In San Francisco on this day in 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge, a suspension bridge that once boasted the longest main span in the world and that has been celebrated for the magnificence of its setting.

More Events on this day:

1931: American dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, Jr., was born in Rogers, Texas.

1925: Nellie Tayloe Ross assumed office in Wyoming, becoming the first female governor in the United States.

1919: Anton Drexler founded the German Workers' Party, the forerunner of the Nazi Party, in Munich, Germany.

1914: Following the great success of the Model T, American automobile maker Henry Ford raised his workers' pay from $2.40 to $5.00 a day and reduced the hours of the workday.

Marketing students are always taught the genius of King Camp Gillette. He was the one who invented the safety razor with disposable blades. The razor (in this case, the "loss leader") was inexpensive; the profit was in the blades. This business idea is sometimes referred to as "freebie marketing." In 1903 — the first year the new razor was marketed — 51 razors and 168 blades were sold. Within a couple of years, Gillette had sold over 90,000 razors and some 12,000,000 blades. King Camp Gillette was born on this date in 1855.

Robinson, a vocal member of the Civil Rights movement, was the first African-American baseball player in the modern major leagues and the first African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1949, he led the National League in both stolen bases and batting average and was named its most valuable player. In recognition of his accomplishments both on and off the field, Major League Baseball retired Robinson's number in 1972. How many times did he "steal home" during his career?

What animal migrates the farthest each year? How long did the Hundred Years War last? Who is the Heisman Trophy's only two-time winner? What is the longest movie ever made? When was the world's first postage stamp issued and what was it called? When Burger King opened its first branch in 1954, how much did a hamburger cost? What is the longest word in the English language that can be typed with the right hand only? Which US state was the first to ban slavery? In a non-leap year, what date falls in the exact middle of the year? What's special about January 4?

uninhabited, barren, volcanic islands were discovered in the Indian Ocean near Antarctica (1854)

President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his domestic policies in his State of the Union address; he aimed to "end poverty and racial injustice" (1965)