Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
Sep 18, 1793: Capitol cornerstone is laid
On this day in 1793, George Washington lays the cornerstone to the United States Capitol building, the home of the legislative branch of American government. The building would take nearly a century to complete, as architects came and went, the British set fire to it and it was called into use during the Civil War. Today, the Capitol building, with its famous cast-iron dome and important collection of American art, is part of the Capitol Complex, which includes six Congressional office buildings and three Library of Congress buildings, all developed in the 19th and 20th centuries.
As a young nation, the United States had no permanent capital, and Congress met in eight different cities, including Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia, before 1791. In 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which gave President Washington the power to select a permanent home for the federal government. The following year, he chose what would become the District of Columbia from land provided by Maryland. Washington picked three commissioners to oversee the capital city's development and they in turn chose French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant to come up with the design. However, L'Enfant clashed with the commissioners and was fired in 1792. A design competition was then held, with a Scotsman named William Thornton submitting the winning entry for the Capitol building. In September 1793, Washington laid the Capitol's cornerstone and the lengthy construction process, which would involve a line of project managers and architects, got under way.
In 1800, Congress moved into the Capitol's north wing. In 1807, the House of Representatives moved into the building's south wing, which was finished in 1811. During the War of 1812, the British invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the Capitol on August 24, 1814. A rainstorm saved the building from total destruction. Congress met in nearby temporary quarters from 1815 to 1819. In the early 1850s, work began to expand the Capitol to accommodate the growing number of Congressmen. In 1861, construction was temporarily halted while the Capitol was used by Union troops as a hospital and barracks. Following the war, expansions and modern upgrades to the building continued into the next century.
Today, the Capitol, which is visited by 3 million to 5 million people each year, has 540 rooms and covers a ground area of about four acres.
Sep 18, 1973: Carter files report on UFO sighting
On this day in 1973, future President Jimmy Carter files a report with the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), claiming he had seen an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) in October 1969.
During the presidential campaign of 1976, Democratic challenger Carter was forthcoming about his belief that he had seen a UFO. He described waiting outside for a Lion's Club Meeting in Leary, Georgia, to begin, at about 7:30 p.m., when he spotted what he called "the darndest thing I've ever seen" in the sky. Carter, as well as 10 to 12 other people who witnessed the same event, described the object as "very bright [with] changing colors and about the size of the moon." Carter reported that "the object hovered about 30 degrees above the horizon and moved in toward the earth and away before disappearing into the distance." He later told a reporter that, after the experience, he vowed never again to ridicule anyone who claimed to have seen a UFO.
During the presidential campaign of 1976, Carter promised that, if elected president, he would encourage the government release "every piece of information" about UFOs available to the public and to scientists. After winning the presidency, though, Carter backed away from this pledge, saying that the release of some information might have "defense implications" and pose a threat to national security.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated.
324 - Chrysopolis Emperor Constantine beats Emperor Licinius
1180 - Philip Augustus becomes king of France.
1437 - Farmer uprising in Transsylvania
1454 - In the Battle of Chojnice, the Polish army is defeated by the Teutonic army during the Thirteen Years' War.
1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his 4th & last voyage
1544 - English King Henry VIII's troops occupy Boulogne
1544 - Peace of Crépy: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V & French King Francis I
1573 - Spain attacks Alkmaar
1635 - Emperor Ferdinand II declares war on France
1679 - New Hampshire becomes a county in Massachusetts Bay Colony
1739 - Turkey & Austria sign peace treaty-Austria cedes Belgrade to Turks
1755 - Fort Ticonderoga, New York opens
1759 - Battle of Quebec ends, French surrender to British who capture Quebec City
1769 - John Harris builds 1st spinet piano (US)
1789 - 1st loan is made to pay salaries of the presidents & Congress
1793 - Pres Washington lays cornerstone of Capitol building
1809 - Royal Opera House in London opens
1810 - Chile declares independence from Spain (National Day)
Explorer of the New World Christopher ColumbusExplorer of the New World Christopher Columbus 1811 - British expeditionary army conquerors Dutch Indies
1812 - Fire in Moscow destroys 90% of houses & 1,000 churchs
1838 - Anti-Corn Law League established by Richard Cobden
1842 - 1st edition of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, published
1846 - Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning exchange last letters before eloping
1848 - Baseball rules 1st baseman can tag base for out instead of runner
1849 - De Kempenaer's Dutch government resigns
1850 - Congress passes Fugitive Slave Law as part of Compromise of 1850
1851 - New York Times starts publishing (2 cents a copy)
1862 - Confederate armies officially divide into corps
1862 - General Read army pulls out of Antietam Creek Virginia
1864 - Battle of Martinsburg WV
1864 - Hood's Tennessee campaign begins (also called The Franklin–Nashville Campaign), American Civil War
1872 - King Oscar II accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
1873 - Government bond agent Jay Cooke & Co collapses, causing panic on Wall St, the start of the panic of 1873
1879 - The Blackpool Illuminations are switched on for the first time.
1881 - Chicago Tribune reports on a televideo experiment
1882 - Pacific Stock Exchange opens (as Local Security Board)
1885 - Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination.
1888 - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Sign of Four" (BG)
1891 - Harriet Maxwell Converse is 1st white woman to become an Indian chief
Education Pioneer Booker T. WashingtonEducation Pioneer Booker T. Washington 1895 - Booker T. Washington delivera "Atlanta Compromise" address
1895 - Daniel David Palmer of Davenport, Iowa gives the first chiropractic adjustment
1897 - Gustave Kecker/Hugh Martin's musical "Belle of NYC," premieres in NYC
1898 - Lord Kitchener's ships reach Fashoda, Sudan
1903 - Phillie's Chick Fraser no-hits Chicago Cubs, 10-0
1905 - Electric tramline opens in Rotterdam
1906 - A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong.
1908 - Cleve Indian Bob "Dusty" Rhoades no-hits Boston, 2-1
1909 - Largest paid baseball attendance (35,409), A's beat Tigers, 2-0 in Det
1910 - 25,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam for general male/female suffrage
1911 - Britain's 1st twin-engine airplane (Short S.39) test flown
1911 - Louis Napoleon Parker's "Disraeli," premieres in NYC
1914 - Battle of Aisne ends with Germans beating French during WW I
1914 - Gen von Hindenburgs named commander of German armies on Eastern Front
1914 - Irish Home Rule bill receives Royal assent
1914 - South African troops land in German South West Africa
1915 - Boston Braves trounce St Louis Cardinals 20-1
1918 - Battle of Megiddo (Palestine) starts
1919 - Dutch second chamber accepts female suffrage
1919 - Hurricane tides 16 feet above normal drown 280 along Gulf Coast
1922 - 2nd government of Ruys de Beerenbrouck installed in Netherlands
1922 - Browns George Sisler's 41-game hit streak is stopped by NY's Joe Bush
1922 - Hungary admitted to League of Nations
1924 - Government routes 7 Provinces to Peking
1925 - Bill Tilden wins 6th straight US tennis championship
1926 - 46th US Mens Tennis: Rene Lacoste beats Jean Borotra (64 60 64)
1926 - Hurricane hits Miami, kills 250
1926 - Jean Rene Lacoste wins US Tennis Open
1927 - 18 station CBS radio network begins, (WOR is NYC affiliate)
1927 - The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air.
1928 - Cards beat Phillies for 20th of 22 games in 1928
1928 - Juan de la Cierva flies 1st helicopter above Channel
1929 - Pirates loss to Braves & clinch NL pennant for the Cubs
1929 - Preston Sturges' "Strictly Dishonorable," premieres in NYC
1930 - Enterprise (US) beats Shamrock V (England) in 15th America's Cup
1930 - NY Yankee pitcher Red Ruffing hits 2 HRs to beat St Louis Browns, 7-6
1930 - Phila A's win AL championship for 2nd year in a row
1931 - Japan takes Manchuria, renames it Manchukuo
1932 - Actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide by jumping from the letter "H" in the Hollywood sign.
1934 - St Louis Brown Bobo Newsom loses no-hitter to Boston in 10, 2-1
1934 - USSR admitted to League of Nations
1938 - Chicago Bears beat Green Bay Packers 2-0
1938 - Despite losing a double header, Yanks clinch pennant #10
1939 - Polish government of Moscicki flees to Romania
1939 - William Joyce's first Nazi propaganda broadcast.
