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What happened in history on this day: March 18?
On March 18 in ...
- 1813 - David Melville, of Newport, Rhode Island, USA patents apparatus for making coal gas.
- 1818 - US Congress approves first pensions for government service.
- 1834 - First railroad tunnel in US completed, in Pennsylvania (275 metres long).
- 1850 - Henry Wells and William Fargo form American Express in Buffalo, New York.
- 1852 - In New York City, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo join with several other investors to launch the Wells, Fargo and Company shipping company.
- 1865 - Battle of Wilson's raid to Selma, Alabama.
- 1865 - Congress of Confederate States of American adjourns for last time.
- 1869 - Congress passes the Act to Strengthen the Public Credit, by paying off US obligations in coin.
- 1870 - First US National Wildlife Preserve (Lake Meritt in Oakland, California).
- 1877 - President Rutherford Hayes appoints Frederick Douglass marshal of Washington DC.
- 1881 - [PT] Barnum and [James A] Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth opens (Madison Square Garden, New York, USA).
- 1890 - First US state naval militia organized (Massachusetts).
- 1911 - North Dakota enacts a hail insurance law.
- 1925 - Eight 60-MPH tornadoes speed through Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee killing 689.
- 1931 - First electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick).
- 1937 - Gas explosion in school in New London, Texas, USA; 296 die.
- 1938 - New York first requires serological blood tests of pregnant women.
- 1938 - Mexico expropriates property of 17 American and British oil companies for failure to comply with wage decisions.
- 1939 - American President Franklin Roosevelt imposes punitive tariffs on imports from Germany.
- 1944 - 2,500 women trample guards and floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago, Illinois department store.
- 1945 - 1,250 US bombers attack Berlin.
- 1945 - US Task Force 58 attacks targets on Kiushu.
- 1949 - NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) pact ratified.
- 1952 - First plastic lens for cataract patients fitted (Philadelphia).
- 1959 - President Dwight D Eisenhower signs Hawaii statehood bill.
- 1963 - US Supreme Court's Miranda Decision: defendants must have lawyers.
- 1967 - The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction opens in New Orleans Square at Disneyland. It includes 119 Audio-Animatronics figures; 64 human, 55 animals. The whole attraction cost US$8 million to build.
- 1970 - US mail service paralyzed by first major postal strike.
- 1974 - Most Arab oil-producing nations end embargo against US.
- 1977 - US restricts citizens from visiting Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cambodia.
- 1977 - Vietnam hands over missing-in-action soldiers to US.
- 1978 - 250,000 attend rock concert California Jam II in Ontario, California.
- 1985 - Capital Cities Communications Inc acquires ABC TV.
- 1986 - US Treasury Department announces plans to alter paper money.
- 1987 - Gerber survey find most popular names for newborns in USA: Jessica and Matthew.
- 1987 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1989 - California Quake amusement ride opens at Universal Studios.
- 1990 - Twelve paintings, collectively worth US$100+ million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts by two thieves posing as police officers. This is the largest art theft in US history, and the paintings (as of 2007) have not been recovered.
- 1992 - On CNN's Larry King Live, Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot announces that he will run for U.S. President as an independent, if volunteers put him on the ballot in all 50 states.
- 1995 - NASA space shuttle mission STS 67 (Endeavour 8) lands after 16.5 days in orbit.
- 2003 - FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company's top executives.
- 2008 - The US Federal Reserve cuts the interest rate by a further 0.75, down to 2.25 percent.
- 2008 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes 420 points higher than the previous day.
- 2009 - The US Federal Reserve, for the first time since the 1960s, announces it will buy up to US$300 billion of government Treasury bonds. The Federal Reserve also announces it will expand an existing program to buy debt and securities to US$1.45 trillion.
- 2018 - First incident of a self-driving car hitting and killing a pedestrian, in Temp, Arizona.
- 2018 - City of Afria in northern Syria is taken by militias backed by Turkey, from Kurdish militias backed by the USA.
- 2020 - The New York Stock Exchange closes trading floors, to re-open March 23 fully electronic.
Births on March 18
- 1782 - Birth of John Caldwell Calhoun in Abbeville, South Carolina, USA; Andrew Jackson's Vice President (1829-37).
- 1829 - Birth of William Robertson Boggs in Georgia, USA; Brigadier General (Confederate Army), chief of engineers under Braxton Bragg (dies 1911).
- 1837 - Birth of Stephen Grover Cleveland in Caldwell, New Jersey, USA; lawyer, Eric County district attorney (1863-65), Erie County sheriff (1871-73), mayor of Buffalo (1881), governor of New York (1882-85), 22nd US President (1885-89), 24th US President (1893-97).
- 1886 - Birth of Edward Everett Horton in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor/narrator (The Bullwinkle Show).
- 1905 - Birth of John Kirkpatrick in New York City, New York, USA; pianist (Concord Sonata).
- 1905 - Birth of Mollie Parnis in New York City, New York, USA; fashion designer (Mollie Roberts Collection).
- 1911 - Birth of Smiley Burnette in Summum, Illinois, USA; cowboy comic/singer ("The National Barn Dance" radio show, Ozark Jubilee TV show, Charlie - Petticoat Junction).
- 1926 - Birth of Peter Graves in Minneapolis, Minnesota; actor (James Phelps - Mission Impossible).
- 1927 - Birth of George Plimpton in New York City, New York, USA; sports writer (Paper Lion), actor (dies 2003).
- 1930 - Birth of Maurice Peress in New York City, New York, USA; conductor (Kansas City Philharmonic 1974-80).
- 1938 - Birth of Charley Pride in Sledge, Mississippi, USA; country singer ("Just Between You And Me", "Sweet Country").
- 1941 - Birth of Wilson Pickett in Prattville, Alabama, USA; soul singer ("In the Midnight Hour", "Land of 1,000 Dances", "Funky Broadway", "Mustang Sally", "I'm a Midnight Mover").
- 1943 - Birth of Kevin Dobson in Jackson Heights, New York, USA; actor (Kojak, Knots Landing, Shannon).
- 1949 - Birth of Starr Danias in New York City, New York, USA; ballerina (Turning Point).
- 1950 - Birth of Brad Dourif in Huntington, West Virginia, USA; actor (Ragtime, Eyes of Laura Mars, Fatal Beauty, Deadwood).
- 1950 - Birth of James Conlon in New York City, New York, USA; conductor (Cincinnati May Festival-1979).
- 1950 - Birth of John Hartman in Falls Church, Virginia, USA; rock drummer (Doobie Brothers - "Taking it to the Streets").
- 1953 - Birth of Margaret L Augustine in Buffalo, New York, USA; project manager (Biosphere 2).
- 1954 - Birth of James F Reilly II on Mount Home Air Force Base, Idaho, USA; PhD/astronaut (STS 89).
- 1959 - Birth of Irene Cara in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA; actress/singer (Fame, DC Cab, Certain Fury).
- 1960 - Birth of Claudia Udy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA; actress (Out of Control, Nightforce).
- 1960 - Birth of Richard Biggs in Columbus, Ohio, USA; actor (Marcus - Days of Our Lives).
- 1963 - Birth of Vanessa L Williams in Tarrytown, New York, USA; Miss America (1984), singer ("Colors of the Wind"), actress (Eraser, Ugly Betty).
- 1964 - Birth of Bonnie Blair in Champaign, Illinois, USA; speed skater (Olympics-5 gold/bronze-1988, 1992, 1994).
- 1966 - Birth of Jerry Cantrell; US rock guitarist (Alice in Chains - "Dirt").
- 1970 - Birth of Queen Latifah AKA Dana Owens in Newark, New Jersey; rap singer/actress (Khadijah James - Living Single).
- 1979 - Birth of Adam Levine; American singer (Maroon 5).
Deaths on March 18
- 1882 - Morgan Earp, brother of Wyatt Earp, is shot and killed while playing billiards in Tombstone, Arizona.
- 1964 - Norbert Wiener, US mathematician (cybernetics), dies at age 69.
- 1978 - Faith Baldwin, US author (They Who Love), dies at age 84.
- 1978 - Death of Peggy Wood at age 86 of a stroke; American actress (One Life to Live, Mama - Mama) (born 1892).
- 1984 - Death of Charlie Lau, American baseball player/coach (Chiacgo Cubs), at age 50 (born 1933).
- 1986 - Bernard Malamud, US writer (Fixer, Natural), dies at age 71.
- 2006 - Death of Bill Beutel at age 75 in Pinehurst, North Carolina, USA; longtime TV anchor of Eyewitness News on WABC-TV, New York, and host of ABC's AM America.
- 2014 - Death of Lucius Shepard, American writer (born 1942).
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