Historical Events on February 26

  • 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte manages to flee Elba.
  • 1876: Japan and Korea sign a treaty. Some of the articles of it declare that Korea is a free nation, that diplomatic missions be established in each country, that aid be granted to wrecked or stranded ships and that Japan had a right to extraterritoriality.
  • 1909: The first successful color motion picture process – known as Kinemacolor – is unveiled at the Palace Theater in London, England to the general public.
  • 1914: The sister vessel to the RMS Titanic – the HMHS Britannic – is launched from Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast.
  • 1919: Grand Canyon National Park is established after U.S President Woodrow Wilson signs a Congressional act that formed the national park.
  • 1929: An executive order is signed by U.S President Calvin Coolidge that created the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming out of 96,000 acres of land.
  • 1935: Adolf Hitler orders that the Luftwaffe be once again established. This is a clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
  • 1936: Japanese military officers attempt a coup d’etat against the Japanese Imperial Government. This incident is known as the February 26 Incident.
  • 1993: A truck bomb explodes below the North Tower of the World Trade Center. It injures over a thousand people and kills six.
  • 2012: Forty-five people are injured and at least three people are killed when a train derails in Burlington, Ontario in Canada.
  • 2013: Nineteen people are killed near Luxor, Egypt when a hot air balloon crashes.

Famous Birthdays on February 26

  • French author, poet and playwright, Victor Hugo is born in 1802.
  • American architect Nathan Kelley is born in 1808.
  • German-American fashion designer and founder of Levi Strauss & Co., Levi Strauss is born in 1829.
  • American soldier, hunter and showman, Buffalo Bill is born in 1846.
  • American surgeon and co-creator of Corn Flakes, John Harvey Kellogg is born in 1852.
  • Canadian-American businessman and founder of Dow Chemical Co., Herbert Dow is born in 1866.
  • American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash is born in 1932.
  • English actress Josephine Tewson is born in 1939.