Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/January 3
- 1749 - Benning Wentworth began to issue the New Hampshire Grants on land which was also claimed by New York, and is now Vermont.
- 1888 - The 91-cm refracting telescope at Lick Observatory (pictured), at the time the largest telescope in the world, was used for the first time.
- 1958 - Ten former British colonies in the Caribbean joined to form a new independent country, the West Indies Federation.
- 1973 - George Steinbrenner and a group of investors bought the New York Yankees for 10 million U.S. dollars.
- 1990 - General Manuel Noriega, the deposed "strongman of Panama", surrendered.
Recent days: January 2 – January 1 – December 31