Important Events

1492 Christopher Columbus sights Cuba and claims it for Spain under the name “Juana”

1538 The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established on Hispaniola

1746 Peruvian cities of Lima and Callao demolished by earthquake, 18,000 die

1904 St Louis police try a new investigation method – fingerprints

1919 Volstead Act passed by US Congress, establishing prohibition, despite President Woodrow Wilson’s veto

1924 Miner M.de Bruin discovers the infant fossil skull, “Taung child” in a lime quarry in Taung, South Africa. Paleoanthropologist Raymond Dart identifies the fossil as a new hominin species, Australopithecus africanus.

Today In Film & TV

1941 “How Green Was My Valley” based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn, directed by John Ford and starring Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O’Hara premieres in New York (Best Picture 1942)

Today In Music

1961 “Fiorello!” closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC starring Tom Bosley after 796 performances and a Pulitzer Prize

Today In Sports

1900 II Summer (Modern) Olympic Games, Paris, France: competition ends after 5 months; no opening or closing ceremonies conducted