OnThisVeryDay

April 2nd

• 1513

  Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain, first European there.

• 1792

  Coinage Act establishes US Mint & authorizes gold and silver coins.

• 1800

  Beethoven's 1st Symphony premieres in C.

• 1827

  Joseph Dixon begins manufacturing lead pencils in Massachusetts.

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• 1865

  Battle of Fort Blakely, Alabama, the last major battle of Civil War.

• 1877

  First Easter egg roll held on White House lawn.

• 1877

  Zazel performs first human cannonball act in London.

• 1902

  'Electric Theatre', first full-time movie theater, opens in Los Angeles.

• 1932

  Lindbergh pays $50,000 ransom for his kidnapped son.

• 1972

  NY Mets manager Gil Hodges dies of heart attack after golf in Florida.

• 2013

  Four critical cases of bird flu (H7N9) reported in China.

• 2020

  Record 6.6 million Americans file for unemployment in a week.

• 1872

  Samuel Morse, co-inventor of Morse code, dies.

• 1889

  Charles Hall patents aluminum.

• 1905

  Simplon rail tunnel opens, linking Switzerland and Italy.

• 1987

  Speed limit on US interstate highways increased to 65 mph in areas.

• 2005

  Pope John Paul II dies.