On this date...

Arbor Day and the First Safety Pin

In 1607, the British colonial expedition that would found Jamestown departed Puerto Rico for the American mainland.

In 1778, South Carolina issued its own money. It was printed on thin paper from engraved copper plates.

In 1834, a fire at the LaLaurie mansion in New Orleans, Louisiana, led to the discovery of a torture chamber where Delphine LaLaurie routinely brutalized enslaved workers.

In 1841, the New York Tribune began publishing under editor Horace Greeley.

In 1844, the safety pin was patented by Walter Hunt in the United States; he later sold his rights to the fastener for $400.

In 1865, one day after surrendering to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addressed his army for the last time.

In 1866, three years after stopping a carriage driver in Russia from beating his horse, Henry Bergh of the United States founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York City. The ASPCA became one of the largest organizations dedicated to halting cruelty to animals.

In 1872, the first official Arbor Day took place. It is estimated that on this inaugural Arbor Day, Nebraskans celebrated by planting more than one million trees.

In 1887, US President Abraham Lincoln's re-buried with his wife in Springfield, Illinois

In 1912, the RMS Titanic embarked on its maiden voyage, which ended in tragedy several days later when the luxury liner struck an iceberg and sank.

In 1913, the New York Highlanders played their first MLB game as the New York Yankees; lose to the Washington Senators, 2-1 at Griffith Stadium, and President Woodrow Wilson threw out 1st ball.

In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald published “The Great Gatsby” to mixed reviews and disappointing sales—fewer than 25,000 copies by the author’s death in 1940. By the 2010s, it was routinely selling 500,000 copies a year.

In 1930, Thiokol Corporation began producing the first synthetic rubber in Yardley, New Jersey; the product is based on the earlier accidental discovery by chemists Joseph C. Patrick and Nathan Mnookin.

In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey announced he had purchased the contract of Jackie Robinson from the Montreal Royals, paving the way for Robinson to become the first black to play in the major leagues.

In 1953, the horror film The House of Wax, starring Vincent Price, opened at New York’s Paramount Theater. Released by Warner Brothers, it was the first movie from a major motion-picture studio to be shot using the three-dimensional, or stereoscopic, film process and one of the first horror films to be shot in color.

In 1957, the courtroom classic 12 Angry Men was released in the United States; it starred Henry Fonda as a juror who tries to convince the others that the accused murderer may be innocent.

In 1963, the USS Thresher, an atomic submarine, sank in the Atlantic Ocean, killing the entire crew. One hundred and twenty-nine sailors and civilians were lost when the sub unexpectedly plunged to the sea floor roughly 300 miles off the coast of New England.

In 1975, 41-year-old Lee Elder became the first Black golfer to play in the Masters, considered the most prestigious event in the sport.

In 1992, Financier Charles Keating Jr. was sentenced in Los Angeles to nine years in prison for swindling investors when his Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed. (The convictions were later overturned.)

In 2006, Hundreds of thousands protested against US immigration reforms contained in H.R. 4437, also known as the "Sensenbrenner Bill."