1817 - A street in Baltimore became the first to be lighted with gas from America's First Gas Company!
1909 - 80-year-old Indian chief GERONIMO had a little too much "fire water" in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He got wasted, fell off his horse, caught pneumonia from lying outside all night . . . and died.
1933 - "Newsweek" was first published.
1960 - ELVIS PRESLEY received his FIRST GOLD RECORD, for "ELVIS".
1972 - A crowd at London's Rainbow Theater heard PINK FLOYD play "Dark Side of the Moon" for the first time. The album was released a year later and stayed on the charts for 303 weeks . . . making it the longest-charting rock LP in "Billboard's" history.
1987 - Super-sexy animal lover BOB BARKER threatened to resign as host of the Miss USA pageant hours before the ceremony over an animal rights dispute.
1988 - A stupid 12-year-old boy thought he was a rock star and set his legs on fire. He said he thought he could do it because MOTLEY CRUE did it in their "Live Wire" video.
1989 - TAWNY KITAEN married WHITESNAKE'S DAVID COVERDALE. He escaped her clutches in 1991 . . . and she began beating the crap out of baseball pitcher CHUCK FINLEY six years later.
(--You can preview Friday's Back in the Day events here.)