Old Farmer's Almanac

Daily Calendar for Thursday, February 26, 2026

Daily Calendar

View daily calendar information including holidays, advice, and daily features.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Born

  • Victor Hugo (author, Les Miserables) –
  • Levi Strauss (manufacturer) –
  • Buffalo Bill (Army scout) –
  • John Harvey Kellogg (physician) –
  • Robert Alda (actor) –
  • Jackie Gleason (actor & comedian) –
  • Tony Randall (actor) –
  • Antoine "Fats" Domino (singer) –
  • Johnny Cash (singer) –
  • Hagood Hardy (composer) –
  • Adrian Dantley (basketball player) –
  • Jenny Thompson (Olympic swimmer) –
  • Corinne Bailey Rae (singer) –
  • Taylor Dooley (actress) –

Died

  • Constance Ford (actress) –
  • David Doyle (actor) –
  • Bill Cardoso (writer who coined the term gonzo” to describe the unrestrained participatory journalism practiced by Hunter S. Thompson and others”) –
  • Wendy Richard (actress) –

Events

  • The Anti-Slavery Society of Canada was founded in what is now Ontario, with a goal of promoting the global abolition of slavery and supporting African-American slaves seeking freedom in Canada. –
  • President Lincoln signed the National Currency Act, establishing a national banking system and uniform currency –
  • Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona was established –
  • Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming is established –
  • Groundbreaking ceremony for Golden Gate Bridge took place in San Francisco, California –
  • Spelling Bee, the first quiz show, aired on television –
  • NASA announced that Venus is about 800 degrees F –
  • Buffalo Creek disaster: 50 foot wall of water smashed down a narrow valley when a dam broke in Logan County, West Virginia –
  • Michael Jackson’s Thriller album hit number 1 on Billboard 200 chart and remained there for 37 weeks –
  • Robert Penn Warren named U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry –
  • A powerful bomb exploded in an underground parking lot of the World Trade Center in NYC, killing 6 people –
  • Canada’s GEODESIC mission launched in to northern lights, Alaska –
  • First sextuplets to be born in Ohio (Akron) –
  • Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Kaleri perform a spacewalk outside the International Space Station, the first time the ISS had been left unattended during an “extravehicular activity.” –
  • At age 82, Christopher Plummer became the oldest Oscar winner after receiving the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Beginners –
  • Sharon Lipinski and Christine Foster placed 41,769 toothbrushes end-to-end, creating a line 18,883 feet long –

Weather

  • An intense ocean storm blasted Cape Cod and Nantucket, with reported winds of 61 mph –