Day in history for August 18, 2005

1855 -- 150 years ago

The District of Columbia paid the final installment on the Holland Debt, a loan for the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

1880 -- 125 years ago

Crews of the steamers M. Whitmore and Little Eagle staged a fight on the levee. Henry Wilson, of Montrose, Iowa, was badly injured.

1905 -- 100 years ago

Daniel Walker, who lived 4 miles south of Milan, drowned in the Rock River near the steel dam.

1930 -- 75 years ago

Eddie Schneider, an 18-year-old Jersey City youth, set a junior record for the fastest westward crossing of the United States in an airplane. He flew from New York City to Los Angeles in 29 hours and 41 minutes.

1955 -- 50 years ago

The old Rock Island Arsenal cafeteria, where Col. Charles A. Lindbergh and other notables have been honored in years past, is being demolished. The building housed the arsenal cafeteria for 28 years before the cafeteria was moved in 1946 to its present location.

1980 -- 25 years ago

The Quad-City region got nearly a month's worth of rainfall Saturday as almost continuous showers dumped 2.8 inches of precipitation on the area. The average rainfall for August is 3.37 inches, but 6.61 inches already has fallen with the month only half over.

Back: Available days in August 2005