This Day in History

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May 27

1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.

1849 – The Great Hall of Euston station in London is opened.

1883 – Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.

1896 – The F4-strength 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing $2.9 billion in damage (1997 US dollars ($38.70 in 1896 dollars)).

1907 – Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco.

1919 – The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.

1927 – The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.

1930 – The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public.

1933 – The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

1937 – In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.

1940 – World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops; two survive.

1941 – World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.

1958 – The F-4 Phantom II makes its first flight.

1962 – The Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire is ignited in the town's landfill above a coal mine. As of 2015, the fire continues to burn. It has burned for more than 53 years. At its current rate, it could burn for over 250 more years.

1965 – Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.

1967 – The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is launched by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.

1975 – Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, in North Yorkshire, England, kills 33 – the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom.

1995 - In Culpeper, Virginia, the actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition.

1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Paula Jones can pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton while he is in office.

1998 – Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.

Births

1794 – Cornelius Vanderbilt; 1819 – Julia Ward Howe; 1837 – Wild Bill Hickok; 1894 – Dashiell Hammett; 1909 – Dolores Hope (wife of Bob Hope); 1911 – Hubert Humphrey; 1911 – Vincent Price; 1912 – John Cheever, Sam Snead; 1915 – Herman Wouk; 1922 – Christopher Lee; 1923 – Henry Kissinger, Sumner Redstone; 1925 – Tony Hillerman; 1935 – Lee Meriwether; 1936 – Louis Gossett, Jr.; 1939 – Don Williams; 1945 – Bruce Cockburn; 1948 – Pete Sears; 1955 – Richard Schiff; 1957 – Siouxsie Sioux; 1961 – Peri Gilpin; 1964 – Adam Carolla; 1965 – Todd Bridges )'Willis' on "Diff'rent Strokes"); 1968 – Jeff Bagwell; 1970 – Joseph Fiennes; 1971 – Paul Bettany; 1971 – Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes; 1975 – André 3000; 1975 – Jamie Oliver

Deaths

1831 – Jedediah Smith; 1840 – Niccolò Paganini; 1949 – Robert Ripley (Believe it, or not); 1960 – James Montgomery Flagg; 1964 – Jawaharlal Nehru; 1969 – Jeffrey Hunter; 1992 – Uncle Charlie Osborne; 2006 – Paul Gleason; 2011 – Jeff Conaway; 2011 – Gil Scott-Heron; 2012 – Johnny Tapia; 2013 – Bill Pertwee