February 11, 1752 - The Pennsylvania Hospital opens in Philadelphia. Funds were raised by Benjamin Franklin as this first American hospital was being built.

February 11, 1805 - Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau is born to Sacajawea during the Lewis and Clark expedition. Meriwether Lewis assisted at his birth, and he was nicknamed "Pomp" by William Clark.

February 11, 1809 - Robert Fulton receives a patent for the steamboat.

February 11, 1809 - Jesse Fell designs a way to burn coal in his fireplace.

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February 11, 1847 - Thomas Alva Edison, inventor (kinetoscope, incandescent light bulb, phonograph), is born.

February 11, 1861 - President Lincoln departs Springfield, Illinois for Washington D.C. s the Civil War is about to begin. He tells the crowd seeing him off that he was facing "a task . . . greater than that which rested upon Washington."

February 11, 1928 - Using a sheet of plywood and a yardstick, Ed Shoemaker and Edward Knabusch design the La-Z-Boy reclining chair.

February 11, 1937 - After staging a 44-day sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, auto workers force General Motors to sign the first union contract in the industry.

 

"America was targeted for attack because we are the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world, and no one will keep that light from shining."-