1371 King Robert II of Scotland (1371-90) is crowned, becoming the first monarch of the House of Stewart

1472 Great comet of 1471 (C/1471 Y1) becomes the closest comet in modern times, coming within 10 million kilometers of Earth

1506 The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrive at the Vatican

1673 Postal service between New York & Boston inaugurated

1771 Spain cedes Falkland Islands to Britain

1813 Americans capture Frenchtown, Michigan Territory

1814 1st Knights Templar grand encampment in US held in New York City

1837 Earthquake in southern Syria kills thousands

1842 Charles Dickens arrives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife, Catherine

1850 Alta California becomes a daily paper, 1st such in Calif

1879 Battle of Rorke's Drift: British garrison of 150 holds off 3,000-4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses and a number of other decorations were awarded to the defenders.

1879 James Shields (D) elected US senator from Missouri after previously serving as US senator from Illinois & Minnesota

1881 "Cleopatra's Needle", a 3,500-year-old Ancient Egyptian obelisk is erected in Central Park, New York

1889 Columbia Phonograph was formed in Washington, D.C.

1890 Jose Marti forms La Liga (Union of Cuban exiles) in NYC

1895 National Association of Manufacturers organized in Cincinnati

1903 The Hay-Herran Treaty concerning the USA's right to the Panama Canal is signed by the Colombian Charge d'affaires in Washington, D.C. (never ratified)

1908 Katie Mulcahey is arrested for lighting a cigarette, violating the 1-day old "Sullivan Ordinance" banning women from smoking in public, and is fined $5. Appearing before the judge she stated “I’ve got as much right to smoke as you have. I never heard of this new law, and I don’t want to hear about it. No man shall dictate to me.”

1938 "Our Town", Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer-winner of small-town life in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, premieres (NJ)

1939 Aquatic Park, near Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco dedicated

1949 Chinatown telephone exchange in San Francisco is closed

1951 Fidel Castro is ejected from a Winter League baseball game after hitting a batter

1957 Mad Bomber (George P Metesky) accused of 30 explosions in and around NYC, arrested

1959 USAF concludes that less than 1% of UFOs are unknown objects

1962 The Organization of American States suspends Cuba's membership.

1964 World's largest cheese (15,723 kg) manufactured in Wisconsin for New York's World Fair

1968 Apollo Lunar Module is launched to Moon; unmanned lunar module tests made

1970 1st commercial Boeing 747 flight, Pan American World Airways flies from New York City to London in 6½ hours

1973 In a landmark decision the US Supreme Court legalizes most abortions (Roe v. Wade), authoring the majority opinion Harry Blackmun states that the criminalization of abortion does not have "roots in the English common-law tradition"

1982 75% of North America is covered by snow

1985 Cold wave damages 90% of Florida's citrus crop

1990 Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. is convicted of releasing the 1988 Internet worm.

1992 Space Shuttle STS-42 (Discovery 15) launches into space

1997 Space shuttle Atlantis successfully returns to Earth

1997 The U.S. Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the first female secretary of state

1998 STS 89 (Endeavour 12) launches into orbit

2002 Kmart Corp becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

2014 Water vapor is detected on the dwarf planet Ceres

2016 Winter storm conditions strand 500 motorists for 24 hours in Somerset and Bedford counties, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike

2021 Lloyd Austin confirmed as defense secretary by the US Senate, and the first African-American head of the Pentagon

2023 Chinese Year of the Rabbit begins with China marking the largest celebration of the New Year since 2020, after Covid-zero restrictions lifted