April 14th might be one of the most significant and remarkable days in all of history. A lot has happened on April 14th, all throughout time.
I mean, it was on this date, 300,000 years ago, when Ogg showed Grut that rubbing two sticks together would make fire. Okay, okay. We can’t ever know the actual date that fire was made, but given all the other things that have transpired, I’m guessing it was April 14th.
Let’s get on to the real happenings throughout time — on this very date.
1611 — The word “telescope” was first used. By a guy named Federico Cesi. He was an Italian prince. A science guy. And he came up with the word. I’m sure people thought it was “catchy,” which is why it stuck. Kind of like the first person ever to call Jennifer Lopez “Jay-Lo.”
1828 — More words. The first American dictionary was registered for copyright. That would be Noah Webster and his big red book. Definitely definitive.
1841 — The very first detective story was published. The author was Edgar Allan Poe, and the story? “Murders in Rue Morgue.” Edgar, Edgar. It just doesn’t get any better, does it? Murders? In a morgue? Sounds deadly.
1860 — Giddyup. The first Pony Express rider arrived in San Francisco. He rode all the way from St. Joseph, Missouri. The Pony Express didn’t last long. No wonder. That’s a long way to go on a horse with a saddle bag containing a few letters.
1865 — Sadly, two events on this date. The U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family were attacked in their home by Lewis Powell. This was part of the same conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
1865 — And. Our good President Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington. Lincoln died as a result. He was the first U.S. President to be assassinated.
1894 — On a lighter note. We saw the first public showing of Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope. Motion pictures. The start of the movies. One day, they’d make a movie about Lincoln.
1896 — Crunchy goodness. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg of Battle Creek, Michigan, received Patent No. 558,393 for his yummy “flaked cereal” and the process of making same. And all the flakes since have him to thank. Frosted and beyond.
1902 — J. C. Penney opened his first store — The Golden Rule Store — in Kemmerer, Wyoming. I miss the good old days of Penneys and Sears, and Woolworths.
1912 — The RMS Titanic, the world’s largest ocean liner, hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm. It sank. On the fifteenth. It’s why I don’t take ice in any of my drinks.
1935 — A day called Black Sunday. I’m guessing this April 14th fell on a Sunday. A severe dust storm ravaged the Midwest states of the United States. This led to the region being named “the Dust Bowl.”
1939 — John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” was published. It was a story about fleeing the ravages of that same Dust Bowl.
1958 — This next date makes me mad. The Soviet spacecraft Sputnik-2 burnt up during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. That sweet, dear space dog Laika was on board. She didn’t ask to be there.
1981 — The very first American Space Shuttle, Columbia, returned to Earth. There was no dog on board.
1993 — “Bill Nye the Science Guy” debuted. He’s a guy. He promotes science. Good, good science.
This is merely a smattering of the events that took place on April 14th over the years. One more.
1964 — My mom was hugely pregnant. She hadn’t seen her feet in some time. Two weeks later, she’d be giving birth to a baby girl.
And now I’m writing about it.
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“History is a set of lies agreed upon.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
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“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
― George Orwell
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“The first duty of a man is to think for himself”
― Jose Marti
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The big day of this date. All these years.
