This Day in History

In Alaska

• Photos

• In 1971, in the worst single plane accident in the history of American aviation at that time, an Alaska Airlines 727 jet crashed 1,000 feet below the summit of a 3,500-foot mountain 21 miles west of Juneau.

In the nation

• In 1781, Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers.

• In 1888, George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film camera and registered his trademark: Kodak.

• In 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.

In the world

• In 1893, English author Beatrix Potter first told the story of Peter Rabbit in a "picture letter" to Noel Moore, the son of Potter's former governess.

• In 1917, the American expeditionary force in France suffered its first fatalities in World War I.