This day in History...
Banff National Park is Canada's first national park. It was made a natural reserve in 1885. On this date in 1887, Canada's parliament enacted the Rocky Mountains Park Act , based on the US Congress' Yellowstone National Park Act of 1872, establishing Banff as a national park. Located in Alberta, its 2,560 sq. miles (6641 sq. kilometers) contain mountains, forests, glaciers and ice fields. Lake Louise — named for Princess Louise — is one of the main tourist attractions of the park.
Quote: "
Objects in a park suggest static repose rather than any ongoing dialectic. Parks are finished landscapes for finished art." — Robert Smithson
Historic Events:- Popular English actor John Philip Kemble retired after his last performance, in which he played Coriolanus. (1817)
- Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called a ''Type-Writer.'' (1868)
- Richard Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discussed ways to obstruct the FBI's Watergate investigation. Revelation of this conversation spurred on Nixon's 1974 resignation. (1972)
- Air India flight 182: crashed near Ireland, killing all 329 passengers and staff, after bomb exploded on board (1985)
- Mobster John Gotti was sentenced to life in prison. (1992)
Today's Birthday...
Born this day in 1948 was Clarence Thomas, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1991, whose appointment to replace Thurgood Marshall (the court's first African American justice) gave the court a conservative cast.
Other Notables:
- Edward VIII: King of England who abdicated to marry a divorced American, shocking the world (1894)
- Bob Fosse: choreographer/dancer/director, Tony winner for Pippin, Oscar winner for Cabaret (1927)
- Sprinter Wilma Rudolph, the first American woman to win three track-and-field gold medals in a single Olympics, was born. (1940)