January 6: What Happened on This Day in History (Elementary Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
2. 1893 - The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
3. 1912 - New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
4. 1912 - German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.
5. 1929 - Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta, India to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people.
6. Famous Birthdays: Thomas Fincke (Danish mathematician and physicist), Jacques-étienne Montgolfier (French inventor, co-invented the hot air balloon), Giuseppe Martucci (Italian composer, conductor, and pianist), Rolf M. Zinkernagel (Swiss immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate), Michael Foale (English-American astrophysicist and astronaut)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: January 5

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: January 7

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.