Daily Calendar for Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Daily Calendar

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Henry David Thoreau (writer) – 1862
L. Frank Baum (author) – 1919
The Duke of Devonshire (Canadian Governor General 1916-1921) – 1938
Ethelda Bleibtrey (Olympic swimmer) – 1978
Marlene Dietrich (actress) – 1992
Otis Blackwell (songwriter) – 2002
Lillian Asplund (last American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912) – 2006

London and Gore Railroad Co. incorporated – 1834
First postage stamps issued in the U.K. – 1840
Linus Yale, Jr. received a patent for a lock and key – 1851
Dr. John Gorrie patented an ice machine – 1851
Confederate General James Longstreet was seriously wounded by his own troops by mistake, Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia – 1864
Successful flight of Samuel Langley’s model Aerodrome No. 5 aircraft – 1896
Babe Ruth hit his first homerun – 1915
36 lives were lost when Luftschiff Zeppelin #129 Hindenburg, a commercial passenger-carrying airship, burst into flames while attempting to land at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey – 1937
At California’s March Field, Bob Hope performed his first USO show – 1941
The Channel Tunnel, more commonly known as the Chunnel, linking England and France opened – 1994
Racehorse Barbaro won the 132nd Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky – 2006
Lt.-Col. Maryse Carmichael became the first female commander of the Canadian Snowbirds – 2010
At Westminster Abbey in London, Charles III and his wife Camilla were coronated as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Realms. – 2023

State of emergency declared due to flooding, Winnipeg, Manitoba – 1950
Milwaukee recorded 0.6 inch of snow, the first measurable snowfall ever on this date – 1989
A cold wave brought morning lows of 17 degrees F to Bismarck, North Dakota – 1989
Kentucky Derby horses and people alike endured the coldest temperature recorded since the race was introduced in 1875 - a brisk 43F. – 1989