On this date...

In 1774, Harrodsburg, Kentucky was founded

In 1775, George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress.

In 1775, the Congress authorized the creation of the post of chief engineer for the army, in anticipation of upcoming battles with British forces.

In 1775, about one thousand soldiers under the command of Colonel William Prescott assembled on the common in Cambridge, Massachusetts opposite the Committee of Safety and provincial army headquarters at Hastings House. The Bettle of Bunker Hill would occur the next day.

In 1812, The City Bank of New York (later Citibank) opened for business.

In 1858, newly nominated senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln addresses the Illinois Republican Convention in Springfield and warns that the nation faces a crisis that could destroy the Union. Speaking to more than 1,000 delegates in an ominous tone, Lincoln paraphrased a passage from the New Testament: “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

In 1862, a Union attempt to capture Charleston, South Carolina, is thwarted when the Confederates turn back an attack at Secessionville, just south of the city on James Island.

In 1884, the first roller coaster opened at Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY.

In 1897, President McKinley and three representatives of the government of the Republic of Hawaii – Lorrin Thurston, Francis Hatch, and William Kinney – signed a treaty of annexation.

In 1903, The Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford and 11 associate investors.

In 1911, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), a leading American computer manufacturer, was incorporated.

In 1932, President Herbert Hoover was renominated at the Republican National Convention in Chicago.

In 1933, The Hundred Days period of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to a close, with the bulk of his New Deal legislation passed.

In 1933, The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was created under authority of the Federal Reserve Act of 1933.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos signed the instruments of ratification for the Panama Canal treaties during a ceremony in Panama City.

In 2015, real estate mogul Donald Trump launched his successful campaign for the presidency of the United States with a speech at Trump Tower in Manhattan.

In 2022, witnesses testified to the Jan. 6 committee that Donald Trump’s closest advisers viewed his last-ditch efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to reject the tally of state electors and overturn the 2020 election as “nuts,” “crazy” and even likely to incite riots.