On September 4th...

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1282 King Pedro III of Aragon annexed Sicily.

1618 An avalanche destroyed Plurs, Switzerland, and killed 1,500 people.

1682 Edmund Halley discovered the comet that now bears his name.

1768 Author François René de Chateaubriand was born.

1781 Spanish settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula, now known as Los Angeles, California.

1802 Missionary Marcus Whitman was born.

1824 Composer Anton Bruckner was born.
1824 Poet Phoebe Cary was born.

1833 The New York Sun hired 10-year-old Barney Flaherty to sell its papers on the street, making him the first newsboy in the United States.

1846 Architect Daniel H. Burnham was born.

1848 Richard Rogers Bowker, editor, author, and publisher, was born.
1848 Inventor Lewis Howard Latimer was born.

1859 David DuBose Gaillard, American army engineer, was born.

1862 The Antietam Campaign began.

1884 Great Britain ended its policy of shipping prisoners to New South Wales (Australia).

1885 The world's first cafeteria opened in New York City, New York.

1886 Apache chief Geronimo surrendered.

1888 George Eastman received a patent for his box camera.

1893 Beatrix Potter published her first Peter Rabbit story.

1918 Radio personality Paul Harvey was born.

1923 The first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah, made its maiden flight.

1928 Actor Dick York was born.

1931 Actress Mitzi Gaynor was born.

1940 CBS began broadcasting television, as station W2XAB.

1945 The United States retook Wake Island from Japan.

1949 Golfer Tom Watson was born.

1950 The first 500-mile NASCAR race was held at Darlington Raceway.

1951 Transcontinental television service began with a telecast of a speech by President Harry Truman.

1956 The IBM RAMAC 305, the first commercial computer to use magnetic disk storage, was introduced.

1957 The Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel.

1960 Comedian Damon Wayans was born.

1965 Albert Schweitzer, physician, musician, philosopher, and missionary, died.

1968 Baseball player Mike Piazza was born.

1972 U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz broke an Olympic record by winning his 7th gold medal.

1974 U.S. Army General Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr. died.

1980 Yes performed its last concert, at Madison Square Garden.

1981 Singer Beyonce Knowles was born.

1990 Actress Irene Dunne died.

1991 Country singer Dottie West died.

1993 Actor Hervé Villechaize died.

1994 The Cleveland Browns became the first team in the NFL to score a 2-point conversion.

1997 The last Ford Thunderbird rolled off the assembly line.

2002 Kelly Clarkson became the first winner of American Idol.

2006 "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin died.

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This page was last updated on February 09, 2019.