris Ivens' "Spanish Earth" premieres in Hollywood

• Jul 22 US Senate rejects FDR's proposal to enlarge Supreme Court
• Jul 23 Isolation of pituitary hormone announced (Yale University)
• Jul 24 Alabama drops charges against 5 blacks accused of rape in Scottsboro
• Jul 25 31st Tour de France won by Roger Lapebie of France
• Jul 26 End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War.
• Jul 27 32nd Davis Cup: USA beats Great Britain in Wimbledon (4-1)
• Jul 27 International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Wimbledon: GB 4 title streak ends as American Frank Parker beats Charles Hare 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 for an unbeatable 3-1 lead; ends 4-1
• Jul 28 Eddie Paynter scores 322 for Lancashire against Sussex
• Jul 28 Richard Moore scores 316 for Hampshire against Warwickshire
• Jul 29 Japanese troops occupies Peking and Tientsin
• Jul 29 Tongzhou Incident: East Hopei Army mutinies against Japanese troops and civilians
• Jul 30 Phillies Dolph Camilli, plays 1st base and registers no put outs
• Jul 30 Russian Politburo issues NKVD Order no. 00447, to repress former kulak and anti-soviets, 269,100 to be arrested, 76,000 to be shot. Part of the Great Purge.
• Aug 2 Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, essentially rendering marijuana and all its by-products illegal
• Aug 6 Franco's artillery fires on Madrid
• Aug 6 MLB overturns New York Yankees' 7-6 win over Cleveland Indians because of umpire error
• Aug 6 US and USSR sign trade treaty
• Aug 8 Bonneville Dam on Columbia River begins producing power
• Aug 9 Ranger (US) easily beats Endeavour II (England) in race 4 to wrap up the 17th America's Cup yachting series, 4-0; it's the final competition for 21 years
• Aug 10 5th Venice Film Festival opens
• Aug 11 "The Life of Emile Zola" directed by William Dieterle and starring Paul Muni premieres in New York (Best Picture 1938)
• Aug 13 Second Sino-Japanese War: Japanese forces begin the Battle of Shanghai, a conflict that will last 3 months and involve 1 million troops
• Aug 14 Appalachian Trail is formally completed, traversing 2,000 miles and 14 US States, Georgia to Maine
• Aug 14 China declares war on Japan
• Aug 14 Detroit Tigers score MLB record 36 runs in double header vs St. Louis Browns at Navin Field; win 16-1 & 20-7
• Aug 18 1st FM radio construction permit issued (W1X0J (WGTR) in Boston MA)
• Aug 24 In the Spanish Civil War, the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement.
• Aug 24 Republican offensive near Belchite, Spain
• Aug 25 Japanese fleet blockades Chinese coast
• Aug 26 General Franco's Nationalist troops conquer Santander during the Spanish Civil War
• Aug 26 Pumping to build Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay is finished
• Aug 27 Brooklyn Dodger Fred Frankhouse no-hits Cin, 5-0 in 7 2/3 inn game
• Aug 27 George E T Eyston sets world auto speed record at 345.49 MPH
• Aug 28 Toyota Motors becomes an independent company
• Aug 29 MLB Philadelphia A's Bob Johnson is 2nd to get 6 RBIs in an inning (1st)
• Aug 30 Joe Louis beats Tommy Farr in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
• Aug 31 Det's rookie Rudy York sets record for HRs of 18 HRs in August
• Sep 1 4th Chicago College All-Star Game: All-Stars beat Green Bay, 6-0; 84,560 at Soldier Field
• Sep 1 Battle of Gijon in Spain begins

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