Highlights of the day

  • 1775 British troops fire on minutemen starting the American Revolution
  • 1904 Great Toronto Fire rages for 2 days, torching the business core.
  • 1907 Six Nations marathoner Tom Longboat wins 11th Boston Marathon.
  • 1939 Molly Kool of Alma, NB, first Canadian woman awarded her sea captain’s papers.

List of Facts for April 19

  • 1750 Acadia - Acadian settlers at Grand Pré, Pisiquit and Canard River ask Governor Charles Cornwallis for permission to leave; he refuses to let them depart. Grand Pré, Nova Scotia
  • 1775 British troops fire on American minutemen starting the American Revolution; lasts until Nov. 30, 1782. Concord, Massachusetts
  • 1838 Linus Miller and Dr. J. T. Wilson lead an attack on the Hamilton jail to free the rebel prisoners from Dr. Duncombe’s Rising near Brantford; they disperse on being met by a large body of militia and the news of a prisoner reprieve. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1883 Fire destroys the Parliament Buildings in Québec City. Québec, Québec
  • 1884 Ottawa amends the Indian Act to outlaw the potlach, effective January 1, 1885. The ceremony was practised by the tribes of the Northwest Coast to mourn the dead or to celebrate the initiation of a chief. Officials and missionaries opposed the potlach, saying that it interfered with work, and wasted goods such as blankets, food, and canoes, given away or destroyed to demonstrate the status and power of a clan. Ceremonies were still held in secret, at the risk of arrest or confiscation of property. In the later 1880s, the government prosecuted the first person under the law, but BC Chief Justice Matthew Begbie ruled that the law was unenforceable as written because it did not define the term “potlatch.” Minister of Indian Affairs Duncan Campbell Scott ordered the law enforced in 1922, and 22 Kwakawaka’wakw people were jailed for up to 6 months at the Oakalla Prison Farm outside Vancouver. Very few celebrants were later convicted, and the ban was finally lifted in 1951. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1891 J.W. Dow files a pre-emption to 120 acres on what is now the townsite of Creston, BC.
  • 1900 Jim Caffrey of Canada wins the 4th Boston Marathon in 2:39:44.4. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1901 Jim Caffrey of Canada wins the 5th Boston Marathon in 2:29:23.6. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1902 Memorial Hospital of Pincher Creek granted federal incorporation. Pincher Creek, Alberta
  • 1904 Great Toronto fire starts in the evening, and rages for two days fed by high winds; the city’s 200 firefighters call on crews from London, Niagara Falls, Hamilton, Peterborough and Buffalo for help, but bitter cold and a lack of adequate water pressure makes the fire hoses almost ineffective. No people or horses perish, but the fire does an estimated $12 million dollars damage and destroys 104 buildings, leaving 14 acres of the city’s business core in ice-covered ruins. ‘Standing at the corner of Front and Bay streets,’ writes a Globe reporter on April 21, ‘one begins to realize the extent of the awful destruction that has been wrought. On every hand are ruins almost as far as one can see.’ Toronto, Ontario (City of Toronto Archives)
  • 1907 Six Nations Onondaga marathon runner Tom Longboat wins the 11th Boston marathon in a record time of 2:24:24. In 1909 he wins the title of Professional Champion of the World. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1909 South African war veteran Arthur Hair raises funds to inaugurate the Last Post Imperial Naval and Military Contingency Fund, in the vestry of Trinity Church, Viger Square; will provide funerals and granite grave markers for 276 indigent Québec veterans until 1921, when it gets a Dominion charter as the Last Post Fund, with an annual government grant of $10,000; maintains its own military cemetery at Pointe Claire, Qubec; 11 branches across Canada, 3 in the US and one in the UK. Montréal, Québec
  • 1910 Bull River Electric Power Company incorporated to take over assets of the BR Electric, Light and Power Company.
  • 1910 Fred Cameron of Canada wins the 14th Boston Marathon in 2:28:52.4. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1912 Mystery man Jerome dies at about age 58; found on a beach with both legs amputated, he refused to talk or write, and died unidentified. Nova Scotia
  • 1915 Edouard Fabre of Canada wins the 19th Boston Marathon in 2:31:41.2. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1916 Women - Vote - Alberta adopts the Equal Suffrage Statutory Law Amendment Act giving women the right to vote and hold provincial office; the 3rd province to do so after Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1920 Military - Founding of the Air Board to oversee the fledgling Canadian Air Force. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1926 Johnny Miles of Canada wins the 30th Boston Marathon in 2:25:40.4. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1927 Edmonton Grads defeat the Toronto Lakesides 34-24 in the First of a 2-game series for the Dominion basketball title; Grads go on to win the title two days later. Alberta
  • 1927 New Brunswick takes control of the sale of liquor in the province. New Brunswick
  • 1928 CPR launches Rosebery (132 tons) at Rosebery. Re-built 1943, retired 1956.
  • 1929 Johnny Miles of Canada wins the 33rd Boston Marathon in 2:33:08.6. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1931 Acadia - Cajuns unveil a statue of Evangeline, modelled after Mexican actress Dolores del Rio, at St. Martinville; to commemorate the deportation of the Acadians from Nova Scotia, and Longfellow’s famous poem. St. Martinville, Louisiana
