History of the Day for:
January 28
- 1547: King Henry VIII of England died at 55 and was succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Edward VI.
- 1807: London's Pall Mall became the first street lit by gaslight.
- 1851: Northwestern University was chartered in Evanston, Ill., as North Western University.
- 1858: John Brown organized the raid on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry.
- 1878: The first daily college newspaper, the "Yale News," began publication in New Haven, Conn.
- 1902: The Carnegie Institute was established in Washington, D.C.
- 1904: The first college sports letters were given out. Seniors who played on the University of Chicago's football team were awarded blankets with the letter "C" on them.
- 1914: Beverly Hills, Ca., was incorporated.
- 1915: The Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress.
- 1916: Louis D. Brandeis was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming its first Jewish member.
- 1922: The American Pro Football Association was renamed the National Football League.
- 1932: The first U.S. state unemployment insurance act was enacted in Wisconsin.
- 1934: The first rope ski tow went into operation in Woodstock, Vt.
- 1935: Iceland became the first country to legalize abortion.
- 1941: French-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
- 1945: World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
- 1951: "La Vie Commence Demain," which depicted artificial insemination and was the first X-rated movie, opened in London.
- 1958: The Lego company patented their design of Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
- 1958: Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella's career ended when he lost control of his car on a slick highway. He became a parapalegic and was confined to a wheelchair the remainder of his life.
- 1965: The Who made their first appearance on British TV's celebrated "Ready Steady Go" show.
- 1978: "Fantasy Island," starring Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize, debuted on ABC.
- 1985: A host of pop and rock stars assembled in a Los Angeles studio to record the song "We Are The World" following the American Music Awards.
- 1986: The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members. The cause was later found to be failure of a booster rocket O-rings because of the cold weather.
- 2002: TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia killing 92.