January 1, 1898: New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
January 1, 1953 Gary Johnson, former New Mexico governor and failed Libertarian Party candidate for President was born.
January 1, 45 BC: The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time.
January 2, 1860: The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France.
January 3, 1777: General George Washington defeats the godless British at Princeton, New Jersey.
January 3, 1956: A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
January 4, 1958: After 3 months in space, Sputnik falls back to Earth— burning up on the way down.
January 4, 1903: Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company shoots the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy’s death.
January 5, 1939: Amelia Earhart is declared legally dead.
January 5, 1933: Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
January 5, 1930: Bonnie Elizabeth Parker meets Clyde Chestnut Barrow at the home of Clyde’s friend Clarence Clay who lived at 105 Herbert Street in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of West Dallas.
January 6, 1994: Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked by baton-wielding hit-man Shane Stant in Detroit.
January 6, 1912: German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.
January 6, 1939: The “Superman” daily newspaper comic strip debuts.
January 7, 1955: Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera.
January 8, 1956: On his 21st birthday, Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog” single goes to #1 and stays there for 11 weeks, a new record for a single.
January 8, 1835: The United States national debt is zero for the only time.
Jan 8th, 1938: Bob Eubanks (host of The Newlywed Game) is born.
Jan 8th, 1941: Graham Chapman (of Monty Python’s) is born.
January 9, 1349: The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.
** January 9, 1988 ** - Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera begins previews at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre. It’s still there, and is trhe longest running show on Broadway ever.