MILESTONES: May 14, birthdays for Miranda Cosgrove, Martin Garrix, Rob Gronkowski

May 14, 2018 Brooklyn Daily EagleMark Zuckerberg AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez Miranda Cosgrove Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Martin Garrix Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP _____ Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 133th day of the year. On this day in 1885, t

Miranda Cosgrove. Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 133th day of the year.

On this day in 1885, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on the maiden voyage of the new elevated railroad in Brooklyn, which was actual a test trip. “The trial trip over the newly completed line of the Brooklyn elevated railroad yesterday afternoon, though not characterized by any particular excitement or unusual incident, was a most marked success. The first train of four cars, holding nearly 300 gentlemen, in charge of conductor H.L. Brooks and Engineer Floyd E. Tuthill, wound its way from the York Street station to Gates Avenue in 16 minutes, making no stop, but without apparent exertion.” Later paragraphs described the scene outside: “The train was welcomed almost everywhere on the line. The factory windows along the route blossomed with girls, pretty and otherwise, and the workmen cheered while the girls fluttered handkerchiefs and smiled sweetly on the passengers.”

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On this day in 1948, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on the establishment of Israel as a new Jewish state that realized a dream spanning two millennia. However, the occasion was far from peaceful. The Eagle reported, “Even as the Jewish dream of almost 2,000 years — a state of their own called Israel — came true at 4 p.m. (10 a.m. Brooklyn time) with a formal proclamation of Jewish leaders, Hagana troops were fighting Arabs in the Holy City.” The story continued, “The Jewish flag — blue and white with a yellow Star of David — already flew over many strategic buildings in Jerusalem, radio reports said, but strong Arab resistance was being met by Hagana men fighting their way toward the Jaffa gate leading to the old city.” The current Israeli flag shows a blue Star of David — the internationally recognized symbol of Zionism — on a white background.

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On this day in 1924, the Eagle reported on a rise in the stock price of the New York Dock Company, and on alleged reports that the Pennsylvania Railroad was in the process of acquiring the stock to control and create a new freight and barge terminal along the Brooklyn waterfront. However, the New York Dock Company’s President William E. Halm discounted the report as a mere rumor. The Eagle report continued, “The company owns and operates the largest bonded and free warehouse system in the Western Hemisphere, as well as the largest pier system in the United States, and also owns the New York Dock Railway Company.” Its waterfront property extended 2 1/2 miles, opposite Lower Manhattan. The New York Dock Company also operated three freight terminals in Brooklyn: Fulton Terminal (at the foot of Montague Street), Baltic Terminal and Atlantic Terminal.

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On this day in 1953, the Eagle reported that its publisher, Frank D. Schroth, would join Brooklyn Borough President John Cashmore in urging the House Appropriations Committee to approve $400 thousand to deepen the Gowanus Creek Channel. The Eagle story clarified that the channel, not to be confused with the Gowanus Canal, actually originated at the Canal’s Percival Street terminus and extended to the Bay Ridge Channel in Upper New York Harbor. “This waterway, carrying large quantities of materials essential to national defense and improved relations with free world nations, has been 26 feet deep since 1904 when it was first dredged. Since that time, cargo-carrying vessels have become larger and safe navigation requires a low water depth of 30 feet,” the story explained.

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On this day in 1954, the Eagle reported that the construction of a Narrows Bridge connecting the borough with Staten Island was a certainty. Reporter Gene Lushbaugh reported that City Public Works Commissioner Frederick H. Zurmuhlen was confident the bridge would be finished by 1960 and that it would bear Staten Island’s name. Three months earlier, Zurmuhlen had asked the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Company to “launch construction of the proposed $200,000,000 span.” But he met fierce opposition. A boldfaced paragraph read, “Only three weeks ago 1,000 irate Bay Ridge residents flocked to a rally to condemn the proposed span as ‘unnecessary, dangerous to national defense in time of war and ruinous to Bay Ridge real estate values.’” As reality played out, the bridge did not begin construction until 1959, and opened in 1964 — some nine years after the original Eagle ceased publication. And it was named instead for Italian Renaissance-era explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano — but missing one of the z’s in his name.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actress CATE BLANCHETT, who was born in 1969; singer and composer DAVID BYRNE, who was born in 1952; filmmaker SOFIA COPPOLA, who was born in 1971; actress MIRANDA COSGROVE, who was born in 1993; actress MEG FOSTER, who was born in 1948; DJ MARTIN GARRIX, who was born in 1996; sportscaster SUZY KOLBER, who was born in 1964; filmmaker GEORGE LUCAS, who was born in 1944; former baseball player DENNIS MARTINEZ, who was born in 1955; Hall of Fame baseball player TONY PEREZ, who was born in 1942; actor TIM ROTH, who was born in 1961; actress AMBER TAMBLYN, who was born in 1983; opera singer RONAN TYNAN, who was born in 1960; Oscar Award-winning director ROBERT ZEMECKIS, who was born in 1952; and Facebook founder MARK ZUCKERBERG, who was born in 1984.

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THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION SET OUT ON THIS DAY IN 1804. Charged by President Thomas Jefferson with finding a route to the Pacific, Capt. Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark left St. Louis, Missouri, with a 33-member group skilled in botany, zoology, outdoor survival and other scientific skills. They arrived at the Pacific coast of Oregon in November 1805 and returned to St. Louis in September 1806.

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GABRIEL DANIEL FAHRENHEIT WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1686. The German physicist introduced the use of mercury in thermometers and markedly improved their accuracy. He devised the Fahrenheit temperature scale (based on 32 degrees for the freezing/melting point of water/ice) that is still used in the U.S. (the Celsius scale is used more universally). He died in The Netherlands in 1736.

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JAMESTOWN WAS FOUNDED ON THIS DAY IN 1607. The first permanent English settlement in what is now the U.S. was established on this date in Virginia. Capts. John Smith and Christopher Newport were among the leaders of the group of royally chartered Virginia Company settlers who had traveled from Plymouth, England, in three small ships: Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery.

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY will host “A New Arms Race?” tonight at 6:30 p.m. The Iran nuclear deal. The potential of a denuclearized Korean peninsula. America’s shifting relationship with weapons of mass destruction. Today no topic is more urgent or more volatile than that of nuclear weapons. Celebrated investigative journalist Eric Schlosser produces works detailing the threats posed by nuclear weapons and has shared his warnings with the U.S. Congress, U.K. Parliament and the United Nations. Alex Wellerstein will use diligent research of declassified information to become a leading expert in the history of nuclear proliferation. Together they will discuss the fast-changing landscape of nuclear arms on the global stage. For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“We don’t make music — it makes us.” — Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, who was born on this day in 1952