1606 – Virginia Company settlers leave London to establish Jamestown, Virginia.
1790 – 1st successful US cotton mill to spin yarn (Pawtucket, RI)
1803 – French flag lowered in New Orleans to mark formal transfer of Louisiana Purchase from France to US for $27M.
1820 – Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21 & 50.
1860 – South Carolina secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
1879 – Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park.
1880 – NY’s Broadway lit by electricity, becomes known as “Great White Way”
1920 – Bob Hope becomes an American citizen.
1924 – Adolph Hitler freed from jail early.
1945 – Rationing of auto tires ends in US.
1957 – Elvis Presley given draft notice to join US Army for National Service.
1962 – Osmond brothers debut on Andy Williams Show.
1967 – “The Graduate” starring Dustin Hoffman & Anne Bancroft premieres.
1967 – 474,300 US soldiers in Vietnam.
1969 – Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” reaches #1.
1974 – “The Godfather part II”, directed by Francis Ford Cappola and starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, is released (Best Picture 1975)
1984 – 33 unknown Bach keyboard works found in Yale library.
1988 – NBC signs lease to stay in NYC, 33 more years.
2002 – US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
2012 – Apple is denied a patent for mobile pinch-to-zoom gestures by the US patent authorities.