I never knew that!

• In 1939 President Roosevelt changed the date of Thanksgiving. By moving the holiday a week earlier, he hoped to lengthen the Christmas shopping season and boost sales. He announced this in August and created a controversy especially among calender makers and football coaches. Twenty three states celebrated Thanksgiving on the old date, twenty three celebrated on the new date, and Texas and Colorado celebrated both. In 1940, Roosevelt returned Thanksgiving to its original date and Congress passed a law banning any future president from changing the date of Thanksgiving. Source
• September 1914, German troops were close to taking Paris prompting French military officials to send 6,000 troops to the front. To transport the troops, they called on taxis. Six hundred cab drivers left their passengers and lined up for inspection, transporting the troops and saving Paris. Click here to see footage of the taxis in Windows Media Player. Source
• In May 1902 on the island of Martinique, a nearby volcano started to act up near the city of Saint-Pierre. Worried about his party losing power in the upcoming election, the governor of Martinique set up roadblocks to contain the citizens and instructed the newspapers to minimize the danger. Pelee erupted anyway, killing the governor and 30,000 people in less than two minutes. One of the only two survivors was scheduled for execution the next day, and was protected in his underground cell. He later toured with Barnum & Bailey Circus in a copy of the cell. Source: The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 tales from history to astonish, bewilder, and stupefy by Rick Beyer
• While everyone knows about the Great Chicago Fire, hardly anyone knows about the deadliest fire in US history: the Great Peshtigo Fire. Killing between 1,200 to 2,400 people in northern Wisconsin, it had the misfortune of occurring the same night as the Great Chicago Fire. Source.