The 21st of FEBRUARY HiSTORY TiMELiNE

1804 ~ The 1st self-propelling steam locomotive made its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.

1808 ~ The Finnish War began without a previous declaration of war, when Russian troops crossed the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, in which Sweden eventually lost the eastern half of the country (now known as Finland) to Russia.

1828 ~ The Cherokee Phoenix initial issue became the 1st periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah.

1842 ~ 1st U.S. patent for the sewing machine was granted to John Greenough.

1848 ~ The Communist Manifesto was published by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

1866 ~ Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the 1st American woman to graduate from dental school.

1878 ~ The 1st telephone directory was issued, in New Haven, Connecticut.

1885 ~ The Washington Monument was dedicated.

1918 ~ The last Carolina parakeet died in captivity, at the Cincinnati Zoo.

1925 ~ The New Yorker published the 1st issue.

1947 ~ The 1st instant camera, the Polaroid Land Camera was demonstrated in New York City, by Edwin Land, at an Optical Society of America meeting.

1948 ~ NASCAR was incorporated.

1958 ~ The peace symbol (CND symbol) design was completed by Gerald Holtom. It was commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.

1971 ~ The Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed at Vienna.

1972 ~ Luna 20 the Soviet unmanned spaceship landed on the Moon.

1995 ~ Steve Fossett became the 1st person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, when he landed in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Today in History for February 21st (Associated Press video)…