See what makes May 31 special at Famous Daily.
History, birthdays, holiday, and a quote!
What happened on May 31
- May 31, 1223 Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River - Mongol armies of Genghis Khan lead by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans.
- May 31, 1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
- May 31, 1417 Jacoba van Bavarian becomes countess of Holland/Zealand/Henegouwen
- May 31, 1495 "Emperor Maximilian, Pope Alexander VI, Milan, King Ferdinand, Isabella & Venice sign anti-French Saint League"
- May 31, 1531 """Women's Revolt"" in Amsterdam: wool house in churchyard aborted"
- May 31, 1564 Battle on Gotland: L�beck & Denmark beat Sweden
- May 31, 1578 "Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London."
- May 31, 1621 Sir Francis Bacon thrown into Tower of London for 1 night
- May 31, 1634 US colony Massachusetts Bay annexes Maine colony
- May 31, 1665 Jerusalem's rabbi Sjabtai Tswi proclaims himself Messiah
- May 31, 1669 "Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary."
- May 31, 1678 Lady Godiva rides naked through Coventry in a protest of taxes
- May 31, 1678 The Godiva procession through Coventry begins.
- May 31, 1696 John Salomonsz elected chief of Saint-Eustatius
- May 31, 1759 The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions.
- May 31, 1790 Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
- May 31, 1790 "The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790."
- May 31, 1790 US copyright law enacted
- May 31, 1821 "Cathedral of Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, first US Catholic cathedral, is dedicated in Baltimore"
- May 31, 1836 "HMS Beagle anchors in Simons Bay, Cape of Good Hope"
- May 31, 1837 "Astor Hotel (most elaborate in US) opens in NYC, it later becomes the Waldorf-Astoria"
- May 31, 1847 Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens
- May 31, 1853 Elisha Kane's Arctic expedition leaves New York aboard the Advance
- May 31, 1861 General Beauregard is given command of Confederate Alexandria Line
- May 31, 1861 Mint at New Orleans closes
- May 31, 1862 Battle of Seven Pines VA (Fair Oaks); North defeats South
- May 31, 1864 Raid at Morgan's Kentucky
- May 31, 1866 "In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the English. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, at a cost of 9 dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian's 19 dead and about 17 wounded."
- May 31, 1868 First Memorial Day parade held in Ironton OH
- May 31, 1870 E J DeSemdt patents asphalt pavement
- May 31, 1878 "German battleship Grosser Kurf�rst sinks, 284 killed"
- May 31, 1878 US Congress accept decrease in dollar circulation
- May 31, 1879 First electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition
- May 31, 1879 Madison Square Garden opens its doors
- May 31, 1883 "French fleet under Pierre begins siege of Tamatave, Madagascar"
- May 31, 1884 "Dr John Harvey Kellogg patents ""flaked cereal"""
- May 31, 1884 John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes.
- May 31, 1889 "Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania."
- May 31, 1889 "Johnstown Flood; 2,209 die in Pennsylvania"
- May 31, 1889 "The Johnstown Flood kills 2,000 to 5,000 Pennsylvanians in a city of 30,000"
- May 31, 1891 Work on trans-Siberian railway begins
- May 31, 1899 Conference of Bloemfontein fails
- May 31, 1900 Piet de Law captures Lieutenant-Colonel Spragges Irish Yeomanry
- May 31, 1900 "Tom Hayward scores 1,000th cricket run of season (sets record 1074)"
- May 31, 1902 "Australia Cricket all out 36 vs England, Edgbaston, their lowest ever"
- May 31, 1902 "Boer War Ends; Treaty of Vereeniging signed, Britain annexes Transvaal"
- May 31, 1902 Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.
- May 31, 1905 Emperor Wilhelm II lands in Tanger
- May 31, 1906 Attack on King Alfonso XIII & Victoria von Battenberg in Madrid
- May 31, 1907 Taxis first began running in NYC
- May 31, 1908 Miss Pottelsberghe de la Pottery is first female airplane passenger (Belgium)
- May 31, 1909 "First NAACP conference (United Charities Building, NYC)"
- May 31, 1910 Cape of Good Hope becomes part of the Union of South Africa
- May 31, 1910 Creation of the Union of South Africa.
