March 2nd

• 1657

  Great Fire of Meireki destroys 60-70% of Edo, Japan, killing around 100,000 people.

• 1789

  Pennsylvania ends prohibition of theatrical performances.

• 1799

  US Congress standardizes weights and measures.

• 1819

  US passes its first immigration law.

• 1866

  First US company to make sewing needles by machine incorporated in Connecticut.

• 1903

  Martha Washington Hotel, catering exclusively to women, opens in NYC.

• 1925

  Nationwide road numbering system and US shield marker adopted.

• 1933

  Sanriku earthquake and tsunami, Japan's most powerful in 180 years, occur.

• 1938

  Landslides and floods cause over 200 deaths in Los Angeles, California.

• 1944

  Fumes from a stalled locomotive suffocate 521 in an Italian tunnel.

• 1946

  Ho Chi Minh elected President of North Vietnam.

• 1958

  First surface crossing of the Antarctic continent completed in 99 days.

• 1966

  215,000 US soldiers stationed in Vietnam.

• 1970

  American Airlines' first flight of a Boeing 747.

• 1983

  Compact Disc recordings developed by Phillips & Sony introduced. View Post →

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• 1988

  Miami Heat NBA franchise adopts flaming basketball as official logo.

• 1997

  Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal acquires 5% of Apple.

• 2016

  Longest non-stop commercial flight, Emirates A380 Dubai to Auckland, completed.

• 2016

  Oldest known land fossil, Tortotubus, 440 million years old, revealed.

• 1969

  Concorde's maiden flight; retired in 2003 after 2000 Paris crash.

• 1933

  'King Kong' film premieres, known for its stop-motion effects.

• 1962

  Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter and actor, is born.

• 1904

  Dr. Seuss, American author, poet, and illustrator, is born.

• 1917

  Citizens of Puerto Rico granted U.S. citizenship with the Jones Act.

• 1998

  Galileo spacecraft images suggest Europa has a liquid ocean and interior heat.

• 2016

  Astronaut Scott Kelly returns to Earth after 340 days on the ISS.

• 1962

  Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single NBA game.