On this date...

Florida Keys Railroad - 1912

In 1673, the Postal service between New York and Boston was inaugurated.

In 1776, the HMS Blue Mountain Valley was captured by the colonials after it was in distress off the coast of Sandy Hook, NJ.

In 1776, Washington spent much of the day at his desk, binding the war together with letters. New Hampshire’s General Court reports that it has already advanced wages to men marching for Canada and accepts his assurance that Congress will reimburse the colony when funds arrive.

In 1779, Famed Tory outlaw Claudius Smith (known as the “Cowboy of the Ramapos”) died on the gallows in Goshen, New York.

In 1842, Charles Dickens arrived in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife, Catherine.

In 1857, the National Association of Base Ball Players was founded in New York City.

In 1879, James Shields (D) was elected US senator from Missouri after previously serving as US senator from Illinois & Minnesota.

In 1879, Cheyenne chief Dull Knife (also anglicized as "Morning Star") and his people were defeated by U.S. Army soldiers after one of their "outbreaks" from reservation confinement. In doing so, the so-called Dull Knife Outbreak came to an end.

In 1912, the nearly twenty thousand residents of Key West, Florida, located on a small island some 128 miles south of the Florida peninsula, observed the completion of an overseas rail connection to the mainland.

In 1947, America’s first commercially licensed television station west of the Mississippi, KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, made its official debut.

In 1953, the Arthur Miller drama “The Crucible” opened at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York.

In 1959, Buddy Holly made his last recordings in his NYC apartment, alone with an acoustic guitar; he taped five songs, including "Peggy Sue" and "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", which were embellished, overdubbed, and released posthumously by Coral Records.

In 1964, the world's largest cheese (15,723 kg) was produced in Wisconsin for the New York World's Fair.

In 1968, Zany, satirical and brimming with countercultural energy, "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" sketch comedy TV show premiered on NBC, launching the careers of Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn and immortalizing the phrase "Sock it to me!"

In 1970, the Boeing 747 went on its first regularly scheduled commercial flight, from New York to London.

In 1973, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Roe v. Wade.

In 1984, Apple Computer aired an ominous new commercial during Super Bowl XVIII. The 60-second ad, which was directed by Ridley Scott and drew inspiration from George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-four, was Apple's promise that its new computer would help consumers avoid a dark age of technology.

In 1997, the Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the nation's first female secretary of state.

In 1998, one of the most notorious domestic terrorists in U.S. history, Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, was sentenced to four terms of life in prison without parole. He had killed three people and injured 22 in 16 bomb attacks between 1979 and 1995.

In 2008, Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive "dirty bomb," was sentenced by a U.S. federal judge in Miami to more than 17 years in prison on terrorism conspiracy charges.

In 2009, President Barack Obama ordered the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay closed within a year and banned harsh interrogation of terror suspects. (The prison remains open.)

In 2010, struggling with ratings, Conan O'Brien left The Tonight Show after hosting his last episode of the late-night television program.