Election of Interest
1534 Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye
Christian III
Victory in Battle
1610 Battle of Klushino: King Sigismund III's Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army beats Russia and Sweden
- 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
Victory in Battle
1708 Battle of Holowczyn: Swedish King Charles XII defeats superior Russian force in surprising vctory
Charles XII
Event of Interest
1754 George Washington gives Fort Necessity to France
George Washington
- 1774 Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts
Liberty Bell
1776 According to popular legend the Liberty Bell rings for the Second Continental Congress
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Yippee! It's Independence Day for the U.S.
1776 US Congress proclaims the Declaration of Independence and independence from Great Britain
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- 1779 French fleet occupies Grenada
Election of Interest
1782 William Petty becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain following the death of Charles Watson-Wentworth
William Petty
Charles Watson-Wentworth
Event of Interest
1785 James Hutton, geologist, publicly reads an abstract of his theory of uniformitarianism for the first time at the meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
James Hutton
Event of Interest
1803 The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people by President Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Event of Interest
1819 William Herschel makes last telescopic observation of 1819 comet
William Herschel
United States Declaration of Independence
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"
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- 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
Event of Interest
1845 Henry David Thoreau moves into his shack on Walden Pond
Henry David Thoreau
- 1845 Texas Congress votes for annexation to US
Historic Publication
1855 In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, "Leaves of Grass" is published
Walt Whitman
Event of Interest
1862 Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) creates Alice in Wonderland for Alice Liddell on a family boat trip on the river Isis (Thames) in Oxford
Lewis Carroll
Event of Interest
1863 General Lee's army withdraws from Gettysburg
Robert E. Lee
- 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
Event of Interest
1881 Booker T. Washington establishes Tuskegee Institute (Alabama)
Booker T. Washington
- 1886 1st scheduled transcontinental passenger train reaches Port Moody, British Columbia
Event of Interest
1887 Future founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, begins his studies at Sindh Madressatul Islam University in Karachi
Mohammed Ali Jinnah
- 1888 1st organized rodeo competition held, Prescott, Arizona
- 1889 Washington state constitutional convention holds 1st meeting
- 1890 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Lena Rice becomes the only Irish female to win at Wimbledon beating May Jacks 6-4, 6-1
- 1891 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Wilfred Baddeley wins first of 3 Wimbledon singles championships; beats Joshua Pim 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-0
- 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
- 1892 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Defending champion Wilfred Baddeley beats Joshua Pim 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
- 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 Williams Jennings Bryan nominated as Democratic Party presidential candidate, USA
Event of Interest
1901 William Howard Taft, former Federal judge, is installed as first governor-general of the Philippines and declares amnesty for all insurgents who take an oath of allegiance
William Howard Taft
Event of Interest
1902 Civil government is established in the Philippines by a proclamation from US President Theodore Roosevelt, who offers a general amnesty to insurgents
Theodore Roosevelt
- 1903 Pacific Cable (San Francisco, Hawaii, Guam, Philippines) opens, President Theodore Roosevelt sends a message
- 1904 International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Wimbledon: Laurence Doherty & Reggie Doherty beat Paul de Borman & William le Maire de Warzée 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 to give British Isles an unassailable 3-0 lead over Belgium (ends 5-0)
- 1906 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Laurence Doherty beats Frank Riseley 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 for his 5th straight Wimbledon singles title
- 1906 Great Britain, France, and Italy declare independence of Ethiopia (Abyssinia), but all lay claim to their own 'spheres of influence' in that land
Boxing Title Fight
1907 Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns KOs Bill Squires of Australia in round 1 in Colma, California, his 6th title defence
Tommy Burns
- 1907 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Australian Norman Brookes becomes the first non-Englishman and left-hander to win Wimbledon beating Arthur Gore 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
- 1908 New York Giants pitcher George "Hooks" Wiltse no-hits Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 in 10 inn
Boxing Title Fight
1910 "Fight of the Century": Jack Johnson beats James J. Jeffries by TKO in 15 in Reno, Nevada to retain his world heavyweight boxing title
James J. Jeffries
- 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 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
Red October
1917 Troops of the Russian Provisional Government open fire on protesters in Petrograd during the 'July Days' of unrest
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- 1918 Altar dedicated at full-scale replica of Stonehenge at Maryhill, Washington
- 1919 ADGB (Allgemeine Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund) party forms
Boxing Title Fight
1919 Jack Dempsey beats champion Jess Willard, retired in 3rd round in Toledo, Ohio for world heavyweight championship
Jack Dempsey
- 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
- 1924 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Kitty McKane of England beats American Helen Wills 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 for her 1st of 2 Wimbledon singles titles
- 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
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
1930 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Helen Moody wins 4th straight Wimbledon singles beating fellow American Elizabeth Ryan 6-2, 6-2
Elizabeth Ryan
Event of Interest
1932 Don Bradman scores a North American record 260 v Western Ontario in Guelph during Australian cricket team's Goodwill Tour of North America
Donald Bradman
Historic Invention
1934 Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb
Leó Szilárd
- 1936 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: American Helen Jacobs wins her only Wimbledon title beating Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
- 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
Event of Interest
1939 Lou Gehrig is first MLB player to have his number (4) retired on his "Appreciation Day" at Yankee Stadium, makes iconic "luckiest man" speech
Lou Gehrig
Event of Interest
1941 Howard Florey and Norman Heatley meet for 1st time, 11 days later they successfully recreate penicillin
Howard Florey
- 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
Event of Interest
1946 President Manuel Roxas inaugurated as the 5th President of the Philippines and the first president of the Third Republic at the Independence Grandstand, Manila
Manuel Roxas
- 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 British Open Men's 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 Canadian Currency, Mint and Exchange Fund Act allows gold coins of $5, $10, and $20 to be minted
- 1953 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Maureen Connolly wins 3rd leg of her Grand Slam beating fellow American Doris Hart 8-6, 7-5
- 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, Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland: Helmut Rahn scores twice as West Germany beats Hungary, 3-2
- 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
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
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
Ashley Cooper
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
1959 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Maria Bueno of Brazil wins her first of 3 Wimbledon singles titles beating Darlene Hard 6-4, 6-3
Maria Bueno
Darlene Hard
LPGA Championship
1960 LPGA Championship Women's Golf, Sheraton Hotel CC: Mickey Wright wins by 3 from Louise Suggs
Mickey Wright
Louise Suggs
- 1960 America's new 50-star flag honoring Hawaiian statehood unfurled
Baseball Record
1960 Yankees outfielder Mickey Mantle hits 3-run homer vs Washington, 18th MLB player to hit 300 HRs
Mickey Mantle
- 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 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Brazilian Maria Bueno earns a 3rd Wimbledon singles title with a 6-4, 7-9, 6-3 win over Margaret Smith of Australia
- 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
Event of Interest
1966 Beatles attacked in the Philippines after (unintentionally) insulting Imelda Marcos
Imelda Marcos
Lyndon B. Johnson
Event of Interest
1969 140,000 attend Atlanta Pop Festival featuring Led Zep and Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
1969 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Home favourite Ann Jones upsets 3-time defending champion Billie Jean King 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Billie Jean King
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
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
Ken Rosewall
Event of Interest
1970 Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" debuts on LA radio
Casey Kasem
- 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
