This day in history - July 4
Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 2:31 am
Decleration of Independence was signed, that is all (or is it!)
1636 - The City of Providence, Rhode Island, was founded by Roger Williams, who had been exiled from Massachusetts for religious differences.
1802 - The U.S. Military Academy at West Point opened.
1817 - Construction of the Erie Canal began.
1826 - John Adams died at age 90 in Braintree, Massachusetts. Thomas Jefferson died at 83 at Monticello.
I've always considered this one of the spookiest documented coincidences in history.
1827 - Slavery was abolished in New York.
1828 - Construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the first passenger line in the U.S., began.
1831 - James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States, died at age 73 in New York City.
1845 – The Texas Constitutional Convention voted for annexation to the United States.
This process was legally and politically complicated. Many milestone dates are associated with it.
Same day - Henry David Thoreau began living in a shack on Walden Pond.
1863 - Boise, Idaho, was founded.
A gold rush had started in the area a year earier, now nearly forgotten history.
1881 - The Tuskegee Institute opened with Booker T. Washington as its head.
1883 - Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opened for the first time, in North Platte, Nebraska.
1884 - The newly completed Statue of Liberty was presented to the U.S. in Paris (8 years behind schedule).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty#History" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1903 - A telegraph cable connecting San Francisco, Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines went into operation.
This cable extended a communication network to the farthest territories of the United States, at a time when Marconi was barely getting started on radio.
1910 - Jack Johnson beat James Jeffries, the formerly undefeated heavyweight champion.
Johnson is probably the most famous native of Galveston ("Wrong Way" Corrigan being the other).
1939 - The Yankees held a farewell ceremony for Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium. The team retired his number (4), the first time that this honor was accorded to a baseball player.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Gehrig ... e_Earth.22" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Gehrig would not see the second anniversary of this event.
1946 - The Philippines became independent after centuries of foreign occupation.
1959 - The 49th star was added to the American flag to represent the new state of Alaska.
1966 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act into law.
- Jim
