1864 – Gold is discovered in Helena, Montana.
1870 – Congress grants Mary Todd Lincoln a life pension in the amount of $3,000 a year.
1914 – American engineer Robert Goddard is granted the first patent for liquid-fueled rocket design.
1916 – 13.2 inches rainfall at Effingham, South Carolina (state record until 1999)
1927 – 1st commercial airplane flight in Hawaii.
1940 – Due to beanball wars, Spalding advertises batting helmets with earflaps.
1945 – Battleship USS South Dakota is 1st US ship to bombard Japan.
1946 – Dr. Benjamin Spock’s “Common Sense Book of Baby & Child Care” published.
1951 – 1st color telecast of a sporting event (CBS-horse race)
1953 – First US national monument dedicated to a black-American, to preserve the boyhood home of agricultural scientist and inventor George Washington Carver in Newton County, Missouri.
1964 – US Mariner IV, 1st Mars probe, passes at 6,100 miles.
1969 – The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation.
1977 – US House establishes permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
1985 – Last USFL game – Baltimore Stars defeat Oakland Invaders, 28-24.
1988 – WYHY radio offers $1 million to anyone who can prove Elvis is still alive.
1996 – Senior Players Championship Men’s Golf, TPC of Michigan: Raymond Floyd of Fayetteville, N.C., wins first of 2 event titles by 2 strokes from Hale Irwin.
2009 – 80th All-Star Baseball Game: AL wins 4-3 at Busch Stadium, St. Louis.
2015 – Harper Lee’s 2nd novel “Go Set A Watchman”, an early version of “To Kill A Mocking Bird,” goes on sale in 70 countries.
2018 – President Donald Trump calls the European Union a “trade foe” in interview with CBS ahead of meeting with Russian President Putin.
2021 – Drug overdose deaths in the US rose 30% to record 93,000 in 2020, according to CDC.