1638 – 1st earthquake recorded in US, at Plymouth, Mass.
1657 – 1st Quakers arrives in New Amsterdam (NY).
1660 – Mary Dyer is hanged for defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1789 – 1st US congressional act becomes law (on administering oaths)
1808 – 1st US land-grant university founded-Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.
1861 – 1st skirmish in Civil War, Fairfax Court House, Va.
1862 – Slavery abolished in all US possessions.
1880 – 1st US pay telephone installed.
1880 – US census at 50,155,783.
1911 – 1st US group insurance policy written, Passaic, NJ.
1927 – Peace Bridge between US & Canada opens.
1936 – Queen Mary completes its maiden voyage, arriving in NY.
1941 – 12.59″ rainfall, in Burlington, Kansas (state 24-hr record)
1951 – 1st self-contained titanium plant opens (Henderson, Nevada)
1961 – FM multiplex stereo broadcasting 1st heard.
1970 – “Everything is Beautiful” by Ray Stevens hits #1.
1980 – 1st transmission of CNN, Cable News Network.
1994 – FX Channel, Cable Network, debuts.
1996 – Woody Harrrelson is arrested in Lee County, Kentucky, after he symbolically planted four hemp seeds to challenge the state law which did not distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana.
2007 – Jack Kevorkian is released from prison after serving eight years of his 10-25 year prison term for second-degree murder in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Oakland County, Michigan.
2009 – General Motors files for chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history.