On June 24th...

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1314 Scotland regained its independence from England at the Battle of Bannockburn.

1398 Chinese Emperor Hongwu died.

1439 Duke Frederick IV of Austria died.

1441 Eton College was founded by King Henry VI of England.

1497 John Cabot claimed eastern Canada for England.

1509 Henry VIII was crowned King of England.

1519 Italian noblewoman Lucrezia Borgia died.

1664 The Colony of New Jersey was founded.

1692 Kingston, Jamaica, was founded.

1717 The first Free Masons' Grand Lodge was founded in London, England.

1748 John and Charles Wesley opened the Kingswood School in Bristol, England.

1771 Industralist E. I. Du Pont was born.

1788 Inventor Thomas Blanchard was born.

1794 Bowdoin College was founded.

1795 The U. S. Senate ratified the Jay Treaty.

1812 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia.

1813 Clergyman Henry Ward Beecher was born.

1817 Coffee cultivation was introduced into Hawaii.

1839 Gustavus Franklin Swift, founder of the packaged meat industry, was born.

1841 Fordham University was founded (as St. John's College) in Bronx, New York.

1842 Ambrose Gwinnet Bierce, journalist and author, was born.

1859 A French army under Napoleon III and a Sardinian army under Victor Emmanuel II defeated an Austrian army under Emperor Franz Joseph I at Solferino, Italy.

1861 Tennessee became the 11th state to secede from the Union.

1880 "O Canada" was performed for the first time, at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français.

1881 A train ran off a bridge near Cuautla, Mexico, killing 200 people.

1894 President Marie François Sadi Carnot of France was assassinated.

1895 Boxer Jack Dempsey was born.

1897 Hail injured 26 persons in Topeka, Kansas.

1899 Marion Jones defeated Maud Banks for the U. S. Women's National Championship.

1905 Elisabeth Moore defeated Helen Homans for the U. S. Women's National Championship.

1908 Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States, died.

1909 George Sargent won the U. S. Golf Open.
1909 Author Sarah Orne Jewett died.

1910 James Braid won the British Golf Open.

1911 John McDermott won the U. S. Golf Open.

1912 Author Norman Cousins was born.

1913 J. H. Taylor won the British Golf Open.

1914 Athlete Mildred "Babe" Didrikson was born.

1915 Astronomer Fred Hoyle was born.

1916 Mary Pickford became the first female film star to get a million dollar contract.

1917 The Russian Black Sea Fleet mutinied at Sebastopol.

1922 The American Professional Football Association was renamed the National Football League.
1922 The Chicago Staleys became the Chicago Bears.

1924 Walter Hagen won the British Golf Open.

1928 Johnny Farrell won the U. S. Golf Open.

1940 France signed an armistice with Italy.

1941 The entire Jewish male population of Gorzhdy, Lithuania, was killed.

1943 The Allies began bombing Hamburg, Germany.

1944 Guitarist Jeff Beck was born.

1945 American politician George Pataki was born.

1947 A group of unidentified flying objects seen near Mount Rainier were dubbed "flying saucers" by a Seattle, Washington, resident.
1947 Jim Ferrier won the PGA Championship.
1947 Musician Mick Fleetwood was born.

1948 The Soviet Union blocked road, rail, and water access to West Berlin, Germany.

1956 Marlene Hagge won the LPGA Championship.
1956 Actor Joe Penny was born.

1957 The Hagley Museum in Wilmington, Delaware, was opened to the public.

1963 Zanzibar began internal self-government.

1964 Picturephone service was inaugurated between Washington, D. C., New York City, New York, and Chicago, Illinois.
1964 The U. S. Federal Trade Commission ruled that health warnings must appear on all cigarette packages.

1968 Sandra Post won the LPGA Championship.

1969 Cartoonist Frank King died.
1969 Science writer Willey Ley died.

1970 The Cincinnati Reds defeated the New York Giants in their last gane at Crosley Field.

1972 Wake Island became an unincorporated territory of the United States.

1975 An Eastern Airlines 727 crashed at JFK Airport (New York), killing 113 persons.

1977 Canadian politician André-Gilles Fortin was killed in a car crash.

1982 Supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment formally conceded defeat.
1982 The U. S. Supreme Court ruled that a President cannot be sued for actions in office.

1987 Soccer player Lionel Messi was born.
1987 Comedian Jackie Gleason died.

1991 Actor Martin Rosenblatt died.

1995 The New Jersey Devils defeated the Detroit Red Wings for the Stanley Cup.
1995 South Africa defeated New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup.

1997 Actor Brian Keith died.

2000 Actor David Tomlinson died.

2001 Karrie Webb won the LPGA Championship.

2002 A train crash at Igandu, Tanzania, killed 281 persons.
2002 Pierre Werner, former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, died.

2004 Capital punishment was declared unconstitutional in New York.

2005 Ventriloquist Paul Winchell died.

2013 The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup.

2014 Actor Eli Wallach died.

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This page was last updated on June 24, 2018.