On Jan. 11, 1569, the first lottery in England was held in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
In 1757 Alexander Hamilton, who would become the first U.S. secretary of the treasury, was born in the West Indies.
In 1805 the Michigan Territory was created.
In 1815 John A. Macdonald, who would become Canada’s first prime minister, was born in Glasgow, Scotland.
In 1935 aviator Amelia Earhart took off from Honolulu bound for Oakland on the last leg of a flight that made her the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific.
In 1962 an avalanche buried an Andes village in Peru, killing an estimated 3,000 people.
In 1964 U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued the first government report saying that smoking may be hazardous to one’s health.
In 1973 owners of American League baseball teams voted to adopt the designated hitter rule.
In 1982 Chicago’s schools were closed in the wake of a record-breaking cold the previous day, when the mercury dropped to 26 degrees below zero.
In 1984 the Supreme Court reinstated a $10 million award to the family of Oklahoma nuclear worker Karen Silkwood, who died in a suspicious 1974 auto crash.
In 2003 Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 inmates, clearing Illinois’ Death Row in a move unprecedented in scale in U.S. history.
