New Years Eve History

Here are some important events that were accomplished just before the turn of a new year (some people just had to get in their quota)

- On Dec. 31, 1879: Thomas Edison publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, N.J.

- In 1775: The British repulsed an attack by Continental Army Gens. Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec. Montgomery was killed.

- In 1862: President Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union.

- In 1897: Brooklyn, N.Y., was on the eve as a separate entity before becoming part of New York City.

- In 1946: President Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.

- In 1961: The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.

- In 1974: Americans were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.

- In 1978: Taiwanese diplomats struck their colors for the last time from the embassy flagpole in Washington, marking the end of diplomatic relations with the United States.

- In 1985: Singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people died in a fire aboard a DC-3 while they were en route to Dallas for a New Year's Eve performance.

- In 1986: Fire killed 97 people in the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Three hotel workers later pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the blaze.

- In 1989: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir fired Science Minister Ezer Weizman, accusing him of meeting with officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

- In 1994: Bosnian government officials and Bosnian Serb leaders signed a U.N.-brokered cease-fire agreement; Russian ground forces launched a ferocious assault on the Chechen capital of Grozny.

- In 1997: Michael Kennedy, 39-year-old son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado.

- in 1998: Europe's leaders proclaimed a new era as 11 nations merged currencies to create the euro, a shared money they said would boost business, underpin unity and strengthen roles in world affairs.