EVENTS
- 1776 – British forces under General William Howe captured New York during the American Revolution.
- 1857 – The typesetting machine is patented by Timothy Alder.
- 1894 – Battle of Pyongyang ends with decisive Japanese victory. The battle was a major land battle took place between the forces of Meiji Japan and Qing China during the First Sino-Japanese War.
- 1916 – Tanks were first used in combat, during the Allied offensive at the Battle of the Somme, in World War I.
- 1928 – Sir Alexander Fleming observes mold growing in his lab is killing bacteria. This will later become known as penicillin.
- 1935 – Nazis enacted the Nuremburg Laws depriving German Jews of their rights of citizenship.
- 1940 – The height of the Battle of Britain occurred as massive German air raids took place against London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester. The British claimed 185 German planes were shot down.
- 1944 – The first entry of American troops into Hitler’s Germany occurred as elements of the U.S. 7th and 5th Corps reached the southwestern frontier of Germany.
- 1949 – The television series ‘The Lone Ranger’ airs its first episode.
- 1959 – Nikita Khrushchev is first Soviet leader to visit the United States.
- 1963 – A Ku Klux Klan bomb kills 4 young African-American girls. 4 members of the white supremacy group, set off a timed bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church, a predominantly black church in Birmingham, Alabama. The bombings marked a watershed moment in the Civil Rights Movement in America.
- 1981 – John Bull becomes the oldest operable locomotive. The steam locomotive manufactured by the British and operated in New Jersey, US became the world’s oldest and still operable locomotive when the Smithsonian operated it on this day. It was first put to use on September 15, 1831.
- 2008 – Lehman Brothers file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection. This was the largest bankruptcy in US history.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1254 – Marco Polo (Italian explorer)
- 1789 – American novelist, historian and social critic, James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) was born in Burlington, New Jersey. Best known for The Last of the Mohicans.
- 1857 – William H. Taft (27th US President)
- 1890 – Agatha Christie (Mystery writer)
- 1946 – Oliver Stone (Director)
- 1946 – Tommy Lee Jones (Actor)
- 1954 – Hrant Dink (Turkish/Armenian journalist)
- 1955 – Renzo Rosso (Italian fashion designer, businessman, co-founded Diesel Clothing)
- 1961 – Dan Marino (NFL Quarterback)
- 1984 – Prince Harry of Wales (Prince)
DEATHS
- 1842 – Francisco Morazán (Guatemalan lawyer, politician)
- 1859 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel (English engineer, designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge)
- 1938 – Thomas Wolfe (American author)
- 1980 – Bill Evans (American pianist, composer)
- 2007 – Colin McRae (Scottish race car driver)