What Happened on June 27?

  • The BTK serial killer pleaded guilty to 10 murders spanning 17 years. (2005) Denis Rader had taunted police and media with letters describing the killings while they took place. He was not caught at the time and stopped killing in 1991. In 2004, he resumed the letter writing, which led to his arrest and conviction. He was sentenced to serve 10 consecutive life terms — 175 years — without parole.

  • The New York Stock Exchange crashed, adding to the Panic of 1893. (1893) The "Panic of 1893" was the worst economic depression in U.S. history before the Great Depression in the 1930s. Many banks failed, and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) crash further exacerbated the situation. People started exchanging paper money for gold and silver, worsening the economic climate even more. As a result, Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which guaranteed the Exchange.

  • The world's first ATM was installed. (1967) The money machine was installed in Enfield, England by Barclays Bank. They hired a comedic actor to use the machine for publicity — previous attempts around the world to have an automated deposit machine or cash dispensing machine were not met with customer approval. An estimated 1.8 million ATM machines are used worldwide today.

  • The do-not-call list started in the United States. (2003) More than 735,000 people signed up to block telemarketing calls on the first day.

  • The first nuclear power station opened in Russia. (1954) It was the world's first nuclear power station to produce electricity, which powered about 2,000 homes at the time. It continued operating until it was shut down in 2002.

  • A Nova Scotia sailor became the first to sail around the world solo. (1898) Joshua Slocum sailed his sloop Spray 46,000 miles (74,000 kilometer) around the globe in three years and two months. The sloop could self steer, which allowed him to sleep. At one point the boat self navigated for 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) without Slocum's assistance.

  • The first electric U.S. passenger train opened between Washington D.C. and New York City. (1895) The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran the train, the Royal Blue, until 1958.

  • One of the most famous movie lines is history, "Frankly, dear, I don't give a damn," was filmed. (1939) Clark Gable said the famous lines in his role as Rhett Butler in the movie adaptation of Gone With The Wind. The movie set box office records with a gross revenue of more than $400 million US Dollars, which would be the equivalent of about $1.5 billion US Dollars today.

  • The gay rights movement started in the U.S. (1969) In an altercation with police, patrons at a gay bar in Greenwich Village in New York called the Stonewall Inn started the 1969 Stonewall Riots. The incident is considered to be the start of the gay and lesbian rights movement.

  • The famed Route 66 highway, which stretched from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, was decertified. (1985) It was one of the first U.S. highways, established in 1926 but it was taken off the official US Highway System because the expansion of the Interstate Highway System made it largely irrelevant. Though the road isn't an official highway any longer, some parts of it have been noted as a National Scenic Byway called Historic Route 66.

  • Helen Keller, an accomplished American blind and deaf woman, was born. (1880) Though blind and deaf, Keller became a famed writer, lecturer and political activist. She also was the first blind and deaf woman to earn a bachelor's degree.

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