On August 31st...

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1422 Henry VI became King of England.

1535 Pope Paul II excommunicated King Henry VIII of England.

1688 Author John Bunyan died.

1821 Scientist Hermann von Helmholtz was born.

1842 The U.S. Naval Observatory was established by an act of Congress.
1842 Micah Rugg patented a nuts and bolts machine.

1864 The Battle of Jonesboro (Georgia) was fought.

1870 Educator Maria Montessori was born.

1880 Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands was born.

1881 The first U.S. men's single tennis championships were held, in Newport, Rhode Island.

1888 Mary Ann Nichols became the first known victim of Jack the Ripper.

1894 The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act was passed, making New Zealand the first country in the world to outlaw strikes in favor of compulsory arbitration.

1895 The first professional football game was played (QB John Brallier was paid $10, and won 12-0).

1907 Great Britain, Russia, and France formed the Triple Entende.
1907 Ramon Magsaysay, 7th President of the Philippines, was born.

1909 The A J Reach Co patented the cork-centered baseball.

1914 Germany defeated Russia at the Battle at Tannenberg.

1923 The League of Nations gave Belgium the mandate of Ruanda-Urundi.

1924 Comedian Buddy Hackett was born.

1928 Actor James Coburn was born.

1935 Activist Eldridge Cleaver was born.
1935 Baseball player Frank Robinson was born.

1944 French troops liberated Bordeaux.
1944 Russian-Romanian troops marched into Bucharest.

1945 Singer Van Morrison was born.
1945 Violinist Itzhak Perlman was born.

1949 Actor Richard Gere was born.

1953 Attorney Marcia Clark was born.

1954 The U.S. Census Bureau was established.

1955 The first solar-powered automobile was demonstrated, at Chicago, Illinois.

1957 The Federation of Malaya formally attained independence and joined the British Commonwealth.

1962 Trinidad and Tobago gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1965 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was created by Congress.

1969 Boxer Rocky Marciano died.

1973 Film director John Ford died.

1979 Fan dancer Sally Rand died.

1980 The Gdansk Agreement was signed, giving Polish workers the right to organize an independent union and to go on strike.

1997 Diana, Princess of Wales, and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed were killed in a car crash in Paris, France.

2002 Jazz musician Lionel Hampton died.

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This page was last updated on August 31, 2018.