Historical Events on July 4

Events 1 - 200 of 268

• 836 Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples
• 993 Saint Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized.
• 1054 Brightest known supernova SN 1054 (creates the Crab Nebula) 1st reported by Chinese astronomers
• 1120 Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death

• 1301 Battle at Breukelen: Holland vs Lichtenberg
• 1359 Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.
• 1415 Angelo Correr renounces his claim to the Papacy as Pope Gregory XII
• 1453 41 Jewish martyrs burned at stake at Breslau
• 1534 Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye

• 1634 The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France, later to become the Canadian province of Quebec
• 1636 City of Providence, Rhode Island form
• 1652 Prince of Condé starts blood bath in Paris
• 1653 English Barebones Parliament goes into session
• 1672 States of Holland declares "Eternal Edict" void


• 1693 Battle at Boussu-lez-Walcourt: French-English vs Dutch army
• 1708 Battle of Holowczyn: Swedish King Charles XII defeats superior Russian force in surprising vctory

• 1774 Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts
• 1776 According to popular legend the Liberty Bell rings for the Second Continental Congress

• 1779 French fleet occupies Grenada

• 1789 1st US tariff act signed by President Washington
• 1796 1st Independence Day celebration is held
• 1802 The 1st US Military Academy at West Point opens
• 1802 US Military Academy officially opens (West Point, NY)

• 1810 French troops occupy Amsterdam
• 1817 Chief Engineer James Geddes begins construction on the Erie Canal, (Rome, New York), one of the first great engineering works in North America

• 1826 Past presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both die on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, President John Quincy Adams calls "visible and palpable remarks of Divine Favor"
• 1827 Slavery abolished in New York
• 1828 Construction begins on B & O (Baltimore-Ohio) 1st US passenger RR
• 1829 Cornerstone laid for 2nd US mint at Chestnut and Juniper St, Philadelphia, the "Grecian Temple"
• 1829 The first London bus "omnibus", operated by George Shillibeer, begins service between Marylebone Road and Bank Junction
• 1831 "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)" is 1st sung in Boston
• 1836 Wisconsin Territory forms
• 1837 Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool


• 1838 Iowa Territory is organised from Wisconsin Territory, lasting until 1846
• 1838 Huskar Colliery Mining Disaster in Silkstone England: mining pit floods drown 26 children, leads to 1842 'Mines and Collieries Act' bans women and children working underground
• 1840 The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end

• 1845 Texas Congress votes for annexation to US

• 1861 In a special session of 27th Congress Lincoln requests 400,000 troops
• 1861 Skirmish at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia

• 1862 R Morgan's: Tomkinsville, KY to Somerset, KY [->JUL 28]
• 1863 Boise, Idaho founded (now capital of Idaho)
• 1863 Failed Confederate assault on Helena Arkansas (640 casualties)

• 1863 Skirmish at Smithburg, TN
• 1863 Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Union forces
• 1865 First edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll is published
• 1866 Firecracker thrown in wood starts fire destroying half of Portland, Maine, US
• 1868 Battle at Ueno, Japan: last Tokugawa armies defeated
• 1868 Maori leader Te Kooti and 300 of his followers captured the schooner Rifleman in the Chatham Islands and sail for New Zealand; landing at Whareongaonga six days later
• 1873 Aquarium opens in Woodward Gardens, San Francisco
• 1874 Social Democratic Workmen's Party of North America formed
• 1875 White Democrats kill several blacks in terrorist attacks in Vicksburg
• 1876 1st public exhibition of electric light in San Francisco
• 1876 Batholdi visits Bedloe Island, future home of his Statue of Liberty
• 1879 Africaner Union forms by Rev SJ du Toit at Cape colony
• 1879 Battle at Ulundi: Lord Chelmsford beats Zulu King Cetshwayo

• 1882 Telegraph Hill Observatory opens in San Francisco
• 1883 Buffalo Bill Cody presents 1st wild west show, North Platte, Nebraska
• 1884 1st US bullfight held (Dodge City Ks)
• 1884 Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris
• 1886 1st scheduled transcontinental passenger train reaches Port Moody, British Columbia
• 1887 The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi
• 1888 1st organized rodeo competition held, Prescott, Arizona
• 1889 Washington state constitutional convention holds 1st meeting
• 1892 James Keir Hardie chosen 1st socialist in British Lower house
• 1892 Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4
• 1894 Elwood Haynes successfully tests one of 1st US autos at 6 MPH
• 1894 Republic of Hawaii proclaimed, Sanford B Dole as president
• 1895 Katherine Lee Bates publishes "America the Beautiful"
• 1898 French liner "La Bourgogne" collides with bark Cromartyshire, 560 die
• 1898 US flag hoisted over Wake Island (Spanish-American War)

