(STL.News) According to onthisday.com the following events occurred on December 28th:
- 1065 Westminster Abbey in London consecrated
- 1612 First observation of Neptune – Galileo observes and records a “fixed star” without realizing it is a planet
- 1767 King Taksin crowned King of Thailand and establishes Thonburi as his capital
- 1836 Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico
- 1860 Harriet Tubman arrives in Auburn, New York, on her last mission to free slaves, having evaded capture for 8 years on the Underground Railroad
- 1908 Earthquake strikes Messina, Italy, killing nearly 80,000
- 1943 All Kalmyk inhabitants of the Republic of Kalmukkie deported by the Soviet Union to Central Asia and Siberia. Many die en route.
- 1895 Filmmakers the Lumiere brothers, hold the first commercial film screening at Salon Indien du Grand Café, Paris
- 1944 Leonard Bernstein’s musical “On the Town” premieres in NYC
- 1958 “The Greatest Game Ever Played”: Baltimore Colts win the 26th NFL championship against the New York Giants 23-17 at Yankee Stadium, in the first ever sudden-death overtime game in NFL history. 17 future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame were involved in the game.
- 1936 British best-selling romantic author Barbara Cartland (35) marries 2nd husband Hugh McCorquodale
- 1936 Football player Bronko Nagurski (28) weds childhood sweetheart Eileen Kane in International Falls, Minnesota
- 1950 Author John Steinbeck (48) weds actress Elaine Anderson (36)
- 1942 Actress Janet Leigh (14) divorces childhood sweetheart John Kenneth Carlisle (18) 4 months after getting married
- 2010 Film and record company executive Justin Siegel (23) divorces actress-singer Emmy Rossum due to irreconcilable differences after a year-and-a-half of marriage
- 2012 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (82) divorces Lois Driggs Cannon due to irreconcilable differences after 23 years of marriage
NOTE: This is the most notable events, but certainly not all.