Many great things happen in the first week of April in the US and Ohio. Enjoy these fun facts about history!

  • April 1, 1789: The United States House of Representatives held its first full meeting and declared that it was quorum.
  • April 2, 1917: President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany, entering the United States into World War I.
  • April 2, 1968: Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., riots broke out in many cities across the United States, including Cleveland. The National Guard was called in to help restore order.
  • April 3, 1971: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was created in New York City. Cleveland was later selected as the site for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened in 1995.
  • April 3, 2012: Cleveland’s historic Higbee Building reopened as a casino after a $350 million renovation. The casino, called the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, was the first of its kind in Ohio.
  • April 4, 1968: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
  • April 4, 2016: The Cleveland Cavaliers set an NBA record for most three-pointers made in a single game with 25, in a win against the Atlanta Hawks.
  • April 5, 1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102, which required all Americans to turn in their gold to the Federal Reserve in an attempt to combat the Great Depression.
  • April 5, 1980: The Cleveland Indians played their first game at the newly built Municipal Stadium. The stadium, which was later renamed Cleveland Stadium, served as the home of the Indians and the Cleveland Browns until it was demolished in 1996.
  • April 6, 1917: The United States officially declared war on Germany, joining the Allied powers in World War I.
  • April 7, 1949: The North Atlantic Treaty was signed, creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) between the United States and its European allies.