• 1900 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: R.F. Doherty beats Sydney Smith 6-8, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 for his 4th of 8 Wimbledon singles titles
• 1900 Williams Jennings Bryan nominated as Democratic Party presidential candidate, USA

• 1903 Pacific Cable (San Francisco, Hawaii, Guam, Philipines) opens, President Theodore Roosevelt sends a message

• 1906 Great Britain, France, and Italy declare independence of Ethiopia (Abyssinia), but all lay claim to their own 'spheres of influence' in that land

• 1908 New York Giants pitcher George "Hooks" Wiltse no-hits Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 in 10 inn

• 1910 The US Congress pass the Mann-Elkins Act, an important piece of railroad reform legislation
• 1910 In a mutual defense agreements, Japan and Russia delineate their spheres of interest in Manchuria
• 1911 105°F (41°C) at Vernon, Vermont (state record)
• 1911 106°F (41°C) at Nashua, New Hampshire (state record)

• 1912 Detroit Tiger George Mullen no-hits St Louis Browns, 7-0
• 1912 Jack Johnson beats "Fireman" Jim Flynn by disqualification in 9 in Las Vegas to retain world heavyweight boxing title
• 1913 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: New Zealander Anthony Wilding wins 4th straight Wimbledon title beating American Maurice McLoughlin 8-6, 6-3, 10-8
• 1913 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: In an all-British final Dorothea Chambers beats Winifred McNair 6-0, 6-4
• 1914 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Dorothea Chambers wins her 7th and last Wimbledon singles title beating Ethel Larcombe 7-5, 6-4
• 1914 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Australian Norman Brookes beats 4-time defending champion Anthony Wilding of New Zealand 6-4, 6-4, 7-5

• 1918 Altar dedicated at full-scale replica of Stonehenge at Maryhill, Washington

• 1919 ADGB (Allgemeine Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund) party forms

• 1920 The provisional government of Siberia's Maritime Province agrees to hand over parts of the strategic oil- and coal-rich Sakhalin Islands to Japan


• 1923 Jack Dempsey beats Tommy Gibbons on points over 15 hard fought rounds in Shelby, Montana to retain world heavyweight boxing title
• 1925 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Suzanne Lenglen of France takes her 6th Wimbledon singles title with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Briton Joan Fry
• 1925 44 die when Dreyfus Hotel in Boston collapses
• 1925 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: In an all-French final René Lacoste beats Jean Borotra 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 8-6
• 1925 A's Lefty Grove beats Yanks Herb Pennock 1-0 in 15 innings
• 1926 NSDAP-party forms in Weimar

• 1927 First flight of the Lockheed Vega.
• 1929 AM radio station WOWO, Indiana's transmitter burns down
• 1931 1st fireworks are held at Cleveland Stadium
• 1931 1st trailside museum opens in Cleveland Metroparks

• 1933 Work begins on Oakland Bay Bridge
• 1934 Jordanians revolt in Amsterdam after reduction in employment
• 1934 Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb
• 1936 League of Nations ends sanctions against Italy after Italian takeover of Abyssinia
• 1938 Phillies complete move to Shribe Park in Philadelphia, lose 10-5 to Boston Bees
• 1938 France-Turkish friendship treaty
• 1939 Red Sox 3rd baseman Jim Tabor hits record-tying 2 grand slams in one MLB game, 18-12 win v Phillies

• 1940 British destroys French battle fleet at Oran, Algeria, 1267 die
• 1941 Latvia partisans shoot 416 Jews dead
• 1941 Politburo of Yugoslav communist party reorganizes

• 1942 1st American bombing mission over enemy-occupied Europe (WWII)
• 1942 US air offensive against nazi-Germany begins
• 1944 1,100 US guns fire 4th of July salute at German lines in Normandy

• 1944 Allied assault on Carpiquet airport at Caen
• 1944 Gestapo arrests German Social Democrat Julius Leber
• 1945 Field Marshal Henry Maitland Wilson gives Britain's agreement to use the atomic bomb against Japan at the Combined Policy Committee in Washington D. C.
• 1946 Anti Jewish riots in Kielce Poland, 42 die
• 1946 Philippines gains independence from US

• 1947 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Jack Kramer wins his only Wimbledon singles title beating fellow American Tom Brown 6-1, 6-3, 6-2
• 1947 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Margaret Osborne beats Doris Hart 6-2, 6-4 for her only Wimbledon singles title
• 1947 British Open Golf, Royal Liverpool: Irishman Fred Daly wins his only Open, 1 stroke clear of Reg Horne and Frank Stranahan
• 1950 Boston Braves slugger Sid Gordon ties MLB season grand slam record (4) with a bases loaded hit vs Phillies
• 1950 Harry Truman signs public law 600 (Puerto Ricans write own constitution)
• 1950 The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.


