Community Corner

Five Things to Know About Feb. 15

Today's date has been great for making history.

Welcome to Friday, Feb. 15, 2013! Here are some interesting facts about today: 

1. On this day in 1764, migrants establish the city of St. Louis, (not yet Missouri), in French-controlled Louisiana. Control of the territory changed hands a few times until the United States bought it in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

2. More than 260 people were killed Feb. 15, 1898, when the USS Maine exploded and sank in Cuba's Havana Harbor. The event sparked the Spanish-American war, which lasted three months and resulted in the crumbling of the Spanish empire. The United States gained control of the Phillipine Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico. 

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3. Famous Birthdays: Former U.S. Secretary of Energy and two-time U.S. Defense Secretary Dr. James Schlesinger is 84; British actress Jane Seymour is 62; American cartoonist Matt Groening (The Simpsons) is 60; American supermodel Janice Dickinson is 59 and American football player Darrell Green is 53. 

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4. Today is Susan B. Anthony Day. The suffragist was born on Feb. 15, 1820, and today is meant to recognize the fight for equal rights and earning the right to vote.

Incidentally, Lorton once housed a number of suffragist prisoners at the Occoquan Workhouse. The feminists were arrested for picketing outside the White House, and after their arrest were severely abused. 

According to the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial, the incident is “possibly the most significant moment in the fight for women’s suffrage in the United States,” and “became the ‘turning point’ in the struggle for the 19th Amendment.”

5. The weather today will be cloudy with a high temperature of 55 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Expect a 70 percent chance of rain in the evening, and a low temperature of about 33. 

Have a great day!


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