31st of December in History

    What happened on the 31st of December in history?

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    • 1384
      John Wycliffe English religious reformer died
    • 1600
      British East India Company chartered
    • 1719
      John Flamsteed 1st Astronomer Royal dies at 73
    • 1744
      James Bradley announces discovery of earth's motion of nutation
    • 1775
      Battle of Qu‚bec
    • 1805
      End of French Republican calendar
    • 1852
      Future Pres & Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes marry
    • 1857
      Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as new capital of Canada
    • 1862
      Pres Lincoln signs an act admitting West Virginia to the Union
    • 1862
      Union ironclad ship "Monitor" sank at Cape Hatteras NC
    • 1879
      Cornerstone laid for Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US)
    • 1879
      Edison gives public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
    • 1890
      Ellis Is opens as a US immigration depot
    • 1921
      Last SF firehorses retired
    • 1943
      NYC's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater
    • 1944
      48 people die in a train accident in Ogden Utah
    • 1946
      Pres Truman officially proclaims end of WW II
    • 1951
      1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical announced
    • 1958
      Willie Shoemaker 1st jockey to win national riding championship 4X
    • 1961
      Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion
    • 1974
      US citizens allowed to buy & own gold for 1st time in 40 years
    • 1974
      Free agent pitcher Catfish Hunter signs $3 million Yank contract
    • 1981
      Lt Rawlings stages coup in Ghana
    • 1984
      Bernhard Goetz surrenders to police in NH
    • 1984
      Rajiv Gandhi took office as India's 6th PM
    • 1999
      Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama