December 21 in history — On This Day

A photograph taken after the 1871 fire can make Chicago look as though its future had been decided by a wall of flame. A view from around 1905 tells a different story: tall offices, busy transport routes and commercial streets crowded again.

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December

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Falcon 9 Lands After an Orbital Launch

Also on December 21

Bethlehem Passes to Palestinian Self-Rule

Pan Am Flight 103 Is Destroyed Over Lockerbie

Apollo 8 Launches Toward the Moon

The First New York World Crossword Appears

This Week in History

The House of Representatives Impeaches Donald Trump

The Delhi Bus Assault Sparks Protests

Mohamed Bouazizi's Protest Helps Spark Tunisia's Uprising

The Leaning Tower of Pisa Reopens

AI History Recreations

Politics

Bethlehem Passes to Palestinian Self-Rule

War & Conflict

Pan Am Flight 103 Is Destroyed Over Lockerbie

Space

Falcon 9 Lands After an Orbital Launch

Technology

Bell Laboratories Demonstrates the Transistor

History

The Ku Klux Klan's Founding Is Traditionally Dated to Christmas Eve

The Leaning Tower of Pisa Reopens

Three Keepers Disappear From the Flannan Isles Lighthouse

Crime & Justice

The Lake Herman Road Murders

Terry Nichols Is Convicted in the Oklahoma City Bombing Case

The Delhi Bus Assault Sparks Protests

Science

The Piltdown Fossil Claim Is Announced

The Curies Announce Evidence for Radium

Darwin Sails on HMS Beagle

Medicine & Health

The First Successful Human Kidney Transplant

The First American IVF Baby Is Born

Hong Kong Begins a Mass Poultry Cull Against Bird Flu

Nature & Disasters

A Living Coelacanth Is Caught off South Africa

The Wilberg Mine Fire

The Andes Flight Survivors' Rescue Is Completed

Exploration

Amundsen's Team Reaches the South Pole

Tasman's Expedition Sights New Zealand

Francis Drake Begins His Circumnavigation Voyage

Sport

The Montreal Canadiens Are Founded

FC Barcelona Is Founded

Mike Tyson Becomes the Youngest Heavyweight Titleholder

Art & Literature

The First New York World Crossword Appears

A Christmas Carol Is Published

Radio City Music Hall Opens

Music

Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies Premiere

Bach introduces his New Year cantata BWV 16

Mozart Dies in Vienna

Film & TV

It's a Wonderful Life Has Its New York Premiere

The Simpsons Begins as a Half-Hour Series

Charlie Chaplin Dies in Switzerland

The Story Behind the Photo

Chicago After the Fire: From Burned Blocks to a New Skyline

Collections

The Road to the Moon

Fires That Changed Cities

The Age of Invention

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My Birthday in History

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