The People History Home

February 1st to 28th Major and Important news items from each day click link to find more news for that day

What Happened on 1st February :

1920 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Established

1969 John DeLorean becomes general manager of Chevrolet

1978 Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France

1979 Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 14 years in exile

2004 Janet Jackson's breast is briefly exposed by Justin Timberlake during the Super Bowl half time show.

2004 Hajj Pilgrimage Stampede

What Happened on 2nd February :

1916 German zeppelins drop close to 400 bombs over the West Midlands

1925 Sears, Roebuck Opens It's First Store

1949 First 45 RPM vinyl record released

1964 GI Joe Launched

What Happened on 3rd February :

1931 Major Earthquake Napier in New Zealand

1931 Banks Go Bust by the thousands following losses during the Wall Street Crash

1959 Rock 'n' Roll singers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson ( The Big Bopper ) died in a plane crash

What Happened on 4th February :

1938 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Released

1948 Ceylon now Sri Lanka gains independence from British rule

1959 Barbie Doll Invented By Ruth Handler

1974 Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is kidnapped in Berkeley, California

1976 In Guatemala and Honduras a 7.5 magnitude earthquake centered about 160 km northeast of Guatemala City kills more than 22,000.

2004 Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.


What Happened on 5th February :

1917 Congress passes the Immigration Act which required a literacy test

1922 Readers Digest First Published

1953 Sweet rationing ends in Great Britain

1974 Patty Hearst is Kidnapped by The Symbionese Liberation Army

1983 Klaus Barbie indicted for "crimes against humanity."

2002 John Walker Lindh Indicted

2008 C.I.A. admits to 'waterboarding' terror suspects

What Happened on 6th February :

1926 First Doughnut Making Machine

1938 Bondi Beach Freak Waves "Black Sunday" in Australia

1943 Frank Sinatra makes his singing debut on the popular radio show "Your Hit Parade."

1952 King George V1 Dies

1954 Mercedes introduced the 300SL coupe

1958 Manchester United Football Club Disaster

1971 Alan Shepard became the first man to hit a golf ball on the Moon

What Happened on 7th February :

1962 A U.S. embargo ordered by President Kennedy will go into effect on all imports from Cuba including tobacco, seafood, fruits and vegetables

1964 The Beatles arrive on their first visit to the United States

1992 The Maastricht Treaty Signed

2008 Congress has approved the $168 billion economic stimulus program

2009 Black Saturday Bushfires Australia

2010 Super Bowl XLIV breaks viewing records

Free Year Prints For Education / Scrap Book Use

Download Print and Edit ( JPEGS ) 1920 to 2010 Year In History Prints From

The People History Blog

Born in February

Hank Aaron
Born: Henry Louis Aaron 5th February 1934 Mobile, Alabama
Ronald Reagan
Born: Ronald Wilson Reagan 6th February 1911 Tampico, Illinois
Garth Brooks
Born: Troyal Garth Brooks 7th February 1962 Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
James Dean
Born: James Byron Dean 8th February 1931 Marion, Indiana, U.S.
Jules Verne
Born: Jules Gabriel Verne 8th February 1828 Nantes, France
Abraham Lincoln
Born: February 12, 1809, Hardin County, Kentucky
John Travolta
Born: John Joseph Travolta 18th February 1954, Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
George Washington
Born: February 22, 1732, Pope’s Creek, Virginia
Steve Jobs
Born: 24th February 1955, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
Johnny Cash
Born: 26th February 1932, Kingsland, Arkansas, U.S.
What Happened on 8th February :

1910 The Boy Scouts of America, was incorporated

1922 President Warren G. Harding has a radio installed in the White House

1943 Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal

1952 Queen Elizabeth the Second Becomes Queen

1983 Shergar is stolen from a stud farm owned by the Aga Khan in County Kildare, Ireland

What Happened on 9th February :

1961 President Kennedy asked Congress to approve a health insurance program ( The Medicare Program )

What Happened on 10th February :

1964 Dylan Releases " The Times They Are A Changing"

1992 Mike Tyson, found guilty of raping Desiree Washington

1996 IRA Bomb Docklands In London

What Happened on 11th February :

1916 Emma Goldman Jailed for Advocating Birth Control

1929 Vatican City Gains independent sovereignty

1945 President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin sign the Yalta Agreement

1979 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took control of Iran

1990 Nelson Mandela is released from prison after 27 years.

2006 Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded Harry Whittington

2010 The United States has tested an airborne laser weapon

What Happened on 12th February :

1912 Hsian-T'ung, the last emperor of China Forced To Abdicate

1921 South Africa Independence

1924 Calvin Coolidge Gives First Presidential Radio Address

1958 The first Trans Atlantic passenger jetliner service

2007 Trolley Square Mall Shooting

What Happened on 13th February :

1935 Bruno Hauptmann convicted of the Lindbergh baby murder

1960 France becomes the worlds fourth atomic power

1975 British Coal Miners get 35% Pay Rise

What Happened on 14th February :

