25 Years Ago

February 3, 1980 At the Winter Olympics, in Lake Placid, New York, the U.S. hockey team defeats Finland to win the gold medal. This game follows the Americans’ stunning upset of the Soviet Union.

February 3, 1980 Press outlets report that 31 elected officials will be charged with corruption as part of the Abscam investigation, in which FBI agents posing as wealthy Arabs offered bribes to legislators.

75 Years Ago

March 13, 1930 Astronomers at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, finally locate the planet that will be called Pluto, which they and others have been seeking for several decades.

150 Years Ago

March 30, 1855 Settlers in the new territory of Kansas, their numbers swelled by visitors from neighboring states, vote to install a pro-slavery territorial legislature.

225 Years Ago

February 1, 1780 Gen. Henry Clinton and a force of 8,000 soldiers arrive in Charleston, South Carolina, form New York. They will soon begin the British army’s Southern campaign, which is intended to finish off the Continental Army.

March 1, 1780 The Pennsylvania legislature passes an act providing that all children born to slave mothers after the effective date of the law will become free at age 28.

350 Years Ago

March 25, 1655 In Maryland, supporters of the English Parliament defeat a force of 130 royalist. The former governor is imprisoned and four of his supporters are executed.

375 Years Ago

March 29, 1630 The first group of four ships sets sails from Southampton, England, for the new Massachusetts Bay Colony. They carry several hundred colonists, including the governor, John Winthrop.