1867 – Wilbur Wright was born in the Henry County town of Millville. He was the third child of Bishop Milton Wright and Susan Catherine Wright. Wilbur attended Richmond High School before the family moved to Dayton, Ohio, where brother Orville Wright was born in 1871. In the 1890s, the brothers began experimenting with aircraft and soon became aviation pioneers.
1920 – Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding, campaigning for President, spoke at the Nelson Theater in Logansport. He said his message was “chiefly one of cheer and greetings” and encouraged women to take advantage of the recently-adopted 19th Amendment and “exercise their new rights and duties of citizenship.”
1939 – Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne opened a three-day engagement at the English Theater on the Circle in Indianapolis. They starred in a comedy called “Amphitryon 38.” Lunt and Fontanne are considered the most famous husband and wife team in American theater history.
1945 – War Correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by sniper fire near Okinawa. Born in Dana, he attended Indiana University. During World War II, he wrote newspaper columns six days a week. Often on the front lines, he described the war through the lives of ordinary soldiers.
1987 – A bomb concealed in a briefcase exploded at the Howard County Courthouse in Kokomo. The device was carried into the building by a man charged with dealing drugs. The man was killed in the blast and 18 others were injured, including Howard County Sheriff John Beatty.
1992 – The Lanier Mansion in Madison was designated a National Historic Landmark. The beautiful Greek Revival home was built in 1844 by J. F. D. Lanier, a banker who helped Governor Oliver P. Morton finance the state during the Civil War.