1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.
1714 – Typewriter patented by Englishman Henry Mill (built years later)
1784 – 1st US seed business established by David Landreth, Philadelphia.
1890 – African American inventor William Purvis receives a patent for the fountain pen.
1896 – Fannie Farmer publishes her first cookbook, “The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book”
1904 – Marconi Co establishes “CQD” as 1st international radio distress signal.
1911 – 1st airplane bombing experiments with explosives, San Francisco.
1927 – Commercial transatlantic telephone service inaugurated between New York & London.
1929 – “Tarzan”, one of the 1sts adventure comic strips, 1st appears.
1934 – “Flash Gordon” comic strip (by Alex Raymond) debuts.
1944 – US Air Force announces production of 1st US jet fighter, the Bell P-59.
1948 – US President Harry Truman raises taxes for the Marshall Plan.
1950 – Hank Snow’s 1st appearance on “Grand Ole Opry”
1959 – US recognizes Fidel Castro’s Cuban government.
1963 – 1st class postage raised from 4 cents to 5 cents.
1959 – US Congress doubles presidents salary.
1980 – American President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation to bail out the Chrysler Corporation with a $1.5 billion loan.
1992 – AT&T releases video-telephone ($1,499)
1998 – Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky signs affidavit denying she had an affair with President Bill Clinton.
1999 – Impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins in the US Senate.