May 20

Today in History
• 0325 - 1st Christian ecumenical council opens at Nicaea, Asia Minor
• 0526 - Earthquake kills 250,000 in Antioch, Syria
• 1293 - Earthquake strikes Kamakura Japan, 30,000 killed
• 1310 - Shoes were made for both right and left feet
• 1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut, India
• 1639 - Dorchester Massachusetts, forms 1st school funded by local taxes
• 1704 - Elias Neau forms school for slaves in New York
• 1830 - D. Hyde patents fountain pen


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• National Armed Forces Day
• Cameroon Republic Day
• Flower Day
• Hats for Headway Day
• Preakness Stakes
• World Bee Day
• World Fiddle Day
• World Metrology Day

Birthdays
• 1315 - Bonne of Luxembourg, wife of John II of France
• 1364 - Henry Percy [Harry Hotspur], English knight, soldier and politician
• 1663 - William Bradford, English-born colonial printer (Pennsylvania's first printing press)
• 1750 - Stephen Girard, bailed out U.S. bonds during War of 1812
• 1759 - William Thornton, architect, Capitol building, Washington D.C.
• 1768 - Dolley Madison, wife of the 4th President of the United States, James Madison
• 1818 - William George Fargo, founder, Wells Fargo
• 1825 - Antoinette Brown Blackwell, clergy, 1st ordained U.S. female minister