This date in Delaware history

Complied by Roger Martin
Special to the Coastal Point

1787 — The General Assembly passed a law to ban slave trade in the state.

1955 — At a meeting in Smyrna, the Delaware Association of Police Chiefs reaffirmed its support of the whipping post, stating it kept transient criminals out of the state and served as a deterrent for those contemplating committing crimes.

Feb. 11

1835 — The General Assembly authorized a lottery to raise money for state and school purposes.

1922 — Electric town lights came to Millsboro with the current being turned on each Wednesday afternoon so women could do their ironing.

Feb. 12

1777 — John McKinly was elected Delaware’s first president (governor) with 19 of 23 votes in the General Assembly.

1901 — On Lincoln’s birthday, the Delaware legislature ratified the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (slavery, citizenship, voting) to the U.S. Constitution – more than 30 years after they had first become law in the nation.

1950 — Mayor Ralph Baker made the first telephone call on the dial system installed in Georgetown.

Feb. 13

1737 — The Wilmington Meeting of the Society of Friends was organized in the home of William Shipley.

1857 — The General Assembly incorporated the Junction and Breakwater Railroad to build a line from Milford to Lewes.

Feb. 14

1760 — Richard Allen, a slave owned by Benjamin Chew, was born near Dover. Later converting to Christianity, Allen bought his freedom and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington.

1782 — Pvt. George Laha of Captain Quenault’s company in the Delaware Regiment since March 3, 1781, was discharged from service and being a slave for life, was reclaimed.

1902 — DuPont family members gathered to ponder selling out to its biggest competitor, Laflin & Rand, but in a turnaround the cousins Alfred I., Pierre S. and T. Coleman duPont teamed up to buy it themselves.

Feb. 15

1930 — Wilmington business leaders urged our congressional leadership to pursue efforts in building a bridge across the Delaware River to New Jersey.

2003 — Environmentalists determined the presence of 14 winter eagle sightings in the state in such places as Brandywine Hundred, Rehoboth Bay, Little Assawoman Bay and the Milford Neck area.

Feb. 16

1804 — Lt. Stephen Decatur led a party into Tripoli harbor and boarded the captured 38-gun frigate U.S. Philadelphia to deprive the pirates of the American prize. Reuben James, a Delawarean, saved the life of Decatur by throwing his body between Decatur and a menacing pirate. Wounded severely, James eventually recovered.

1918 — The Town of Milton offered a man 50 cents to shoot stray dogs in town, but the local newspaper suggested if he shot any prize hunting dogs, he better not stay around town long.