On January 12, 1896, three students at Davidson College experimented with x-rays.
On January 11, 1740, Revolutionary War colonel and state legislator Thomas Robeson was born in Bladen County.
On January 11, 1887, education advocate Calvin Henderson Wiley died. Born in Guilford County in 1818, Wiley practiced law, edited a newspaper, and wrote novels before entering the political realm.
On January 10, 1936, the first state highway marker was dedicated. The first marker was placed in the small Granville County town of Stovall to commemorate the life of John Penn, an early political leader and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
On January 10, 1924, popular jazz drummer Max Roach was born in Pasquotank County. Shortly after moving to New York City with his family in 1928, Roach began to study piano with his aunt.
On January 10, 1934, the Dow Chemical Company and the Ethyl Corporation began extracting bromine from seawater on a neck of land near Wilmington. Bromine was used in photography and chemical warfare, but its primary use was in Ethyl, an anti-knock compound in gasoline.
On January 9, 1859, the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal opened, connecting Albemarle Sound and Chesapeake Bay, providing a vital economic link between North Carolina and Virginia.
