February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar.
National Chocolate Souffle Day
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was incorporated on February 28, 1827, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
1849 – Regular steamboat service from the east to the west coast of the United States began with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor. Left New York on October 6, 1848; arrived at Rio de Janerio on November 2nd; navigated the Straits of Magellan December 7–12, 1848. The SS California wrecked and sank in the Pacific Ocean near Pacasmayo Province, Peru in 1895. There were no deaths. At the time, she had been reconstructed as a bark and engaged in hauling coal and lumber. On her last run, she had left Port Hadlock in Washington state with a cargo of lumber valued at $3,000.
1861 The Territory of Colorado was organized in the wake of the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1858–1861 which brought the first large concentration of white settlement to the region. It existed between February 28, 1861, and August 1, 1876. Its boundaries were identical to the current State of Colorado. The territory ceased to exist when Colorado was admitted into the Union as the 38th U.S. state on August 1, 1876.
The first vaudeville theater opened in Boston on February 28, 1883.
1953 Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes, at Cambridge University.
The first color television sets using the NTSC standard (analog television system), are offered for sale to the general public in 1954.
They cost about $1000 each. Only 5000 were sold. In 1954 the average Annual Salary was $3,960. By comparison, one could buy a car for $1,750; a house for $8,650. Gasoline was 21 cents per gallon, bread was 17 cents a loaf; milk was 92 cents a gallon, and a postage stamp cost 3 cents. You could go to a movie for 70 cents.
See more at Pop History for 1954
1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group’s leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians died in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.