- May 31, 1910 Glenn Curtiss flies from Albany to NYC
- May 31, 1911 R.M.S. Titanic launched.
- May 31, 1912 US marines land on Cuba
- May 31, 1913 17th amendment (direct election of senators) declared ratified
- May 31, 1915 An LZ-38 Zeppelin makes an air raid on London fortelling the future
- May 31, 1916 "Battle of Skagerrak: British-German sea battle at Jutland (10,000 dead)"
- May 31, 1916 During WWI British & German fleets fight Battle of Jutland
- May 31, 1917 1First jazz record released (Dark Town Strutters Ball)
- May 31, 1918 General Monash succeeds Birdwood as GOC Australian Corps
- May 31, 1918 "HMS Fairy, Built by Fairfields at Govan, Glasgow this 'C' Class destroyer of about 400 tons rammed the German submarine UC75 off the Yorkshire coast. The Uboat had previously been rammed by the steamer Blaydonian, damaging the casing. The Uboat then surfaced and at first the Commanding Officer of Fairy thought the submarine must be Royal Navy but the normal challenge was not replied to. Fairy then rammed the uboat at the stern because if the boat was British the crew would have time to get out. It then became quite quite clear the boat was German so HMS Fairy rammed her hard just forward of the conning tower. Two of the men from the submarine jumped on to the forecastle of the destroyer and the other twelve crew were rescued from the water. The submarine sank but the bows of the destroyer were seriously damaged as the submarine was a much bigger vessel than HMS Fairy and she, herself, later sank."
- May 31, 1919 First wedding held in an aircraft (over Houston TX)
- May 31, 1919 NC-4 aircraft commanded by AC Read completes first crossing of Atlantic
- May 31, 1919 "NC-4's transatlantic flight ends at Plymouth, England"
- May 31, 1921 Comedian Buster Keaton marries actress Natalie Talmadge.
- May 31, 1921 "Tulsa Race Riot: A civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, the official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher."
- May 31, 1923 China & USSR exchange diplomats
- May 31, 1926 Portuguese President Bernardino Machedo resigns after coup
- May 31, 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition opens in Philadelphia
- May 31, 1927 "The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles."
- May 31, 1929 Atlantic City Convention Center opens
- May 31, 1930 "Bradman gets his 1,000th run of the English Cricket season"
- May 31, 1930 Building begins on Albert Canal in Belgium
- May 31, 1930 Comet 73P/1930 (Schwassmann-Wachmann 3) approaches 0.0617 AUs of Earth
- May 31, 1931 "7.1 magnitude Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan: 40,000 dead."
- May 31, 1935 "Quake kills 50,000 in Quetta Pakistan"
- May 31, 1937 German battleships shell Almeria Spain
- May 31, 1938 "Bill Edrich scores his 1,000th run of cricket season, all at Lord's"
- May 31, 1940 General-Major Bernard Montgomery leaves Duinkerken
- May 31, 1941 32.0 cm rain falls on Burlington KS (state record)
- May 31, 1941 German occupiers forbids Jews access to beach & swimming pools
- May 31, 1942 Japanese midget submarines raid Sydney Harbour
- May 31, 1942 Luftwaffe bombs Canterbury
- May 31, 1942 "World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia."
- May 31, 1943 """Archie"" comic strip first broadcast on radio"
- May 31, 1944 Allied breakthrough in Italy
- May 31, 1944 USS England sank a record 6th Japanese submarine in 13 days.
