Emily C. Hagadorn Johnson (born 1834)

In 1834, in the year that Emily C. Hagadorn Johnson was born, on August 14th, the Poor Law Amendment Act was enacted in the United Kingdom. The Act stated that no able-bodied British man could receive assistance unless he entered a workhouse (a kind of poorhouse). The Act was intended to curb the cost of relief for the poor since workhouses were designed to be unpleasant. Many workhouses used the men as free labor and employed them in such tasks as breaking stones, crushing bones to produce fertilizer, or picking oakum - tarred fiber used between planks on ships -using a large metal nail known as a spike.

In 1879, on April 26th, the National Park - later renamed the Royal National Park - the 2nd oldest national park in the world, was formally proclaimed in New South Wales, Australia. It was the first park to have the word "national" in its name.

In 1884, on August 5th, the cornerstone for the base of the Statue of Liberty - a gift from the people of France - was laid. 120,000 people - most donations were $1 - donated to the completion of the base. An 1883 poem by Emma Lazarus was also written to raise funds. That poem was included in the base of the statue and is well known today. The most famous phrase: "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

In 1975, in January, Popular Mechanics featured the Altair 8800 on it's cover. The Altair home computer kit allowed consumers to build and program their own personal computers. Thousands were sold in the first month.

In 1987, on October 19th, stock exchanges around the world crashed. Beginning in Hong Kong then spreading to Europe, the crash then hit the United States. It was called Black Monday. The Dow Jones fell 508 points to 1,738.74 (22.61%).