• 1952 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Australian Frank Sedgman wins his only Wimbledon singles title beating Czech Jaroslav Drobný 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2
• 1952 Canadain Currency, Mint & Exchange Fund Act allows gold coins of $5, $10, and $20 to be minted
• 1952 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Maureen Connolly beats Louise Brough 7-5, 6-3 for the first of 3 straight Wimbledon crowns
• 1953 Imre Nagy succeeds Matyas Rákosi as premier of Hungary
• 1954 WMSL (WYUR, now WAFF) TV channel 48 in Huntsville, AL (ABC) begins
• 1954 FIFA World Cup Final: Helmut Rahn scores twice as West Germany beats Hungary 3-2 in Bern, Switzerland
• 1954 Dr Sam Sheppard's wife Marilyn is murdered (he is accused of the crime)
• 1954 Meat and all other food rationing officially ends in Britain, nine years after the end of World War II
• 1956 Independence National Historical Park forms in Philadelphia
• 1956 US most intense rain fall (1.23" in 1 minute) at Unionville Maryland
• 1957 Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts temporary tax increase
• 1958 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: In an all-Australian final Ashley Cooper wins his only Wimbledon singles title beating Neale Fraser 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11
• 1958 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: American Althea Gibson beats Angela Mortimer of England 8-6, 6-2 to successfully defend her title
• 1959 America's new 49-star flag honoring Alaska statehood unfurled
• 1959 Cayman Islands separated from Jamaica, made a crown colony
• 1959 Island Records founded in Jamaica

• 1960 America's new 50-star flag honoring Hawaiian statehood unfurled

• 1961 Walt Disney is one of the two main speakers on the Independence Day in The Rebuild Hills at Skørping in Denmark
• 1962 KIKU (now KHNL) TV channel 13 in Honolulu, HI (IND) 1st broadcast
• 1964 Beachboys' "I Get Around" reaches #1
• 1965 US Open Women's Golf, Atlantic City CC: Carol Mann wins by 2 shots from fellow American Kathy Cornelius

• 1967 Opening ceremony of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
• 1968 Arthur Kopit's "Indians" premieres in London
• 1968 Radio astronomy satellite Explorer 38 launched
• 1969 "Give Peace a Chance" by Plastic Ono Band is released in UK

• 1969 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Home favourite Ann Jones upsets 3-time defending champion Billie Jean King 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
• 1969 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1969 The Ohio Fireworks Derecho kills 18 Ohioans and destroys over 100 boats on Lake Erie.
• 1970 100 injured in race rioting in Asbury Park, NJ
• 1970 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: In an all-Australian thriller, John Newcombe beats Ken Rosewall 5,7 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

• 1970 Chartered Dan-Air Comet crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 112 vacationing Britons
• 1970 The Falls Road curfew in North Ireland, imposed by the British Army while searching for IRA weapons, continues throughout the day; a man is killed by the British Army
• 1971 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
• 1972 The Royal Ulster Constabulary forward a file about the killings on 'Bloody Sunday' (30 January 1972) to the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland
• 1973 Alan Ayckbourne's "Absurd Person Singular," premieres in London
• 1973 CARICOM - Caribbean Community & Common Market, forms
• 1974 Mike Marshall goes 9-0 with 3 saves in 20 appearances in 30 days
• 1975 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Billie Jean King outclasses Evonne Goolagong 6-0, 6-1 for her 6th Wimbledon singles title

• 1976 Israel launches rescue of 103 Air France crew and passengers being held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by pro-Palestinian hijackers
• 1976 Opening ceremony of the Dai Bosatsu monastery Catskill Mt NY
• 1976 Operation Entebbe - Israel rescues 229 Air France hostage passengers In Uganda (3 hostages die along with Ugandan soldiers and Israeli soldier)
• 1977 Nigel Harrison replaces Gary Valentine as bassist of Blondie

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