TODAY IN HISTORY - JANUARY 28TH

1851 – Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois.

1878 – Yale Daily News becomes the first daily college newspaper in the United States.

1902 – The Carnegie Institution of Washington is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.

1909 – United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish–American War.

1922 – Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.'s biggest snowfall, causes the city's greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses.

1936 – Alan Alda, American actor, director, and screenwriter is born.

1938 – The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195 at a speed of 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph).

1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first US television appearance

1958 – The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.

1960 – The National Football League announced expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for 1961 NFL season.

1977 – The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977 which dumps 10 feet (3.0 m) of snow in one day in Upstate New York, with Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas are most affected.

1981 – Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.

1985 – Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.

1986 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board, – Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1944), – Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut (b. 1948), – Ronald McNair, American physicist and astronaut (b. 1950), – Ellison Onizuka, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1946), – Judith Resnik, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1949), – Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1939), – Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1945).