Today in History

• 1969 Sesame Street premieres

  Sesame Street, the long-running American children’s television series, premiered on TV stations.

• 1951 North American Numbering Plan begins

  The plan standardized distance calling and gave phone numbers in cities a fixed 3 digit prefix, also called an area code. This made making long-distance calls faster and easier and without the involvement of an operator. The first call under the plan was made between the mayors of Englewood, New Jersey and Alameda, California.

• 1903 Windshield wiper patented

  The US patent office granted inventor Mary Anderson a patent for automatic windshield wipers – a device that is used to remove or wipe the front and back windshields in automobiles.

• 1898 Wilmington riots begin

  Thought to be one of the only incidents of insurrection against a local government in the United States, the Wilmington Race Riots of 1898 or the Wilmington Massacre of 1898 began after an election voted in a biracial city council. In retaliation, white supremacists overthrew the council, destroyed a lot of property and killed many black people in the city over the course of a few days.

• 1775 US Marine Corps is created

  The elite military force capable of operating on land, sea and air was founded in Philadelphia during the American Revolutionary War. A resolution of the Second Continental Congress formed two battalions of Continental Marines that became the forerunners of today’s marine corps.