1940 - 19 German aircraft shot down above England
1940 - Elmer Harris' "Johnny Belinda," premieres in NYC
1940 - Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani
1942 - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation authorized for radio service
1943 - Cardinals clinch NL pennant
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler 1943 - Hitler orders deportation of Danish Jews (unsuccessful)
1944 - British submarine Tradewind torpedoes Junyo Maru: 5,600 killed
1944 - Eindhoven free (Lightly Day)
1944 - US 266th division occupiers Brest Bretagne
1945 - 1000 whites walk out of Gary Ind schools to protest integration
1946 - Joe Louis KOs Tami Mauriello in 1 for heavyweight boxing title
1947 - National Security Act passes
1947 - US Air Force forms
1948 - "Hilarities (of 1949)" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 14 perfs
1948 - Communist Madiun-uprising in Dutch Indies (Muso/Sjarifudin)
1948 - Ralph J Bunche confirmed as acting UN mediator in Palestine
1949 - Baseball major league record 4 grand slams hit
1950 - Nakagawa Soen, Zen teacher, receives dharma transmission
1954 - Cleveland Indians clinch AL pennant, beat Tigers (3-2)
1954 - KTUL TV channel 8 in Tulsa, OK (ABC) begins broadcasting
1954 - WLOS TV channel 13 in G'ville-Spartanburg, SC (ABC) 1st broadcast
1955 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Mile High Golf Open
1955 - Willie Mays hits record tying 9th HR at Ebbets Field (ties Joe Adcock)
1956 - Mickey Mantle is 8th to hit 50 HRs in a seaon
1957 - "Wagon Train" premieres
1957 - Electric train joining in Amsterdam-Brussels
1959 - Vanguard 3 launched into Earth orbit
1960 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Memphis Golf Open
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - Bob Aspromonte sets NL 3rd baseman record of 57 cons errorless games
1962 - Charlie Finley is denied permission to move A's to Dallas-Fort Worth
1962 - Rwanda, Burundi, Jamaica & Trinidad admitted (105th-108th) to UN
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 - Final game at Polo Grounds, 1,752 see Phillies beat Mets 5-1
1963 - USSR orders 58.5 million barrels of cereal from Australia
1964 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1965 - "Get Smart" premieres
1965 - Mickey Mantle Day at Yankee Stadium: Mantle play his 2,000th game
1966 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Shirley Englehorn Golf Invitational
1967 - Intrepid (US) beats Dame Pattie (Aust) in 21st America's Cup
1968 - Ray Washburn (Cards) no-hits SF Giants 2-0
1969 - Tiny Tim & Miss Vicky get engaged
1971 - 19th Ryder Cup: US beats Europe, 18½-13½ at Old Warson Country Club (St. Louis, Missouri, US)
1972 - 1st black NL umpire (Art Williams-Los Angeles vs San Diego)
1973 - German FR & German DR admitted to UN
1974 - Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110 mph winds, 5,000 die
1975 - Heiress/bank robber Patricia Campbell Hearst captured by FBI in SF
1976 - Cleve manager Frank Robinson last game as a player
1976 - Dom Mintoff's Labour Party wins Malta election
1976 - Rev Sun Myung Moon holds "God Bless America" convention
1976 - Rock Music Award
Chinese Communist Revolutionary and Politician Mao Tse-TungChinese Communist Revolutionary and Politician Mao Tse-Tung 1976 - Mao Zedong's funeral takes place in Beijing.
1977 - Brooks Robinson Night in Baltimore
1977 - Courageous (US) sweeps Australia (Aust) in 24th America's Cup
1977 - Joanne Carner/Judy Rankin wins LPGA National Team Golf Championship
1977 - US Voyager I takes 1st space photograph of Earth & Moon together
1978 - All 4 Kiss members release solo albums
1979 - Bolshoi Ballet dancers Leonid & Valentina Kozlov defect
1979 - Steven Lachs, appointed Calif's 1st admittedly gay judge
1979 - The Who opens NYC concerts at Madison Square Garden
1980 - "Les Miserables," opens at Palais des Sports, Paris
1980 - Royals Willie Wilson steals AL-record 28 consecutive base
1980 - Soyuz 38 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station
1981 - Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France.
1982 - Christian militia begin massacre of 600 Palestinians in Lebanon
1983 - George Meegen completes 2,426d (19K mi) walk across Western Hemisphere
1983 - Juli Inkster wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1983 - Lebanese & Syrian army battle
1983 - New Orleans Saints 1st OT victory; beating Chic Bears 34-31
1984 - Joe Kittinger completes 1st solo balloon crossing of Atlantic
1984 - Tigers clinch AL East championship (spent all year in 1st place)
1984 - Tim Raines is 1st player with 4 consecutive 70-stolen-base seasons
1985 - "Song & Dance" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 474 performances
1985 - BBC Radio reports prime # 2^216091-1 found in Houston
1986 - David Boon's 3rd Test cricket century, 122 v India at Madras
1987 - Detroit Tiger Darrell Evans is 1st 40 year old to hit 30 HRs
1987 - US & Russia sign accord to remove mid range missiles
1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1988 - Burma suspends its constitution
1988 - Coup in Haiti
1988 - Juli Inkster wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1989 - Hurricane Hugo causes extensive damage in Puerto Rico
1990 - 500 lb 6' Hershey Kiss is displayed at 1 Times Square, NYC
1990 - Atlanta is chosen to host 1996 (centennial) Summer Olympics
1990 - Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations.
1991 - John Hart becomes general manager of Cleveland Indians
1991 - NCAA places Tenn on 2 yrs probation for football recruting violations
1991 - Robert Helmick resigns as pres of US Olympic Committee
1991 - Space shuttle STS 48 (Discovery 14) lands
1991 - Yugoslavia begins a naval blockade of 7 Adriatic port cities.
1993 - Kimberly Clarice Aiken (SC), 18, crowned 67th Miss America 1994
1993 - LA Mighty Ducks play their 1st NHL pre-season game against Penguins
1993 - Trailing 3-1 with 2 outs in 9th, time is called prior to Mike Stanley pop out, gets a 2nd chance, & Yanks rally to beat Boston 4-3
1994 - 1st Presidents Golf Cup: US beats Intl team 20-12 at Robert Jones Va
1994 - Austrian conservative FVP wins elections/extreme right gets 18.5%
1994 - Deb Richard wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1994 - Ken Burn's "Baseball" premieres on PBS
1994 - Sweden social-democratic SPD wins parliamentary election
1995 - Art Modell 1st meets (he claims) with Balt to move Browns
1995 - Space shuttle STS-69 (Endeavour 9), lands
1996 - Roger Clemens ties his own major league record with 20 strikeouts
1997 - Seve Ballesteros & Nick Faldo elected to World Golf Hall of Fame
1997 - Ted Turner gives $1 billion to UN
1997 - Voters in Wales vote yes (50.3%) in a referendum on Welsh autonomy.
1998 - ICANN is formed.
2001 - First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
2003 - The United Kingdom's Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, receives Royal Assent.
2006 - Right wing protesters riot the building of the Hungarian Television in Budapest, Hungary, one day after an audio tape was made public, in which Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány admitted he and his party lied during the 2006 general elections.
2007 - Pervez Musharraf announces that he will step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he is re-elected president.
2007 - Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some called the Saffron Revolution.
2009 - The 72 year run of the soap opera The Guiding Light ends as its final episode is broadcast.
2012 - 10 soliders are killed and 70 injured by a missile attack by Kurdish militants in Bingol, Turkey
2012 - 26 people are killed in a fire in a Pemex gas facility in Reynosa, Mexico
2012 - The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools reach a deal that ends an 8-day strike.
2012 - World's first mother-to-daughter uterus transplant undertaken at the University of Gothenburg
1709 - The creator of the first dictionary of the English language, Samuel Johnson, was born in England. 1759 - The French formally surrendered Quebec to the British. 1763 - It was reported, by the Boston Gazette, that the first piano had been built in the United States. The instrument was named the spinet and was made by John Harris. 1789 - Alexander Hamilton negotiated and secured the first loan for the United States. The Temporary Loan of 1789 was repaid on June 8, 1790 at the sum of $191,608.81. 1793 - U.S. President George Washington laid the actual cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. 1810 - Chile declared its independence from Spain. 1830 - The "Tom Thumb", the first locomotive built in America, raced a horse on a nine-mile course. The horse won when the locomotive had some mechanical difficulties. 1850 - The Fugitive Slave Act was declared by the U.S. Congress. The act allowed slave owners to claim slaves that had escaped into other states. 1851 - The first issue of "The New York Times" was published. 1891 - Harriet Maxwell Converse became the first white woman to ever be named chief of an Indian tribe. The tribe was the Six Nations Tribe at Towanda Reservation in New York. 1895 - Daniel David Palmer gave the first chiropractic adjustment. 1927 - Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System made its debut with its network broadcast over 16 radio stations. The name was later changed to CBS. 1940 - "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe was published by Harper and Brothers. 1947 - The U.S. Air Force was established as a separate military branch by the National Security Act. 1955 - The "Ed Sullivan Show" began on CBS-TV. The show had been "The Toast of the Town" since 1948. 1963 - "The Patty Duke Show" premiered on ABC-TV. 1965 - The first episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" was shown on NBC-TV. The last show was televised on September 1, 1970. 1981 - A museum honoring former U.S. President Ford was dedicated in Grand Rapids, MI. 1984 - The 39th session of the U.N. General Assembly was opened with an appeal to the U.S. and Soviet Union to resume arms negotiations. 1991 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush said that he would send warplanes to escort U.N. helicopters that were searching for hidden Iraqi weapons if it became necessary. 1994 - Haiti's military leaders agreed to depart on October 15th. This action averted a U.S.-led invasion to force them out of power. 1997 - Ted Turner, U.S. Media magnate, announced that over the next ten years he would give $1 billion to the United Nations. 1998 - The U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted to release to videotape of President Clinton's grand jury testimony from August 17. 1998 - The FDA approved a once-a-day easier-to-swallow medication for AIDS patients. 2003 - Robert Duvall received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1759 French Quebec surrendered to the British after the Sept. 13 battle on the Plains of Abraham, the last battle of the French and Indian Wars. French general Montcalm and British general Wolfe died in the fray. 1810 Chile declared its independence from Spain. 1850 Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which required the return of escaped slaves to their owners. 1851 The first edition of The New York Daily Times, which later became The New York Times, was published. 1947 The National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy, and Air Force, was passed. 1961 Secretary-General of the UN Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). 1970 27-year-old rock star, Jimi Hendrix, died in London. 1999 Sammy Sosa became the first player in major league baseball history to hit 60 homers in two seasons.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
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