April 21 - Kindergarten Day

On this day in history, in 1782, Friedrich Froebel was born. Froebel started the first Kindergarten in Germany in 1837. His school was built upon a series of innovative principles which made use of the children's innate curiosity and interests: song and play (which up to that point, was unheard of in schools); daily lessons in drawing, design, and other artistic activities; learning through active doing and close contact with the natural world.

Today is also National Chocolate-Covered Cashews Day!

Here are some interesting things that happened on this day in history:

- Romulus and Remus found Rome in 753
- Henry the VIII became King of England in 1509
- Trial by jury was first established in Canada in 1785
- The Bank of Upper Canada was incorporated in York (Toronto) in 1821
- Jennie Trout, the first Canadian woman licensed to practise medicine in Canada, was born in Kelso, Scotland in 1841
- Alexander Douglas patented the bustle in 1857
- New York installed the 1st firehouse pole in 1878
- Gideon Sundback of Sweden patented the zipper in 1913
- After an air engagement, Collishaw Raymond evaded several German and mistakenly landed at a German base. He quickly took off and managed to land at a French airfield near Verdun. The French were so impressed with his feat that they awarded him the Croix de Guerre in 1917

- Canadian pilot Roy Brown was credited with shooting down the infamous "Red Baron," Manfred von Richthofen, near Amiens in 1918
Apr 21, 1920 - The murder trial of Marie-Anne Houde ended in 1920. Houde was accused of murdering her step-daughter, Aurore, who became a martyr in the collective consciousness. Houde’s defence was insanity exacerbated by pregnancy. Initially she was sentenced to be hanged but her sentence was changed to life imprisonment due to pressure from the citizenry and militant groups.
- The future Queen Elizabeth II of England was born in 1926
- Bill Barilko of the Toronto Maple Leafs scored the last game of his life in the first overtime period against the Montreal Canadiens in 1951, winning the Stanley Cup for the Leafs. He perished in a plane crash shortly after, and his body was only recovered 11 years later. Curiously, the Leafs did not win another cup until the year his body was found.
- The National Ballet of Canada opened its Toronto season with a ballet version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in 1954. It was the first time the National Ballet appeared on television.
- The Order of British Columbia was established in 1989 to honour people of great distinction who excel in any field of endeavour benefiting the people of BC.
- The FBI arrested Timothy McVeigh in 1995, charging him with Oklahoma City bombing
- In 1998, astronomers announced that they had observed evidence of the early formation of a group of planets, similar to our own solar system, around a young sun 220 million light years away.

Check out what's happened this week in science:

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!