24 May 1878 : CA Parker (Harvard) wins 1st American bike race, Beacon Park Boston
24 May 1870 : Memoria of Jackson Kemper, 1st Missionary Bishop in US
24 May 1866 : Berkeley, California named (for George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne)
24 May 1862 : Beardslee field telegraph used for 1st time
24 May 1862 : Westminster Bridge across Thames opens
24 May 1861 : Alexandria, VA occupied by Federal troops
24 May 1861 : Maj General Benjamin Butler declares slaves "contraband of war"
24 May 1856 : Pottawatomie Massacre took place in Kansas
24 May 1854 : Anthony Burns, slave, arrested by US Deputy marshals in Boston
24 May 1854 : Lincoln University, Penn, 1st Black college in US forms by Prebyts
24 May 1844 : Samuel FB Morse taps out "What hath God wrought" (1st telegraph message)
24 May 1830 : "Mary Had A Little Lamb, " is written
24 May 1830 : 1st passenger rail service in US (Baltimore & Elliots Mill, Maryland)
24 May 1829 : Pope Pius VIII issues his program for pontificate
24 May 1824 : Pope Leo XII proclaims a universal jubilee