On this date...

St. Francis Dam

In 1664, the 1st naturalization act was enacted in the American colonies.

In 1664, New Jersey became an English colony.

In 1755, the 1st steam engine in America was installed to pump water from a mine.

In 1776, in Baltimore, Maryland, a public notice appeared in local papers recognizing the sacrifice of women to the cause of the revolution. The notice urged others to recognize women’s contributions and announced, “The necessity of taking all imaginable care of those who may happen to be wounded in the country’s cause, urges us to address our humane ladies, to lend us their kind assistance in furnishing us with linen rags and old sheeting, for bandages.”

In 1776, inside Boston, acting under General William Howe’s orders to remove goods useful to the rebels, British soldiers and sailors plundered openly. Gangs with axes break open doors and storerooms; drunken troops roam the streets unchecked.

In 1776, Troubling news reaches Washington. Winthrop Sargent, a patriot leader, reports that Commodore John Manley has captured the British ship Stakesby, but she has run aground in the night; much of her cargo may be lost. Sargent asks what to do with the stranded British sailors.

In 1804, the U.S. House of Representatives, for the only time in American history, voted to impeach a sitting member of the Supreme Court. Samuel Chase, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was acquitted on all counts by the U.S. Senate. He continued to serve on the court until he died in 1811.

In 1862, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to the rank of general-in-chief of the Union armies in the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln.

In 1864, one of the biggest military fiascos of the Civil War began as a combined Union force of infantry and riverboats started moving up the Red River in Louisiana. The month-long campaign was poorly managed and achieved none of the objectives set forth by Union commanders.

In 1884, Mississippi establishes 1st US state college for women. It is called The Mississippi University for Women (originally the Industrial Institute and College).

In 1894, Coca-Cola was first sold in bottles.

In 1901, Andrew Carnegie, one of the world’s foremost industrialists, offered the city of New York $5.2 million for the construction of sixty-five branch libraries. The Scottish immigrant’s fortune eventually would establish many more libraries and charitable foundations.

In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low formed the first troop of American Girl Guides (later Girl Scouts) in Savannah, Georgia.

In 1912, the Helen Hayes Theater (Little Theatre) opened at 240W 44th St, NYC.

In 1917, A German submarine sank an unarmed US merchant ship, the 'Algonquin', on the same day that US President Woodrow Wilson gave an executive order to arm US merchant ships

In 1928, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles, California, failed, sending over 12 billion gallons of water into San Francisquito Canyon and killing over 400 people.

In 1933, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first fireside chat; the radio addresses became a source of hope and security for Americans during the Great Depression and World War II.

In 1947, U.S. President Harry S. Truman articulated what became known as the Truman Doctrine when he asked Congress to appropriate aid for Greece and Turkey, both of which were facing communist threats.

In 1951, the cartoon "Dennis the Menace" by Hank Ketcham made its syndicated debut in 16 newspapers.

In 1957, Random House and Houghton-Mifflin co-published "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss.

In 1959, the US House joined the Senate in approving Hawaii statehood.

In 1968, oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay—a remote region along Alaska's northernmost coast—profoundly transforming the state.

In 1974, Ted Bundy's victim Donna Manson disappeared from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington (body never found)

In 1980, John Wayne Gacy was convicted of murdering 33 boys and young men. He was later sentenced to death.

In 1993, Janet Reno was sworn in as U.S. attorney general, becoming the first woman to hold the office.

In 2003, 15-year-old Elizabeth Smart was finally found in Sandy, Utah, nine months after being abducted from her family’s home.

In 2008, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned two days after reports had surfaced that he was a client of a prostitution ring.

In 2009, American hedge-fund investment manager Bernie Madoff pled guilty to various crimes related to his operation of a Ponzi scheme that was one of the largest in the world; he was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

In 2019, dozens were charged in a US college admission scandal by US federal prosecutors, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman

In 2020, after New York state and city leaders placed COVID-19-related restrictions on gatherings of more than 500 people, the Broadway theater district announced it would go dark for an unprecedented 32 days. The longest shutdown for the artistic mainstay in its history, the closure would end up being extended to the end of May 2021, adding up to billions in tourism losses.

In 2020, US President Trump banned travel to 26 European countries, though not the UK, due to COVID-19 (UK and Ireland added a day later)

In 2021, the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyd’s family over Floyd’s murder by police.