March 9: What Happened on This Day in History (Elementary Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1842 - The first documented discovery of gold in California occurs at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush.
2. 1959 - The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
3. 1961 - Sputnik 9 successfully launches, carrying a human dummy nicknamed Ivan Ivanovich, and demonstrating that Soviet Union was ready to begin human spaceflight.
4. 1997 - Comet Hale-Bopp: Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day.
5. 2011 - Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.
6. Famous Birthdays: Amerigo Vespucci (Italian cartographer and explorer), Franz Joseph Gall (German neuroanatomist and physiologist), Frank J. Dixon (American immunologist), Walter Kohn (Austrian-American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate), Ernesto Miranda (American criminal, inspired the Miranda rights)

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

Click Here for Yesterday in History: March 8

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: March 10

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.