The San Francisco and San Jose Railroad company was incorporated and became only the second stretch of railroad track, after the Sacramento Vlley Railroad, built in California.  Fifty miles of track was completed on January 16, 1864.  The railroad was incorporated into the Union Pacific in 1870 and the track remains in use to this day.  (By John Osborne) 

Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois, the youngest daughter of a bank president, mill owner, and a founder of the Republican Party.  She began a career as a teacher, traveled in Europe, and 1889 founded the first settlement house in the United States in Chicago, Illinois, modeled on East London's Toynbee Hall. An outspoken pacifist and advocate for women's suffrage she became the second woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.  She died in Chicago in May, 1935.  (By John Osborne)

In England, Mary Ann Evans, publishing as George Eliot, released her new novel, The Mill on the Floss.  Writing throughout 1859, she had completed the work on March 21, 1860.  It sold six thousand copies in the month and a half after its publication.  (By John Osborne)

On April 5, 1860, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow wrote in his diary, "Paul Revere's ride begun this day."  Two weeks later, he finished the poem.  Designed to awaken the public to the dangers facing the nation in its current crisis, the poem was first published in The Atlantic in January, 1861 and became instantly popular.  (By John Osborne) 

Henry Wordsworth Longfellow wrote in his diary, "Paul Revere's ride begun this day."  Two weeks later on April 19, 1860 he finished the poem. Designed to awaken the public to the dangers facing the nation, the poem was first published in The Atlantic in January, 1861 and became instantly popular.  (By John Osborne) 

The future emperor of Japan was born to the Emperor Komei and the lady-in-waiting Nakayama Yoshiko in November,1852. He was adopted as the heir to the throne and given the name Crown Prince Mutsuhito four months before his eighth birthday. When his father died in 1867, he became the 122nd Emperor of Japan and ruled till his own death in July 1912.  (By John Osborne)