May 3

1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District’s founding government. The “City of Washington” is given a mayor-council form of government.

1855 – American adventurer William Walker mounts a private military expedition,  departing from San Francisco with 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.

1901 – The ‘Great Fire of 1901’ in Jacksonville, Florida begins when sparks from the chimney of a nearby building start a fire at the Cleaveland Fibre Factory, eventually burning down 146 city blocks and killing 7 people.

1921 – West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a sales tax.

1942 – During World War II, Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo. 

1948 – In  the case of Shelley v. Kraemer, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.

1951 – The Senate Committee on Armed Services and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin closed door hearings into the relief of General of The Army Douglas MacArthur by President Truman.

1952 – USAF Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict make the first landing of a U.S. plane at the North Pole..

1957 – Walter O’Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

1968 – Braniff International Airways Flight 352, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, breaks up in midair after flying through a thunderstorm and crashes near Dawson, Texas, killing all 85 passengers and crew aboard.

1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email , now known as “spam” is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.

1979 – Margaret Thatcher wins the United Kingdom general election becoming the first female British Prime Minister.

1999 – A tornado of the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak, measured at the highest wind speed ever recorded of 301 mph, hits the southwestern portion of Oklahoma City, killing 45 people, injuring 665 more, and causing $1 billion in damage.

2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the  GPS coordinates posted on Usenet.

2015 – Both gunmen who launch an attack on the “First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest” at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas,  barely make it out of their vehicle before being ignominiously gunned down in the street by an off duty Garland police officer, hired as a security guard.