Today in History for Jan. 15, 2015

Jan. 15, 1759 – The British Museum opened.

Jan. 15, 1814 – Lt. Joseph Morgan Wilcox engaged in a heroic fight with a Creek war party and was tomakawked and scalped on the banks of the Alabama River where it flows between Canton and Prairie Bluff. He was initially buried at Fort Claiborne in Monroe County, but was later reburied in Camden in Wilcox County.

Jan. 15, 1825 – John Watkins became Burnt Corn, Alabama’s postmaster.

Jan. 15, 1844 - The University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.

Jan. 15-18, 1861 – Lt. Adam J. Slemmer at Fort Pickens refused demands for surrender from Florida militia Colonel William Henry Chase, who had designed and constructed the fort while a captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Jan. 15, 1863 - "The Boston Morning Journal" became the first paper in the U.S. to be published on wood pulp paper.

Jan. 15, 1865 – During the Civil War, Fort Fisher in North Carolina fell to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.

Jan. 15, 1870 - A cartoon by Thomas Nast titled "A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" appeared in "Harper's Weekly." The cartoon used the donkey to symbolize the Democratic Party for the first time.

Jan. 15, 1879 - The Alabama State Bar Association held its organizational meeting in the State Capitol with former Gov. Thomas H. Watts presiding. During its first year, 81 lawyers were admitted for membership.

Jan. 15, 1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, was incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jan. 15, 1912 – First Baptist Church of Frisco City was organized when four Baptist ministers met to organize a new church in the Jones Mill area. The Rev. E.B. Farrar served as the church’s first pastor.

Jan. 15, 1919 – During what’s now known as the “Boston Molasses Disaster,” a large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, burst and a wave of 2.3 million gallons of molasses rushed through the streets in a 30-foot wave, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others. Some residents claim that on a hot summer day the area still smells of molasses.

Jan. 15, 1920 – Major League Baseball pitcher Steve Gromek was born in Hamtramck, Michigan. He would go on to play for the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers.

Jan. 15, 1923 – A number of Conecuh County public officials took office on this day. A.M. Barfield began his term in office as Sheriff, and W.S. Dreaden began his term as Circuit Clerk. A.E. Johnson and C.C. Gaston began their terms as county commissioners. Judge Dunn began his second term as probate judge. W.A. Moore of Beat 8 was Barfield’s chief deputy.

Jan. 15, 1929 – Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Ga.

Jan. 15, 1933 – A 12-year-old girl experienced the first Marian apparition of Our Lady of Banneux in Banneux, Belgium.

Jan. 15, 1934 - Babe Ruth signed a contract for $35,000.

Jan. 15, 1938 – Dr. Charles Edward Chapman, 60, a native of Evergreen, passed away at his home in Mobile, Ala. around 6:45 a.m. Chapman had lived in Mobile since 1896 when he entered the Mobile Medical College. After graduation, he continued to live in Mobile, where he practiced medicine. He was a member of Garland Lodge No. 684, A.F.&A.M. in Garland, Ala.

Jan. 15, 1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave baseball the approval to play despite World War II. He encouraged night games so that war workers could attend.

Jan. 15, 1943 – National League 1974 Cy Young Award winner Mike Marshall was born in Adrian, Michigan. He would go on to play for the Atlanta Braves, the Detroit Tigers, the Houston Astros, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Minnesota Twins, the Montreal Expos, the New York Mets, the Seattle Pilots and the Texas Rangers.

Jan. 15, 1947 – The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short (The "Black Dahlia") was found in Los Angeles' Leimert Park.

Jan. 15, 1948 – The theater at Uriah, Ala. opened.

Jan. 15, 1951 – The USS Eldridge was transferred under the Mutual Defense Assistance program to Greece, with whom it served as HS Leon (D-54). Leon was decommissioned on Nov. 5, 1992, and on Nov. 11, 1999 it was sold as scrap to the Piraeus-based firm V&J Scrapmetal Trading Ltd.

Jan. 15, 1953 - Harry S Truman became the first U.S. President to use radio and television to give his farewell as he left office.

Jan. 15, 1953 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Conecuh County Training School’s boys basketball team had beaten Monroeville Rosenwald, 70-29; Georgiana, 54-40; and Mobile, 58-7. Leonard Goldsmith led CCTS with 23 points against Monroeville and 21 points against Mobile. Floyd Watts led CCTS with 21 points against Georgiana. CCTS’s girls basketball team, led by Coach Mike Cheatham, lost to Monroeville, 37-32, but had beaten Georgiana, 50-25, and Mobile County Training, 58-7. Clementine Dukes led CCTS with 25 points against Georgiana and 15 points against Mobile.

Jan. 15, 1958 - The New York Yankees announced that they would televise 140 games in the 1958 season.

Jan. 15, 1962 – Wayne Frazier Day was held in Evergreen in honor of 230-pound Auburn University senior center Wayne Frazier, a native of Evergreen, a Scholastic All-American and a member of the SEC scholastic team. Wayne Frazier Day included a special program at Evergreen High School, a parade through downtown Evergreen and a program in “No Man’s Land.” A banquet was also held that night at 7 p.m. at the Evergreen Recreation Center.

Jan. 15, 1962 – The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest surviving manuscript dating to 340 BC, was found in northern Greece.

Jan. 15, 1967 - The first National Football League Super Bowl was played at the Los Angeles Coin Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League. The final score was, 35-10. Evergreen’s Wayne Frazier participated in the game as Kansas City’s center. The game was televised by both CBS and NBC. The game was played before a non-sell-out crowd of 61,946.

Jan. 15, 1969 – Army Spc. Larry Benjamin Thomas of Atmore, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.

Jan. 15, 1976 – In connection with the “Amityville Horror” case, a day after the Lutz family move out of their supposedly haunted house, a mover came in to remove all of the possessions to send to the Lutzes. He reported no paranormal phenomena while inside the house.

Jan. 15, 1978 - The Super Bowl was played indoors for the first time at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos, 27-10.

Jan. 15, 1981 - The first episode of "Hill Street Blues" aired.

Jan. 15, 1995 - Southern Alabama begins using new area code 334.

Jan. 15, 2001 – Vredenburgh, Ala. native Mike Stewart’s second novel, “Dog Island,” was released for the first time.

Jan. 15, 2001 - An anonymous bidder paid just over $3 million for a baseball. The ball was the 70th home run ball hit by Mark McGwire.