1639 – Massachusetts grants 500 acres of land to erect a gunpowder mill.
1813 – US invasion of Canada halted at Stoney Creek (Ont)
1850 – Levi Strauss makes his 1st pair of blue jeans.
1861 – Lincoln’s cabinet declares Union government will pay for expenses once states have mobilized volunteers.
1882 – Electric iron patented by Henry W. Seely, NYC.
1896 – Frank Samuelson and George Harbo leave NY harbor to row across Atlantic; their 55 day record was not broken for 114 years.
1900 – US Congress pass an act authorizing a civil code and government for the territory of Alaska after gold discoveries bring lawlessness and disorder the area.
1925 – Walter Perry Chrysler founded Chrysler Corp (Lee Iacocca is 8 months old)
1932 – US Federal gas tax enacted.
1933 – 1st drive-in theater opens (Camden, NJ)
1933 – US Employment Service enacted.
1941 – Giants use plastic batting helmets for 1st time.
1944 – Baseball cancels all games honoring D-Day invasion.
1949 – “It Pays to Be Ignorant” game show debut on CBS-TV.
1955 – Bill Haley & Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” hist #1.
1966 – NFL & AFL announce their merger.
1968- Senator Robert F. Kennedy dies from his wounds after he was shot the previous night.
1977 Supreme Court tosses out automatic death penalty laws.
1991 – Albert Belle is shipped to minors for not running out a ground ball.
2015 – Convicted killers Richard Matt and David Sweat break out of Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.