Historical Events on February 16

  • 1852: Starting out as a wagon manufacturer before they would eventually start making automobiles, Studebaker Brothers Wagon Company is established on this day.
  • 1862: Fort Donelson in Tennessee was captured by Union General Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War.
  • 1874: The Silver Dollar become legal United States tender.
  • 1918: Lithuania becomes an independent state.
  • 1933: Prohibition ends in the United States thanks to the Blaine Act.
  • 1937: In the U.S., a patent is given to Wallace H. Carothers for nylon.
  • 1945: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines during Would War II.
  • 1959: Fulgencio Batista is overthrown on the 1st of January, thereby allowing Fidel Castro to become the Premier of Cuba on this day.
  • 1960: Operation Sandblast is begun by the United States Navy using a USS Triton submarine.
  • 1968: The first 911 emergency telephone systems go into service in Haleyville, Alabama on this day.
  • 1978: The first computer BBS (bulletin board system) system is created—CBBS in Chicago, Illinois.
  • 1987: The trial of a suspected Nazi guard dubbed “Ivan the Terrible” who worked at a Treblinka extermination camp begins in Jerusalem on this day.
  • 1998: Over 200 people are killed when China Airlines Flight 676 crashes near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in the city of Taiwan.
  • 2005: Due to a labor dispute between the NHL and the NHLPA, the entire regular season and playoffs were canceled.
  • 2006: The very last MASH Unit (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is decommissioned by the U.S Army.
  • 2013: 80 people are killed and another 190 are injured when a bomb goes off at a market in Hazara Town, Pakistan.

Famous Birthdays on February 16

  • German-American actress and dancer, Vera Ellen is born in 1921.
  • English actress June Brown is born in 1927.
  • American actor, director and producer, LeVar Burton is born in 1957.
  • American author Natalie Angier is born in 1958.
  • American rapper and actor, Ice T is born in 1958.