1912 Arizona becomes the 48th state of the union

1929 Sir Alexander Fleming discovers Penicillin

1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre

1948 NASCAR holds its first race for modified stock cars on a 3.2 mile-course at Daytona Beach

1962 First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy gives a tour of the White House shown on Television

1974 Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn Charged with treason

2008 Shooting At Northern Illinois University

What Happened on 15th February :

1942 World War II Singapore Surrenders To Japanese

1965 Canada adopts Maple Leaf For Canadian Flag

1971 England D Day introduces Decimal Currency

1982 The world's largest oil rig ( The Ocean Ranger ) Sinks In North Atlantic

100 years of price Change

100 Years Of Price Changes

We spent many hours researching cost of living information for each year and I created this page after being asked a number of times about why I did not include current prices alongside our cost of living information for each year and thought this was the easiest way to make the information available. Includes Average Cost of New Home, Average Wages, New Car cost, Gallon of Gas, and a 1 lb Hamburger Meat, 1920 to 2023.

From our 1955 Toys

Farm Stake Tonka Truck From The 1950s Farm Stake Tonka Truck
Manufacturer: Tonka
Price: $3.98
Realistic in every detail... right down to its rear wheels with mud flaps! Small-fry farmers find it ideal to haul any load. The stake panels come out for the big jobs. Made of tough, heavy gauge metal.

What Happened on 16th February :

1923 The burial chamber of King Tutankhamen Opened

1939 Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont, received a patent for nylon

1959 Fidel Castro sworn in as prime minister of Cuba.

1965 Beeching Report on British Railways Closes 25%

1968 First 911 emergency telephone system in Haleyville, Ala

2005 The Kyoto accord Comes Into Force

What Happened on 17th February :

1911 The First Electric Self Start was installed in a Cadillac

1925 The New Yorker is published for the first time

1992 Jeffrey Dahmer, sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences

2008 Kosovo Declares independence

What Happened on 18th February :

1932 Sonja Henie won her 6th straight World Women's figure skating title in Montreal

1937 Dust storms hit five states-in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico

2001 Dale Earnhardt died in a crash during the Daytona 500

2005 Fox hunting with dogs becomes illegal in England and Wales

What Happened on 19th February :

1942 President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066

2004 Former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling is charged

2008 Fidel Castro retires as President of Cuba

What Happened on 20th February :

1933 Repeal of the 18th Amendment

1986 The Soviet Union launches the world's biggest space station, Mir

What Happened on 21st February :

1947 Land Camera Demonstrated ( 1st Polaroid )

1965 Malcolm X Assassinated

1995 Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon

What Happened on 22nd February :

1879 1st Woolworth 5 Cents Store Opened

1967 The Tet offensive By North Vietnam Ends

1997 Scottish scientists announce Cloned Sheep ( Dolly )

What Happened on 23rd February :

1945 US Marines Land On Iwo Jimaa and Take Control

1954 Polio Vaccines Start in United States

1991 Allied ground offensive against Iraqi forces begins

2009 Shares are their lowest for twelve years Dow Jones closes at 7,114.8

What Happened on 24th February :

1942 Voice of America goes on the air for the first time

1972 President Nixon visits the Great Wall of China

From 1959 Toys

New Exiting Barbie Fashion Dolls Launched in March 1959 From The 1950s Barbie Fashion Dolls
Manufacturer: Mattel
Price: $1.29
These Images are from 1960 sorry could not find any from 1959 the year Barbie Came out but thought I must include Barbie for 1959.

From 1920s Appliances Page

Gyrator Electric Washing Machine 1920s

Late Decade Electric Washing Machine

Price: $81.50

For the latest and best in washing machine design, this easy to move washing machine features the latest gyrator technology with no center post where clothes can be damaged, the attached wringer is made from the finest semi soft rubber.


1925 Frigidaire Electric Refrigerator

1925 Frigidaire

Price: $285.00

I included this Frigidaire Electric as the final Electric Item from the Twenties as it was significant in many ways 1. It was made by General Motors not General Electric. 2. The cost was pretty high and I suspect out of most people's reach and 3. It was sold by a dedicated salesman who visited your home rather than through a shop etc.


What Happened on 25th February :

1913 The Sixteenth Amendment, which paved the way for the United States adoption of income tax, was ratified

2010 2/3 of the worlds population using mobile phones

What Happened on 26th February :

1919 Congress established Grand Canyon National Park

1972 Buffalo Creek Valley Flooding

1995 Barings PLC, Britain's oldest investment banking firm, collapses

What Happened on 27th February :

1922 Nineteenth Amendment To The Constitution passed

1938 Los Angeles Flood Begins

1951 22nd amendment to the Constitution is ratified

What Happened on 28th February :

1954 DNA Double Helix Discovered

1975 Moorgate Underground Crash

1986 Olof Palme, the Swedish Prime Minister is shot dead

1991 Gulf War Ends

1993 Waco, Texas bloody gun battle