05/11/2026
History of the Day May 11
On this day in history:
330 — Constantinople was dedicated as the new capital of the Roman Empire.
1812 — British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons. He remains the only British prime minister to have been assassinated.
1949 — Siam officially changed its name to Thailand.
1960 — Israeli agents captured Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. He was later taken to Israel and tried for his role in the Holocaust.
1981 — Reggae musician Bob Marley died at age 36.
Notable Births — May 11
1888 — Irving Berlin, American songwriter
1904 — Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist artist
1911 — Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian
1918 — Richard Feynman, American physicist and Nobel Prize winner
Notable Deaths — May 11
1812 — Spencer Perceval, British prime minister
1889 — John Cadbury, English businessman and founder of Cadbury
1960 — John D. Rockefeller Jr., American businessman and philanthropist
1981 — Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter
2001 — Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Berks County Connection
On May 11, 1996, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated the historical marker for Bethel A.M.E. Church in Reading. Located at 119 North 10th Street, Bethel A.M.E. is recognized as Berks County’s oldest Black church building. Built in 1837 by free African Americans, it also has ties to Underground Railroad history.
Recent Berks County notes: local reporting this week included updates on Helping Harvest’s Community Kitchen, Camp Connect’s free grief camp for Berks County youth, and Kutztown University receiving the Vernacular Architecture Archive of timber-frame historian Elric Johnston Endersby.
History is never just one place or one story it connects the world, the nation, and our own Berks County community.
