Dates of the Millennium - January 19

Local

1788 - Poetry a feature of the newspaper.

1793 - Female Academy opened with spelling, writing, English and French, grammar, reading, arithmetic and geography.

1816 - Bank of State of Georgia is incorporated.

1847 - Stock in Augusta Manufacturing Co. to be offered.

1907 - John D. Rockefeller at Bon Air.

1947 - Now Georgia Lt. Gov. M.E. Thompson declares himself as governor. Gov. Arnall yields to him. Gov. Talmadge doesn't.

1971 - Owners of Augusta Town House, formerly Richmond Hotel, file for bankruptcy.

Nation/World

1736 -- James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was born in Scotland.

1807 -- Robert E. Lee, commander in chief of the Confederate armies, was born in Stratford, Va.

1809 -- author Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston.

1853 -- Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore" premiered in Rome.

1861 -- Georgia seceded from the Union.

1944 -- the federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads following settlement of a wage dispute.

1955 -- a presidential news conference was filmed for television for the first time, with permission from President Eisenhower.

1966 -- Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.

1970 -- President Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court; controversy over Carswell's past racial views defeated the nomination.

1979 -- former Attorney General John N. Mitchell was released on parole after serving 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama.

1981 -- the United States and Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months.

1989 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the full Senate approve the nomination of James A. Baker to be secretary of state.

1994 -- President Clinton visited quake-stricken Los Angeles, where he pledged fast and aggressive federal help. Figure skater Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, surrendered to authorities in Portland, Ore., after being charged with conspiring to attack skater Nancy Kerrigan.

1998 -- During a ceremony in Atlanta commemorating the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Vice President Gore announced that the Clinton administration would propose increasing spending on civil rights by $86 million. "Rockabilly" pioneer Carl Perkins died in Jackson, Tenn., at age 65.