Daily Calendar for Friday, January 3, 2025

Events

• Martin Luther was formally excomunicated from the Roman Catholic church by Pope Leo X– 1521
• General George Washington defeated the British under Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton– 1777
• First covered skating rink in Canada opened, in Halifax, Nova Scotia– 1863
• Construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge in N.Y.C.– 1870
• First free kindergarten opened, Florence, Massachusetts– 1876
• Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $350,000 loan. The loan was to finance Frazee’s Broadway production of the musical No, No, Nanette– 1920
• Benito Mussolini proclaimed a Fascist dictatorship in Italy– 1925
• British broadcaster of propaganda from Nazi Germany during WW II, William Joyce (nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw), was hanged in Great Britain for treason– 1946
• Dragnet made its television debut– 1952
• Members of the newly created U.S. Civil Rights Commision took office– 1958
• President Eisenhower signed proclamation making Alaska the 49th state– 1959
• Moscow State Symphony first Soviet orchestra to play in the United States (in N.Y.C.).– 1960
• The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Cuba– 1961
• The Vatican excommunicated Cuban premier, Fidel Castro, from the Roman Catholic church– 1962
• Times Beach, Missouri, declared a federal disaster area after fall floods spread dangerous amounts of the toxic chemical dioxin– 1983
• Soprano Leontyne Price made her farewell appearance at New York’s Metropolitan Opera– 1985
• Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame– 1987
• Miss Canada pageant canceled due to costs and changing times– 1992
• Spirit rover landed on Mars– 2004