March Fun Facts – A Trip Down Memory Lane

 

March: The planet Mars, hamburgers and pound cake!

March was named after the Roman god Mars, who was regarded as the guardian of agriculture and warfare.

March is National Maple Sugar Month, International Hamburger and Pickle Month, and, ironically, National Nutrition Month. We also celebrate National Peanut Butter Lovers’ Day, Banana Cream Pie Day, National Pound Cake day, Cheese Noodle Day, Frozen Food day, Baked Scallops Day, Artichoke Hearts Day, National Green Beer Day (on March 17th of course), National Lobster Newburg Day, Spanish Paella Day, and we close out the month with National Oranges and Lemons Day.

On March 1, 1872, President Grant signed the bill creating the nation’s first national park at Yellowstone.

On March 1, 1932, Charles Lindbergh III, the 20-month-old son of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family’s new mansion in Hopewell, New Jersey. After an exhaustive search, however, there was no sign of the child. Soon after, the baby’s body was discovered near the Lindbergh mansion. He had been killed the night of the kidnapping and was found less than a mile from home. The heartbroken Lindberghs ended up donating the mansion to charity and moved away. In the aftermath of the crime, kidnapping was made a federal offense.

On March 1, 1969, New York Yankees center fielder Mickey Mantle announced his retirement from baseball.

On March 2, 1962, Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks. It was the first time that a professional basketball player had scored 100 points in a single contest; the previous record, 78, had been set by Chamberlain earlier in the season. During the game, Chamberlain sank 36 field goals and 28 foul shots, both league records.

Knute Rockne, one of the most successful coaches in the history of college football, was born on March 4, 1888, in Voss, Norway. He helped to transform Notre Dame’s “Fighting Irish” from an unknown program into one of the most popular college football teams in the United States.

On March 8, 1971, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier met for the “Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

March 14 is National Potato Chip Day.

As part of the Missouri Compromise between the North and the South, Maine was admitted into the Union as the 23rd state on Mar 15, 1820. Since 1647, Maine had been administered as a province of Massachusetts. Allowing the entrance of Maine as a free state was agreed to by Southern senators in exchange for the entrance of Missouri as a slave state.

The Ides of March, is a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to March 15th. On the earliest calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year. It was marked by several religious observances, and became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B. by Brutus, Cassius, Casca and others.

Mar 15, 1917: Russian Czar Nicholas II abdicated his throne and a provincial government is installed in his place.

On March 17, 1762, the first parade honoring the Catholic feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was held in New York City by Irish soldiers serving in the British army.

Prompted by the tremendous increase in demand for cross-country shipping following the discovery of gold in California in 1849, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo decided to take advantage of these great opportunities and established the Wells Fargo Shipping and Banking Company on March 18, 1852. In July of that year, their company shipped its first loads of freight from the East Coast to mining camps scattered around northern California. The company contracted with independent stagecoach companies to provide the fastest possible transportation and delivery of gold dust, important documents and other valuable freight. It also served as a bank–buying gold dust, selling paper bank drafts and providing loans to help fuel California’s growing economy.

On March 18, 1837, Grover Cleveland, the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms in the office, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey. Cleveland served as the 22nd president from 1885 to 1889 and as the 24th president from 1893 to 1897.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is published on March 20, 1852.

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr., who was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has since remained under institutional psychiatric care.

Also of interest…
March in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of September in the Northern Hemisphere.
March starts on the same day of the week as November every year.

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