January 17th
1547: Ivan the Terrible is crowned tsar of Russia.
1804: French physicist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac ascends to a height of 7,016 m (23,018 ft) in a hydrogen balloon, a record that lasted 50 years.
1883: Congress passes the Civil Service Act, sometimes referred to as the Pendleton Act. This legislation created the foundations of the American civil service system.
1919: Prohibition, the legal ban on the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drink, goes into effect.
1961: Mickey Mantle inks a contract for $75,000 a year, the highest in the American League.
1964: Carol Channing debuts in Hello Dolly, the Broadway show based on Thorton Wilder's play The Matchmaker.The Broadway play earned a Tony as Best Musical of the Year.