Today in History

February 22 ^nd

1856: The Republican Party holds its first convention in Pittsburgh. The American political party was founded by Northern Anti-slavery activists, many of whom were former members of the free Soil and Whig parties. It elected John Fremont to run in the 1856 presidential election under the slogan “free labor, free land, free men.”

1879: Frank Woolworth opens his first five-and-dime stor…