On this day: December 20
POSTED: 10:21 PM PST Dec 19, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PST Dec 19, 2012
The Louisiana Purchase is completed, South Carolina secedes from the U.S., Edison demonstrates his incandescent light, Elvis gets drafted, and the U.S. invades Panama, all on this day.
Public domain
1880: A stretch of New York City's Broadway Street between Union Square and Madison Square is illuminated by Brush arc lamps, making it among the first electrically lighted streets in the United States. By the turn of the century, the well-lit street would become known as the "Great White Way."
