TODAY IN HISTORY - MARCH 31ST

1685 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German organist and composer (d. 1750) is born

1774 – American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.

1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.

1909 – Construction of the ill fated RMS Titanic begins.

1913 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (b. 1837) dies.

1917 – The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies after paying $25 million to Denmark, and renames the territory the United States Virgin Islands.

1918 – Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.

1928 – Gordie Howe, Canadian ice hockey legend is born.

1929 – Liz Claiborne, Belgian-American fashion designer, founded Liz Claiborne Inc. (d. 2007) is born.

1930 – The Motion Picture Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty-eight years.

1931 – TWA Flight 599 crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing eight, including University of Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne.

1935 – Georges V. Matchabelli, Georgian-American businessman and diplomat, founded Prince Matchabelli perfume (b. 1885) dies.

1948 – Al Gore, American soldier and politician, 45th Vice President of the United States and Nobel Prize laureate is born.

1951 – Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.

1966 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.

1970 – Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.

1972 – Evan Williams, American businessman, co-founded Twitter and Pyra Labs is born.

1978 – Charles Herbert Best, American-Canadian physiologist and biochemist, co-discovered Insulin (b. 1899) dies.

1980 – The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.

1985 – The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York.

1992 – The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.

1998 – Netscape released Mozilla source code under an open source license.