  • 1934 Dave Komonen of Canada wins the 38th Boston Marathon in 2:32:53.8. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1935 Black Wednesday in Corbin. Caterpillar tractor used to break up demonstration by miners’ wives.
  • 1937 Walter Young of Canada wins the 41st Boston Marathon in 2:33:20. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1939 Molly Kool of Alma becomes Canada’s First woman sea captain; after being awarded her papers, she takes command of the vessel Jean K, working the coastal trade throughout the Bay of Fundy until after Second World War. Alma, New Brunswick
  • 1940 Gérard Côté wins the 44th Boston Marathon in in 2:28:28.6; native of St-Barnabé, Québec a former snowshoer. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1943 Gérard Côté wins the 47th Boston Marathon in 2:28:25.8; native of St-Barnabé. Québec a former snowshoer. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1944 Gérard Côté wins the 48th Boston Marathon; second straight and third career Marathon; native of St-Barnabé, Québec a former snowshoer. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1945 Second World War - Retreating Germans blow out a seawall at the Zuider Zee dike, putting some of the best Dutch farmland underwater; the loss of the dike and the ruined farmland prove devastating to a country where millions are already starving, and the Canadians pause their advance to get food to thousands of desperate people. Netherlands
  • 1947 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montréal Canadiens 2-1 in game 6 to take the Stanley Cup 4 games to 2; 21-year-old Ted Kennedy scored the winning goal, and added an assist. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1948 Gérard Côté wins the 52nd Boston Marathon in 2:31:02; his fourth Marathon win; native of St-Barnabé, Québec a former snowshoe champion. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1951 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montréal Canadiens 3-2 in game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals; Harry Watson scored the winning goal at 5:15 of overtime; Toronto will go on to win the series in five games. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1956 Construction begins on the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library at the corner of Robson and Burrard. Vancouver, BC
  • 1961 Sankara Pillai slain in his office by intruder; First Secretary of Indian High Commission. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1962 National Capital Commission expropriates 62.3 hectare Lebreton Flats area of central Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1963 Alan Chippindale elected First President of the Canadian Mutual Funds Association at First Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec
  • 1963 Thief steals a collection of Newfoundland coins from the Newfoundland Museum. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1970 Hockey - Phil Esposito scored a hat trick against his Brother Tony Esposito, Chicago Blackhawks goaltender, as the Bruins win 6-3, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals. Chicago, Illinois
  • 1972 Manitoba announces tougher boxing regulations after Stewart Gray’s death Feb. 22 during a match with Canadian champion Al Sparks. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1983 Ottawa raises taxes to pay for 4-year, $4.8 billion recovery program; 1983-84 projected deficit of $31.3 billion. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1984 Brian Dickson sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada; after death of Justice Bora Laskin March 26. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1984 CP Air buys Eastern Provincial Airways, Canadian regional airline. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1987 Body of filmmaker Claude Jutra found in the St. Lawrence River at Cap-Santé; a note inside the belt of the washed up body read: My name is Claude Jutra. Jutra had disappeared from his Montreal home on November 5, 1986; best known for his film Mon oncle Antoine, he had been suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and depression. *Cap-Santé, Québec
  • 1988 Edmonton Oilers 3, Calgary Flames 1
  • 1990 Fisheries Minister Bernard Valcourt says fishery should be pared down and year-round work provided, instead of seasonal work and; unemployment insurance that destroys work ethic. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1990 Five teenagers charged with setting massive tire fire at the Tyre King Recycling dump in Hagersville; burned for 17 days in February, forcing 500 from homes. Simcoe, Ontario
  • 1991 Ministry of National Defence announces 5 year renewal of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) agreement with the US. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka murder 15-year-old Kristen French after 72 hours of sexual assaults and savage beatings; kidnapped April 16 while walking home from school. St. Catharines, Ontario
  • 1995 Publication of the Report of the National Commission on the Future of Québec - La Commission nationale sur l’avenir du Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1997 Sandra Schmirler (Peterson) curling team wins their third World Women’s Curling Championship; become the only women’s curling team to win three world championships. Saskatchewan
  • 1998 Father George Salamon, OMI, of St. Boniface, is the world’s oldest living Oblate at age 102. St. Boniface, Manitoba
  • 2000 Wiebo Ludwig guilty of a 1998 gas-well bombing; activist claimed the wells were responsible for deadly pollution near his ranch. Alberta
  • 2004 Canadians Edge and Chris Benoit win World Tag Team Championships on RAW (WWE)