Laura Beatrice Sprague Keele (1914 - 1981)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Laura 's lifetime.

In 1914, in the year that Laura Beatrice Sprague Keele was born, in August, the world's first red and green traffic lights were installed at the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland Ohio. The electric traffic light had been invented by a policeman in Salt Lake City Utah in 1912.

In 1931, at the age of 17 years old, Laura was alive when on May 1st, the Empire State Building opened in New York City. At 1,454 feet (including the roof and antenna), it was the tallest building in the world until the World Trade Center's North Tower was built in 1970. (It is now the 34th tallest.) Opening at the beginning of the Great Depression, most of the offices in the Empire State Building remained unoccupied for years and the observation deck was an equal source of revenue and kept the building profitable.

In 1945, Laura was 31 years old when on May 7th, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Jewell Ridge Coal Corp. v. United Mine Workers of America. The Court ruled that the underground travel time of coal miners was compensable work time under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 1973, Laura was 59 years old when in October, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned - President Nixon nominated Gerald Ford for Vice President. Nixon's tax returns came under investigation. Nixon offered the recently discovered Oval Office tapes be heard by one person and summarized - his offer was rejected by the Special Prosecutor. Nixon ordered the Attorney General, then the assistant Attorney General, to fire the Special Prosecutor. Both refused and were fired. The Solicitor General became the acting Attorney General and fired the Special Prosecutor (the Saturday Night Massacre). Nixon releases some of the tapes, under extreme pressure because of the firings.

In 1981, in the year of Laura Beatrice Sprague Keele's passing, on January 20th, Ronald Reagan became the 40th President of the United States. He ran against the incumbent, Jimmy Carter, and won 50.7% of the popular vote to Carter's 41.0%.