1778 – The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
1819 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American journalist and politician, invented the typewriter (d. 1890) is born.
1849 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
1859 – George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., American engineer, inventor of the Ferris wheel (d. 1896) is born.
1855 – Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.
1859 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
1894 – Jack Benny, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1974) is born.
1899 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).
1912 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
1920 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
1929 – Saint Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago.
1945 – World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden.
1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially beginning U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relations.
1960 – Jim Kelly, NFL Hall of Famer, Buffalo Bills, and businessman
1962 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
1972 – Rob Thomas, American singer-songwriter (Matchbox Twenty and Tabitha's Secret) is born.
1983 – United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher, is later convicted of fraud.
1989 – Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.
2005 – YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.
2008 – Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in six fatalities (including gunman) and 21 injuries.
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