1827 --- A Mr. Chaubert volunteered to test a new heat-resistant material called asbestos. He carried a raw steak into a large oven in Paris and emerged 12 minutes later very hot but unharmed. The steak was very well done.

1844 --- The University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.

1870 --- A cartoon by Thomas Nast, titled, A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion, appeared on this day in Harper’s Weekly. The cartoon used the donkey to symbolize the Democratic Party. The symbol gave everyone such a such a ‘kick’ that it stuck to the Democrats... and it’s still stuck today.

1892 --- YMCA Canada’s Y Triangle magazine published the story of a new game. James Naismith, a teacher at the YMCA International Training School in Massachusetts (later named Springfield College), had invented the game of basketball on December 21, 1891. Naismith attached peach baskets to the lower rail of a balcony, one at either end of the gym. There were eighteen men in Naismith’s class and he promised them that if this game proved to be a failure he would not try any more experiments on them. They went over the rules, divided the group into two teams of nine players each and tossed up the first basketball in history.

1899 --- Edwin Markham’s poem, The Man With a Hoe, was published for the first time. The California school teacher’s work was published by the San Francisco Examiner.

1919 --- The Great Molasses Flood. On January 15, 1919, a large 50 foot high storage tank in Boston burst and sent a tidal wave of over 2 million gallons of molasses traveling at over 30 miles per hour. Houses, buildings and parts of the elevated rail system were crushed in its path. Twenty-one people died, and over 150 were injured. It took over 6 months to clean up the mess. The damage was in the millions of dollars.

1936 --- The first, all glass, windowless building was completed in Toledo, OH. The building was the new home of the Owens-Illinois Glass Company Laboratory.

1943 --- The world’s largest office building was completed, just outside of Washington, DC, in Arlington, VA. The massive structure covers 34 acres of land and has 17 miles of corridors, plus, a whole lot of secret places that we’ll never know about. Why? Because it’s the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States defense effort.

1961 --- Motown Records signed The Supremes.

1967 --- Super Bowl I (at Los Angeles): Green Bay Packers 35, Kansas City Chiefs 10. Most Valuable Player was Packers’ QB, Bart Starr. Max McGee scored the first touchdown. 61,946 fans attended the game at ten bucks a ticket.

2004 --- Three teenagers who went streaking through a Spokane, Washington, restaurant watched in horror as a thief drove off in their car, which they left running to make a fast getaway. Naked in below zero degree temperatures, the three youngsters huddled behind cars in a nearby parking garage until police arrived.

2006 --- In a runoff election, Chile chose Michelle Bachelet as its first female president.

Chart Toppers
January 15

1951 Tennessee Waltz - Patti Page
The Thing - Phil Harris
My Heart Cries for You - Guy Mitchell
The Golden Rocket - Hank Snow

1959 The Chipmunk Song - The Chipmunks
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - The Platters
My Happiness - Connie Francis
City Lights - Ray Price

1967 I’m a Believer - The Monkees
Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville
Good Thing - Paul Revere & The Raiders
There Goes My Everything - Jack Greene

1975 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - Elton John
You’re the First, the Last, My Everything - Barry White
Junior’s Farm/Sally G - Paul McCartney & Wings
Ruby, Baby - Billy "Crash" Craddock

1983 Down Under - Men at Work
The Girl is Mine - Michael Jackson /Paul McCartney
Dirty Laundry - Don Henley
I Can’t Even Get the Blues - Reba McEntire

1991 Justify My Love - Madonna
High Enough - Damn Yankees
Love Will Never Do (Without You) - Janet Jackson
Unanswered Prayers - Garth Brooks