TODAY IN HISTORY

1967 U.S. postage stamp honoring the National Grange (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

DECEMBER 4

1867: Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Grange movement (formally known as the National Grange of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry), a powerful national organization of American farmers, in Washington, D.C. Kelley's fraternal organization of farmers helps to heal the divide of the Civil War through the formation of local Granges across the country.

1978: Diane Feinstein succeeds slain San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, who was murdered on Nov. 27 along with city supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Milk. Feinstein becomes the city's first female mayor and would be elected in her own right in November 1979.

1998: Six astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavour lift off from Cape Canaveral, bound for the fledgling International Space Station. Endeavour carries the "Unity Module" of the ISS as its major payload; "Unity" would be assembled with the already orbiting Zarya module, forming the basis of the space station. The ISS, which has been continuously inhabited by a rotating crew for the last 12 years, is a collaborative effort between the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil and numerous European nations.

1259:Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris.