DateNameLocation / Topic
Thursday, Jan 15
Thai Pongal Thai Pongal
Thursday, Jan 15
Pope's Visit (Public holiday in Manila)
Thursday, Jan 15
John Chilembwe Day John Chilembwe Day
Thursday, Jan 15
National Bagel Day National Bagel Day
Thursday, Jan 15
Makarsankranti / Pongal Makarsankranti / Pongal
Thursday, Jan 15
National Hat Day National Hat Day
Thursday, Jan 15
National Booch Day National Booch Day
Thursday, Jan 15
National Strawberry Ice Cream Day National Strawberry Ice Cream Day
Thursday, Jan 15
Wikipedia Day Wikipedia Day
Thursday, Jan 15
National Pothole Day National Pothole Day

Historical Events on January 15

  • 1815: Four British shops capture the USS President – an American frigate that was commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur during the War of 1812.
  • 1844: Indiana gives the University of Notre Dame its charter on this day.
  • 1870: For the first time, a political cartoon shows a donkey as a symbol of the Democratic Party in Harper’s Weekly.
  • 1889: The Pemberton Medicine Company is incorporated in the city of Atlanta in Georgia on this day. This company would later become the Coca-Cola Company.
  • 1892: The rules to the game of basketball are published by James Naismith on this day.
  • 1910: Construction on the highest dame in the world – at least at the time – finishes when the Buffalo Bill Dam located in Wyoming is finished.
  • 1919: Twenty-one people are killed and another one hundred and fifty are wounded when a wave of molasses suddenly escapes from an exploding storage tank and floods down through the streets of Boston in Massachusetts.
  • 1936: The first all-glass building – constructed for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company – is finished on this day in Toledo, Ohio.
  • 1943: Dedication ceremonies for the Pentagon are held in Arlington, Virginia.
  • 1947: The dismembered corpse of Elizabeth Short is discovered in Los Angeles. The murder would be known as the Black Dahlia Murder Case.
  • 1967: Super Bowl 1 is played in L.A. In this first super bowl game, the Kansas City Chiefs are defeated by the Green Bay Packers. The final score is 35-10.
  • 1969: The Soyuz 5 is launched by the Soviet Union.
  • 1976: The 45-year old woman who attempted to assassinate U.S President Gerald Ford is given a life sentence. In 2007, she was paroled from prison after serving 32-years.

Famous Birthdays on January 15

  • American businessman Pierre S. du Pont is born in 1870.
  • Finnish chemist and Nobel Prize laureate, Artturi Ilmari Virtanen is born in 1895.
  • Australian-American actress Majorie Bennett is born in 1896.
  • Hungarian-American physicist and “Father of the H-Bomb,” Edward Teller is born in 1908.
  • American minister, activist and Nobel Prize laureate, Martin Luther King, Jr. is born in 1929.
  • American author Ernest J. Gaines is born in 1933.