On This Day

What Happened on May 17

Historical Events

  • 1527 Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 600 men - by 1536 only 4 survive
  • 1792 24 merchants form New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street
  • 1803 John Hawkins and Richard French patent the Reaping Machine
  • 1973 Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings
  • 2004 Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage
  • 2014 The center-right Hindu Nationalist Party, the BJP, wins landslide election victory in India
  • More Historical Events

May 17 in Film & TV

  • 1939 1st televised baseball game is broadcast on NBC, with Princeton defeating Columbia 2-1

May 17 in Music

  • 2015 "Blurryface," 4th studio album by Twenty One Pilots is released (1st album ever to have every track gold-certified)

May 17 in Sport

  • 1875 1st Kentucky Derby: Oliver Lewis aboard Aristides wins in 2:37.75
  • 1939 1st televised baseball game is broadcast on NBC, with Princeton defeating Columbia 2-1

Did You Know?

World Health Organization takes homosexuality out of its list of mental illnesses

On May 17, 1990

Famous Birthdays

More Famous Birthdays

Would You Believe?

Fidel Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers

On May 17, 1961

Famous Weddings


More Weddings

Famous Deaths

More Famous Deaths

Articles, Photos and Quiz


May in History

Search the largest, most accurate site for today in history.