New Year’s Eve, the final evening of the Gregorian calendar year, traditionally a night for merry-making to welcome in the new year.
EVENTS
- 1781 – The first bank in the U.S., the Bank of North America, received its charter from the Confederation Congress. It opened on January 7, 1782, in Philadelphia.
- 1879 – Thomas Edison first demonstrates incandescent light
- 1891 – A new immigration depot is opened on Ellis Island, New York.
- 1904 – The first New Year‘s Eve celebration is held in Times Square
- 1907 – The first annual ball drop at Times Square. The annual tradition of dropping a ball at 11:59 pm to mark the start of the New Year was organized for the first time by Adolph Ochs, the owner of the New York Times.
- 1909 – Manhattan Bridge opens for traffic. The Manhattan Bridge, one of the first suspension bridges ever constructed, was opened to traffic on this day. The bridge was designed by Leon Moisseiff and crosses the East River in New York City.
- 1946 – President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
- 1971 – Austrian Kurt Waldheim became U.N. Secretary-General following the retirement of U Thant. Waldheim served until 1981 then resumed his career in Austrian politics. In 1986, he ran for the presidency. During the campaign, it was revealed he had likely given false information concerning his military service in the German Army during World War II. He claimed he left the army in 1942 after being wounded on the Russian Front, but allegations arose that he was actually lieutenant in 1943-44 stationed in the Balkans when Greek Jews were rounded up and sent to Nazi death camps and when atrocities were committed against Yugoslav resistance fighters.
- 1983 – Coup in Nigeria. A military coup in Nigeria overthrew the civilian government of Shehu Shagari and installed Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari.
- 1991 – The Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
- 1994 – Date skipped in Kiribati. The Phoenix Islands and the Line Islands in Kiribati skip December 31st due to a change in their time zone from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
- 1995 – The last strip of the popular comic ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ is published.
- 2009 – Both a Blue Moon and lunar eclipse occured on the same day. The next such event to happen on New Year’s eve will be in 2028.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1869 – Henri Matisse (French painter)
- 1880 – George C. Marshall (WWII General and author of Marshall Plan)
- 1937 – Anthony Hopkins (Actor)
- 1941 – Alex Ferguson (Scottish footballer, manager)
- 1943 – Ben Kingsley (Actor)
- 1943 – John Denver (Singer)
- 1947 – Tim Matheson (Actor)
- 1959 – Val Kilmer (Actor)
- 1977 – Psy (South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, dancer)
- 1980 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand rugby union footballer)
- 1990 – Patrick Chan (Canadian figure skater)
DEATHS
- 1889 – Ion Creangă (Romanian author, educator)
- 1972 – Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rican baseball player)
- 1980 – Marshall McLuhan (Canadian author, theorist)
- 1985 – Ricky Nelson (American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor)
- 2015 – Natalie Cole (American singer-songwriter, actress)