On This Day in History, May 15

May 15 is National Nylon Stocking Day. A perfect time to celebrate this wardrobe essential which has for decades played an important role in the fashion industry. Buy yourself a pair of nylon stockings, today!

Read through the following highlighted events to understand what made history on this day, May 15.

  • 1718-The world’s first machine gun was patented on this day.
  • 1856-Lyman Frank Baum, author of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” was born on this day.
  • 1897-The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee was founded in Berlin by Magnus Hirschfeld, the first-ever LGBT rights organization.
  • 1916-U.S. Marines landed in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.
  • 1928-The first Mickey Mouse film was screened.
  • 1930-The first airline stewardess, Ellen Church, went on duty.
  • 1940-The first McDonald’s fast food restaurant opened on this day.
  • 1940-Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the U.S.
  • 1941-Joe DiMaggio began his historic major league baseball hitting streak of 56 games.
  • 1948-Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, and Iraq invaded Israel.
  • 1951-AT&T became the first corporation to have one million stockholders.
  • 1957-Britain tested its first hydrogen bomb near Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
  • 1963-The last Project Mercury space flight was launched.
  • 1975-The merchant ship U.S. Mayaguez was recaptured from Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge.
  • 1983In Boston, MA, the Madison Hotel was destroyed by implosion.
  • 1989-Soviet President Gorbachev visited Beijing for the 1st Sino-Soviet summit in 30 years.
  • 1990-Vincent Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Doctor Gachet” was sold for $82.5 million.
  • 1999-The Russian parliament was unable to attain enough votes to impeach President Boris Yeltsin.
  • 2014-The National September 11 Memorial Museum was dedicated in New York City.
  • 2015-Carl Icahn invested $100 million in Lyft, a ride-sharing service.

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