History of the day

Tondee Tavern

In 1774, the Massachusetts delegation to the 1st Continental Congress departed for Philadelphia. Delegates included Samuel Adams, John Adams, Thomas Cushing, and Robert Treat Paine.

In 1774, Georgia patriots met at Tondee’s Tavern in Savannah for the first time to plan Georgia’s response to British policies.

In 1776, news reached London that the Americans had drafted the Declaration of Independence.

In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state admitted to the Union.

In 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was created.

In 1927, President Calvin Coolidge arrives, cowboy-hatted and on horseback, to dedicate Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, two months before carving begins. He presents sculptor Gutzon Borglum with a set of steel drill bits.

In 1935, the state legislature created the Texas Department of Public Safety.

In 1937, the first electric guitar patent was awarded to Electro String Corporation.

In 1939, the “Wizard of Oz” movie premiered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

In 1950, Sunset Boulevard, considered one of Hollywood’s greatest films, had its world premiere; the film noir is especially noted for Gloria Swanson’s portrayal of a fading movie star.

In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, one day after actor Sharon Tate and four other people were slain.

In 1970, American musician Jim Morrison, lead singer of the Doors, went on trial in Florida, charged with various crimes after allegedly exposing himself during a Miami concert in 1969; he was later found guilty.

In 1977, police arrested a 24-year-old postal worker who called himself the Son of Sam. One of New York City’s largest—and most frustrating—manhunts was finally over. For more than a year, David Berkowitz had terrorized New York, murdering six people and injuring seven more in a series of eight shootings while taunting investigators and journalists with cryptic letters. He eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 365 years in prison.

In 1978, three teenage girls die after their 1973 Ford Pinto is rammed from behind by a van and bursts into flames on an Indiana highway. The fatal crash was one of a series of Pinto accidents that caused a national scandal during the 1970s.

In 1981, Pete Rose of the Philadelphia Phillies gets the 3,631st hit of his baseball career, breaking Stan Musial’s record for most hits by a National Leaguer.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to still-living Japanese-Americans who were interned by their government during World War II.

In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice.

In 2018, Richard Russell, a 29-year-old airline ground agent, stole a commercial plane from Sea-Tac International Airport near Seattle; he flew for 75 minutes, performing dangerous stunts while being chased by military jets before crashing into a remote island in Puget Sound, killing himself.

In 2020, a powerful derecho struck several Midwest U.S. states, causing four fatalities and an estimated $11 billion in damage, making it the costliest thunderstorm in modern U.S. history.