January 4

January 4 is the 4th day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1896 to 2007 — a span of 111 years. The entry that anchors it: The Maryland train collision, 1987.

Reconstruction and the years that followed added their own entries. In 1896, Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.

The early twentieth century brought industry, air travel and war to the date. In 1918, the Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.

After 1945 the date reflects a country operating at global scale. In 1946, the first day of a three-day "disastrous" tornado outbreak across the south-central United States leaves 41 people dead and at least 412 others injured. Then, in 1987, The Maryland train collision — an Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.

The most recent entries fall within living memory. In 1998, a massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction. A year later, in 1999, Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota, United States. Five years on, in 2004, Spirit, the first of two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, successfully landed on Mars. Three years on, in 2007, the 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on January 4: General Tom Thumb (1838), American circus performer; Carter Glass (1858), American publisher and politician, 47th United States Secretary of the Treasury; Tommy Corcoran (1869), American baseball player and umpire; Marsden Hartley (1877), American painter and poet; and Max Eastman (1883), American author and poet.

January 4 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Elizabeth Ann Seton (1821), American nun and saint; Roger Hanson (1863), American general; Cornelius Vanderbilt (1877), American businessman and philanthropist; and John William Draper (1882), English-American physician, chemist, and photographer.

The record for January 4 runs 111 years deep across 8 entries. Read in sequence, the date stops being a coincidence and starts being a through-line.