On this day in 1860, the first Pony Express ride took place. Conceived as a rapid mail delivery system, the Pony Express route was a string of over 160 stations […]

On this day in 2005, Pope John Paul II died in his private apartment in Rome. In many ways, John Paul was a ground-breaking pope. At age  58, he was […]

On this day in 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which would ban smoking ads on TV and radio the following year. This was no […]

On this day in 1918, Daylight Saving Time went into effect throughout the U.S. for the first time. Robert Garland, a Pittsburgh city councilman, led the charge to implement DST, […]

On this day in 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward signed a treaty with Russia to acquire Alaska for $7.2 million—or roughly 2¢ an acre. Though Seward passionately […]

On this day in 1973, the last U.S. fighting troops pulled out of South Vietnam, the result of the Paris Peace Accords held in January. Sadly, the war did not […]

On this day in 1969, Dwight D. Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C. at the age of 78. Eisenhower was known by many names and titles in his lifetime. To his […]

On this day in 1794, the U.S. Congress passed the Naval Act, authorizing the construction of six warships, including the U.S.S. Constitution. The  44-gun Constitution was built in Boston from  […]

On this day in 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk announced on radio that he had successfully tested a vaccine for polio. The disease, commonly known as “infantile paralysis” because it affected […]

On this day in 1957, six nations signed a treaty in Rome to form the European Economic Community. The EEC, better known as the Common Market, was the union of […]