The strongest earthquake in American history, measuring 9.2
on the Richter scale, slimmed southern Alaska, creating a
deadly tsunami. Some 131 people were killed and thousands
injured on this day in 1964.

The massive earthquake had its epicenter about 12 miles north
of Prince William Sound. Approximately 300,000 square miles
of U.S., Canadian, and international territory were affected.

Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, sustained the most property
damage, with about 30 blocks of dwellings and commercial
buildings damaged or destroyed in the downtown area. Fifteen
people were killed or fatally injured as a direct result of the
three-minute quake, and then the ensuing tsunami killed
another 110 people.

Poetry great Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco, California.

On March 26, 1804, President Thomas Jefferson attended a party  
at the Senate and lead a diverse crowd in consuming an enormous
loaf of bread dubbed the mammoth loaf. The giant bread was baked
to go with the remnants of an enormous block of cheese.

Two years earlier, a group of Baptist women from Massachusetts
had sent Jefferson a 1,200- pound hunk of cheese in gratitude
for his support of religious tolerance.

Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826)