This is a list of selected January 15 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
Please note:
- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error in content currently on the Main Page, see Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If a listed event is inaccurate, please first seek consensus and update the corresponding article before making changes here.
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Images
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British Museum, London
The British Museum
Damage caused by the Boston Molasses Disaster
Wilson Bentley takes a snowflake photograph
Aerial view of the Pentagon
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Army Day and Jallikattu in India; | Armed Forces Day: refimprove; Jallikattu: {{cleanup-rewrite}} |
| Armed Forces Day in Nigeria; | refimprove |
| 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two prominent socialists in Germany, were tortured and murdered by the Freikorps. | both {{refimprove}} |
| 1947 – The brutalized corpse of the Black Dahlia, a 22-year-old American woman who was the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder, was found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. | refimprove section |
| 1967 – The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the American football championship game now known as Super Bowl I. | refimprove |
| 1974 – American serial killer Dennis Rader blinded, tortured, and killed his first three victims, earning him the nickname "BTK killer". | refimprove |
| 1999 – Yugoslav forces massacred 45 Kosovo Albanians in the village of Račak, one of the main causes of the subsequent NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. | cleanup required, neutrality issues |
Eligible
- 1759 – The British Museum in London, today containing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections in the world, opened to the public in Montagu House, Bloomsbury.
- 1777 – The Republic of New Connecticut (precursor of Vermont) declared its independence from several jurisdictions and land claims of the British colonies of New Hampshire and New York.
- 1885 – American photographer Wilson Bentley took the first known photograph of a snowflake by attaching a bellows camera to a microscope.
- 1908 – Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women, was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by nine students.
- 1910 – Construction on the Buffalo Bill Dam on the Shoshone River in the U.S. state of Wyoming, then the tallest dam in the world, was completed.
- 1919 – A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, burst and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.
- 1943 – The highest-capacity office building in the world, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense known as the Pentagon, was dedicated.
- 1981 – Hill Street Blues, one of American television's most critically acclaimed shows, aired its pilot episode, "Hill Street Station".
- 1993 – Salvatore "The Beast" Riina, one of the most powerful members of the Sicilian Mafia, was arrested after three decades as a fugitive.
- 2009 – After US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of Canada Geese during its initial climb out from New York City, Captain Chesley Sullenberger successfully made an emergency landing in the Hudson River.
January 15: John Chilembwe Day in Malawi; Korean Alphabet Day in North Korea
- 1815 – War of 1812: American frigate USS President (pictured), commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, was captured by a squadron of four British frigates.
- 1865 – American Civil War: The Union Army captured Fort Fisher, the last seaport of the Confederacy.
- 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republican forces both withdrew after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
- 1975 – Portugal signed the Alvor Agreement with UNITA, the MPLA, and the FNLA, ending the Angolan War of Independence.
- 1991 – Elizabeth II, as Queen of Australia, signed letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own separate Victoria Cross award in its own honours system.
More anniversaries: