American Revolution October 28, 1775
The new commander in chief of the British army, Major General Sir William Howe, issues a proclamation to the residents of Boston on this day in 1775. Speaking from British headquarters in Boston, Howe forbade any person from leaving the city and ordered citizens to organise into military companies in order to "contribute all in his power for the preservation of order and good government within the town of Boston".
Almost four months earlier, on July 3, 1775, George Washington had formally taken command of the Continental Army. Washington, a prominent Virginia planter and veteran of the French and Indian War, had been appointed commander in chief by the Continental Congress two weeks before in an attempt to turn the impromptu siege of Boston, instigated by New Englanders enraged by the Battle of Lexington and Concord the previous April into a congressionally organised inter-colonial revolt against parliamentary oppression. The ad hoc siege of Boston enjoyed it greatest moment when New Englanders under the command of Israel Putnam and William Prescott managed to kill 226 and wound 838 members of the world-famous British army before withdrawing their rag-tag force from Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775.
Julia Roberts born Oct 28, 1967
On this day in 1967, Julia Roberts, the girl-next-door beauty who will become one of Hollywood's A-list actresses and the star of such hit films as Pretty Woman, Erin Brockovich and Notting Hill, is born in Smyrna, Georgia. The actress's early credits include Satisfaction (1988), with Justine Bateman and Liam Neeson, and the romantic comedy Mystic Pizza (1989), in which she played the feisty waitress Daisy Arujo. Roberts received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as a young Southern woman afflicted with serious health problems in the 1989 tearjerker Steel Magnolias, which co-starred Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Olympia Dukakis and Daryl Hannah. Roberts' performance as the hooker with a heart of gold Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman skyrocketed her to stardom.
Leif Erickson Tunnel completes 1593-mile Oct 28, 1992
On this day, Duluth, Minnesota mayor Gary Doty cuts the ribbon at the mouth of the brand-new, 1,480-foot-long Leif Erickson Tunnel on Interstate 35. With the opening of the tunnel, that highway-which stretches 1,593 miles, from Mexico all the way to Canada-was finished at last. As a result, the federal government announced, the Interstate Highway System itself was 99.7 percent complete.
In 1958, the Minnesota Highway Department proposed a highway, to be paid for with federal interstate highway funds, right through the middle of downtown Duluth. It would be elevated and run right along the Lake Superior shoreline; to build it, many downtown buildings, not to mention pedestrian access to the waterfront, would be eliminated. It would, the mayor said, be "a face-lifter and a solution to Duluth's downtown traffic problems".