On March 3, 1791, the District of Columbia was organized.
In 1831, George M. Pullman, the Chicago railroad-car magnate, was born in Brocton, N.Y.
In 1837, Congress increased the membership of the U.S. Supreme Court from seven to nine justices.
In 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the Union.
In 1847, inventor Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
In 1849, Congress established the Home Department, forerunner of the Department of the Interior.
In 1857, ”Long John” Wentworth defeated Benjamin Carver by a vote of 5,933 to 4,842 to become mayor of Chicago.
In 1918, Germany, Austria and Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World War I.
In 1923, the first Time magazine was published.
In 1931, ”The Star-Spangled Banner” became the national anthem.
In 1959, comedian Lou Costello died in Los Angeles, three days short of his 51st birthday.
In 1974, a Turkish airliner crashed in a forest near Paris, killing more than 340 people.