- May 31, 1947 Communists grab power in Hungary
- May 31, 1947 "Eastern DC-4 crashes between Port Deposit & Perryville MD, kills 53"
- May 31, 1949 "Charley Lupica begins stay on 4-foot-square platform platform atop a 60' pole, vowing to stay until Indians clinch pennant. (They don't, and he comes down 117 days later)"
- May 31, 1951 Netherlands & South Africa sign cultural accord
- May 31, 1953 Lebanese President Camille Shamun disbands government
- May 31, 1955 Great Britain proclaims emergency crisis due to railroad strike
- May 31, 1955 "Supreme Court orders school integration ""with all deliberate speed"""
- May 31, 1961 "Chuck Berry's amusement park, Berryland in St Louis, opens"
- May 31, 1961 JFK visits Charles de Gaulle in Paris
- May 31, 1961 "Judge Irving Kaufman orders Board of Education of New Rochelle, to integrate"
- May 31, 1962 """Tell It To Groucho"" last airs on CBS-TV"
- May 31, 1964 Charles Schmid kills first Pied Piper victim
- May 31, 1965 "May 31, 1965 Brooke Shields was born"
- May 31, 1967 Bayern M�nchen wins 7th Europe Cup II at Neurenberg
- May 31, 1969 """Gitarzan"" by Ray Stevens peaks at #8"
- May 31, 1970 "At 03:23 PM, Yungay Peru levelled by 7.75 earthquake (50-70,000 die)"
- May 31, 1970 "The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed."
- May 31, 1971 "In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30."
- May 31, 1972 Ajax wins Europe Cup 1 in Rotterdam
- May 31, 1973 "Glenn Turner scores his 1,000th cricket run of English season"
- May 31, 1974 Israel & Syria sign an agreement concerning Golan Heights
- May 31, 1977 """Beatlemania"" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 920 performances"
- May 31, 1977 Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani becomes heir apparent to throne of Qatar
- May 31, 1977 Trans Alaska oil pipeline completed
- May 31, 1979 Zimbabwe proclaims independence
- May 31, 1980 """Love Stinks"" by J Geils Band peaks at #38"
- May 31, 1980 Number one hit on UK music charts - Mash - Suicide Is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H)
- May 31, 1980 Police & youthful rebels battle in Zurich
- May 31, 1984 57th National Spelling Bee: Daniel Greenblatt wins spelling luge
- May 31, 1984 "Viv Richards hits 189 (170 balls) vs England, ODI cricket record"
- May 31, 1985 "41 Tornados in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York & Canada kill 88 & injure more than 1,000"
- May 31, 1985 Guatemala adopts constitution
- May 31, 1985 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) became a Schedule I drug in the United States.
- May 31, 1985 "New Orleans Saints are sold for $70,204,000"
- May 31, 1985 "United States-Canadian Outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead."
- May 31, 1987 "Athena 98.4 FM, the first legal private radio station starts broadcasting in Greece."
- May 31, 1989 First International Rock Awards
- May 31, 1989 Speaker of the House Jim Wright resigns
- May 31, 1990 63rd National Spelling Bee: Amy Marie Dimak wins spelling fibranne
- May 31, 1990 "Seinfeld starring Jerry Seinfeld, debuts on NBC as Seinfeld Chronicles"
- May 31, 1990 The pilot episode of Seinfeld premieres.
- May 31, 1991 """These Are the Days of Our Lives"", the last Queen video with Freddie Mercury, is shot."
- May 31, 1991 "Oldest bride - Minnie Munro, 102, weds Dudley Reid, 83, in Australia"
- May 31, 1991 Sides in Angola sign a treaty ending 16 year civil war
- May 31, 1992 "5th Children's Miracle Network Telethon raises $1,060,000"
- May 31, 1993 President Dobrica Cosic of little Yugoslavia flees
- May 31, 1996 "Mark Van Thillo & Abigail Alling, former biospherian win $100,000 lawsuit against Biospheric Development for Space Biospheres Ventures"
- May 31, 1997 "The Confederation Bridge opens, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick."
- May 31, 2002 "A series of major storms blew through Western Pennsylvania, killing 1 person when the Whip pavilion at Kennywood collapses."
- May 31, 2002 "The United States Secretary of the Navy issued Instruction 10520.6 directing all United States Navy ships to fly the First Navy Jack in honor of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The ensign will be flown for the duration of the War on Terrorism."
- May 31, 2003 "1996 Atlanta Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph is captured in Murphy, North Carolina."
- May 31, 2004 A foul-up during routine software update at the Royal Bank of Canada leads to a three-day misplacement of 10 million account balances.
- May 31, 2005 W. Mark Felt admits in the magazine Vanity Fair that he is the anonymous source Deep Throat in the Watergate scandal.
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