A Look Back at April 15th in History

What’s in a date? Well, at some point, I began to connect the dots and realized that many momentous events have occurred throughout history on April 15th. With a little extra research, I have compiled a list—a list that is astonishing in its diversity, a list that includes celebrations and tragedies, a list that marks technological and social progress, a list that names people and things that have made our lives richer and fuller.

April 15, 1452—The Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci was born in or near the Tuscan town of Vinci. He is best known for his paintings “The Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper,” but he also drew detailed sketches for a helicopter 400 years before the flying machine was created. In honor of the genius’ birthday, the International Association of Art met in 2012 and established World Art Day on April 15th to celebrate and promote the fine arts.

April 15, 1755—Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language was published in London. It was the first English dictionary to illustrate words by using literary quotations—about 114,000 of them—from great writers, including Shakespeare. The work helped unify the English language and contribute to its expansion. This dictionary is unique because it was written almost single-handedly, with little financial or scholarly support. It also includes some delightfully witty definitions such as: “Lexicographer, noun: A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.”

April 15, 1817—The first American school for the deaf was opened in Hartford, Connecticut. Its story began when theology graduate Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet met surgeon Mason Cogswell. Cogswell had a nine-year-old daughter, Alice, who was deaf. Cogswell hired Gallaudet to study the best methods for teaching the deaf. After careful research, Gallaudet and Cogswell helped found the school. Alice and six other deaf students made up the first class.

April 15, 1861—Three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling forth the state militias to suppress the rebellion. In response, 75,000 volunteered. The Civil War had begun.

April 15, 1865—President Lincoln died nine hours after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington. Andrew Johnson became the nation’s 17th president.

April 15, 1877—The world’s first telephone was installed in Massachusetts. It connected the electrical shop of Charles William, Jr. in Boston with his home three miles away in Somerville. The laboratory of the phone’s inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, was housed on the fifth floor above William’s store.

April 15, 1878—Harley Proctor introduced Ivory Soap—the only soap that floats. This may not seem like a big deal to us today, but in the late 19th Century, people were still bathing in the murky waters of local rivers and streams. The soap floats because air bubbles are whipped into the mixture while it’s being formed. This makes the soap lighter than water, so it floats.

April 15, 1892—The General Electric Company was established in New York when various companies owned and operated by Thomas Alva Edison merged. Edison invented the incandescent bulb in 1879—after 1,000 unsuccessful attempts!

April 15, 1892—The Dutch devotional writer Corrie ten Boom was born. She is best known for hiding Jewish refugees in her home during World War II. Corrie was eventually caught, arrested, and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Her story was dramatized in the 1971 film The Hiding Place. Corrie also died on this date in 1983.

April 15, 1912—The RMS Titanic was a British luxury ocean liner. It hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean and sank two hours and 40 minutes later. While it was sinking, the ship’s string ensemble played the hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee” to keep the passengers calm as the crew loaded the lifeboats. Over 1,500 people died.

April 15, 1924—Rand McNally published its first road atlas. The first “Rand McNally Auto Chum,” as it was called, included hand-drawn maps, no interstates (there weren’t any), and no index.

April 15, 1945—During World War II, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. It was here that the young diarist Anne Frank died. Soldiers found about 60,000 prisoners inside, most of whom were half-starved and seriously ill. They also discovered 13,000 corpses lying around the camp unburied. Up until that day, the free world had relatively little reliable knowledge of what the Nazis had been doing in their concentration camps. The liberation of Bergen-Belsen revealed the full horror of man’s inhumanity to man.

April 15, 1947—Jackie Robinson, baseball’s first black major league player, made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day at Ebbets Field. Robinson helped break the color line in professional sports.

April 15, 1955—Ray Croc bought from brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald the rights to begin franchising McDonald’s restaurants nationwide. Croc open his first franchised restaurant on this day in Des Plaines, Illinois.

April 15, 1955—The deadline for filing individual tax returns in the United States was changed from March 1 in 1913 to March 15 in 1918 to April 15 in 1955.

April 15, 2013—Two bombs made from pressure cookers exploded at the finish line during the Boston Marathon. Two women and an 8-year-old boy were killed; 264 people were injured. Suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police. His brother, Dzhokhar, escaped, but was later caught, arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.

April 15, 2019—The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, suffered a terrible fire. In just a few hours, the spire and two-thirds of the roof collapsed. The cathedral was begun in 1163 and completed in 1345. One of the artifacts rescued from the fire was the relic believed to have been the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus during his crucifixion.

April 15, 2024—For the first time ever, dear Reader, you have received an edition of “Just About Anything” on the 15th instead of the 16th of the month. Perhaps you can add another significant event to this list from today’s news.

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