MARCH 31 |Birthdays and Events

Notable Birthdays for March 31

Mary Abigail Dodge (1833-1896) - Writer and essayist who wrote under the name Gail Hamilton.

John La Farge (1835-1910) - Artist who made stained glass windows.

Gerald Pearson (1905-1987) - Physicist who invented the solar cell.

Etta Baker (1913-2006) - Well known blues guitarist.

Ted Post (1918-2013) - Television director of such series as Rawhide, Gunsmoke, and The Twilight Zone.

Lefty Frizzell (1928-1975) - Country music singer known for his hit If You've Got the Money (I've Got the Time).

William Daniels (1927-Still Living) - Actor known for his role as George Feeny on the sitcom Boy Meets World.

John Jakes (1932-2023) - Author who wrote North and South.

Shirley Jones (1934-Still Living) - Actor known for her role as Shirley Partridge in The Partridge Family.

Herb Alpert (1935-Still Living) - Musician who co-founded A&M Records.

Nathaniel Taylor (1938-2019) - Actor fondly remembered for his role as Rollo in Sanford & Sons.

Christopher Walken (1943-Still Living) - Multi-award winning actor in The Deer Hunter (1978), King of New York (1990), and Pulp Fiction (1994).

Edwin Catmull (1945-Still Living) - Co-founder of Pixar.

Rhea Perlman (1948-Still Living) - Actress known for her role as Carla on the sitcom Cheers.

Sean Hopper (1953-Still Living) - Keyboardist for the rock band Huey Lewis & The News.

Evan Williams (1972-Still Living) - Co-founder of Twitter.

Memorable Events for March 31

1736 - Bellevue Hospital is founded in NY City and becomes the first public hospital in the U.S.

1880 - Wabash, Indiana, claims to be the first town to claim to use electric lighting throughout the town.

1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association is formed. It later become known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

1918 - The first daylight saving time goes into effect.

1870  - Thomas Mundy Peterson (NJ) becomes the first Black to vote in the U.S. under the provisions of the 15th Amendment.

1948 - Congress passes Marshall Aid Act to rehabilitate war-torn Europe.

1953 - The Department of Health, Education and Welfare established.

1967 - Jimi Hendrix infamously burns his guitar in London.

1968 - President Johnson authorizes a troop surge in Vietnam, increasing the number of soldiers to 549,500.

1999 - A modernization of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is released (10 Things I Hate About You).

2016 - NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after a yearlong mission.