February 20th

• 1673

  First recorded wine auction held in London.

• 1792

  US postal service established with postage rates of 6-12 cents.

• 1811

  Austria declares bankruptcy.

• 1835

  Concepcion, Chile destroyed by earthquake; 5,000 casualties.

• 1865

  MIT forms the first US collegiate architectural school.

• 1872

  Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus Baldwin.

• 1872

  New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art opens. View Post →

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• 1872

  Silas Noble & JP Cooley patent toothpick manufacturing machine.

• 1877

  First cantilever bridge in US completed in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

• 1929

  American Samoa organized as a territory of the US.

• 1933

  US House of Representatives acts to repeal Prohibition.

• 1943

  New volcano Paracutin erupts in a Mexican corn field.

• 1944

  'Batman & Robin' comic strip premieres in newspapers.

• 1947

  Chemical mixing error causes explosion destroying 42 blocks in LA.

• 1953

  August A Busch buys the St Louis Cardinals for $3.75 million.

• 1962

  John Glenn orbits the Earth aboard Friendship 7, a first for an American.

• 1974

  Gordie Howe returns to ice hockey, signs with Houston Aeros for $1M.

• 1985

  Sot Chitalada's $104,000 check stolen by a pickpocket after title defense.

• 1988

  500 casualties in heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

• 1991

  Programming language Python released by Guido van Rossum.

• 1999

  Toronto Maple Leafs play their first NHL home game at Air Canada Centre.

• 2012

  Scientists regenerate Silene stenophylla from a 31,800-year-old fruit, a record in plant regeneration.

• 1913

  Construction of Canberra, Australia's planned capital city, begins as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne.

• 1988

  Rihanna, Barbadian/American singer-songwriter and actress, is born.