1775 – Second Continental Congress formally establishes US Navy.
1861 – Confederate Congress officially admits Missouri to Confederacy.
1871 – Ku Klux Klan trials begin in Federal District Court in South Carolina.
1895 – America’s 1st auto race organized by the “Chicago Times-Herald” Chicago to Evanston and back; 6 cars, 55 miles, winner averaged 7 MPH.
1907 – In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater.
1914 – World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading.
1925 – Grand Ole Opry premieres as WSM Barn Dance on WSM radio, Nashville, Tn.
1929 – Richard E. Byrd makes his 1st South Pole flight.
1933 – A Dallas grand jury delivers a murder indictment against Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow for the January 1933 killing of Tarrant County Deputy Malcolm Davis.
1944 – Hal Newhouser is named AL MVP.
1953 – “Wish You Were Here” closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 597 performances.
1963 – Crusher beats Vern Gagne in St. Paul, to become NWA champ.
1964 – Mariner 4 launched; 1st probe to fly by Mars.
1975 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, the final two American soap operas that had resisted going to pre-taped broadcasts, air their last live episodes.
1981 – Bear Bryant wins his 315th game to out distanced Alonzo Stagg & become college football’s winningest coach.
1986 – OPEC reaches oil production accord.
1989 – Rickey Henderson signs record $3M per year Oakland A’s contract.
1994 – In Portage, Wisconsin, convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is clubbed to death by an inmate in the Columbian Correctional Institution gymnasium.
1995 – James Brady, former white house press secretary, suffers a heart attack.
2010 – 24th Soul Train Music Awards: Ron Isley, Anita Baker win.