December 25 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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This Week in History

The Attempted Shoe Bombing of Flight 63

Terry Nichols Is Convicted in the Oklahoma City Bombing Case

Pan Am Flight 103 Is Destroyed Over Lockerbie

Apollo 17 Returns to Earth

AI History Recreations

Politics

The Treaty of Ghent Is Signed

War & Conflict

Washington's Army Attacks Trenton

Space

Apollo 8 Enters Lunar Orbit

Technology

Edison Publicly Demonstrates Electric Lighting at Menlo Park

History

North American Railroads Adopt Standard Time Zones

KDKA Broadcasts the Harding–Cox Election Returns

Ivy Mike Detonates and Opens the Thermonuclear Age

Crime & Justice

Terry Nichols Is Convicted in the Oklahoma City Bombing Case

The Lake Herman Road Murders

The Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

Science

Chicago Pile-1 Achieves a Controlled Chain Reaction

The Night the Leonids Filled the Sky

Einstein Arrives in America as a Refugee

Medicine & Health

The First Successful Human Kidney Transplant

The First American IVF Baby Is Born

Nature & Disasters

The Endangered Species Act Is Signed

The Iroquois Theatre Fire

Two Airliners Collide Over New York

Exploration

Magellan's Expedition Enters the Pacific

Nellie Bly Begins Her Journey Around the World

The First Flight Around the World Returns to Seattle

Sport

Mike Tyson Becomes the Youngest Heavyweight Titleholder

Rutgers and Princeton Play the First Intercollegiate Football Game

Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland 0: The Game Behind the Impossible Score

Art & Literature

Radio City Music Hall Opens

The First New York World Crossword Appears

The Power of Sympathy is published in Boston

Music

Marian Anderson sings at the Metropolitan Opera

Porgy and Bess Arrives on Broadway

The Metropolitan Opera opens its Lincoln Center house

Film & TV

It's a Wonderful Life Has Its New York Premiere

A Charlie Brown Christmas Premieres

Casablanca Has Its New York Premiere

The Story Behind the Photo

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

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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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