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There are many events that happened on this date in history. Here are just a few of them!

February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 310 days remain until the end of the year (311 in leap years). 9

EVENTS

1809 – London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving its owner, Irish writer and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan, destitute.

1831 – The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.

1848 – King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.

1854 – A Penny Red with perforations becomes the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution.

1863 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory.

1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate.

1875 – The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries.

1876 – The stage première of Peer Gynt, a play by Henrik Ibsen with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, takes place in Christiania (Oslo), Norway.

1917 – World War I: The U.S. ambassador Walter Hines Page to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.

1920 – Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier.

1920 – The Nazi Party (NSDAP) was founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany

1942 – The Battle of Los Angeles: A false alarm led to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasted into the early hours of February 25.

1946 – Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that became known as Peronism, is elected to his first term as President of Argentina.

1983 – A special commission of the United States Congress condemns the Japanese American internment during World War II.

2008 – Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He remains as head of the Communist Party for another three years.

BIRTHS

1500 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1558)

1536 – Pope Clement VIII (d. 1605)

1553 – Cherubino Alberti, Italian engraver and painter (d. 1615)

1788 – Johan Christian Dahl, Norwegian-German painter (d. 1857)

1914 – Ralph Erskine, English-Swedish architect, designed The Ark and Byker Wall (d. 2005)

1932 – Michel Legrand, French pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)

1938 – Phil Knight, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Nike, Inc.

1945 – Barry Bostwick, American actor and singer

1951 – Debra Jo Rupp, American actress

1952 – Tommy Burleson, American basketball player

1955 – Steve Jobs, American businessman, co-founded Apple Computer and Pixar (d. 2011)

1956 – Paula Zahn, American journalist and producer

1958 – Sammy Kershaw, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1965 – Jane Swift, American businesswoman and politician, Governor of Massachusetts

1966 – Billy Zane, American actor and producer

1977 – Floyd Mayweather Jr., American boxer

DEATHS

1704 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier, French composer (b. 1643)

1714 – Edmund Andros, English courtier and politician, 4th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1637)

1810 – Henry Cavendish, French-English physicist and chemist (b. 1731)

1815 – Robert Fulton, American engineer (b. 1765)

1970 – Conrad Nagel, American actor (b. 1897)

1974 – Margaret Leech, American historian and author (b. 1895)

1990 – Johnnie Ray, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1927)

1991 – John Daly, American journalist and game show host (b. 1914)

1991 – George Gobel, American actor (b. 1919)

1991 – Webb Pierce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1921)

1994 – Dinah Shore, American actress and singer (b. 1916)

1998 – Henny Youngman, English-American comedian and violinist (b. 1906)

1999 – Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist, and memoirist (b. 1936)

2006 – Don Knotts, American actor and comedian (b. 1924)

2006 – Dennis Weaver, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1924)

2020 – Katherine Johnson, American physicist and mathematician

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