Today in History – September 16th

Published September 16, 2012 |

1400, Owain Glyndwr is declared Prince of Wales by his followers.
1620, The Mayflower starts her voyage to North America
1701, James Francis Edward Stuart, called the “Old Pretender”, becomes Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland.
1776, American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Harlem Heights is fought.
1777, Nathan Mayer Rothschild, British financier (d. 1836) was born.
1779, American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah begins.
1810, With the Grito de Dolores, Father Miguel Hidalgo begins Mexico’s fight for independence from Spain.
1812, The Fire of Moscow (1812) begins shortly after midnight and destroys three quarters of the city days later.
1875, James C. Penney, American department store founder (d. 1971) was born.
1877, Jacob Schick, American-Canadian electric razor inventor (d. 1937) was born.
1880, The Cornell Daily Sun prints its 1st issue in Ithaca, New York. The nation’s oldest, continuously-independent college daily.
1893, Settlers make a land run for prime land in the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma.
1898, H.A. Rey, American children’s author (d. 1977) was born.
1908, The General Motors Corporation is founded.
1914, Allen Funt, American radio and television personality (d. 1999) was born.
1919, The American Legion is incorporated.
1920, Wall Street bombing: bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of J.P. Morgan building in NYC, 38 are killed and 400 injured.
1927, Peter Falk, American actor (d. 2011) was born.
1940, WWII: Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani.
1943, WWII: Allied invasion of Italy concludes when Heinrich von Vietinghoff orders his troops to withdraw from Salerno.
1945, WWII: surrender of the Japanese troops in Hong Kong. The surrender is accepted by the Royal Navy Admiral Sir Cecil Harcourt.
1947, Typhoon Kathleen hits Saitama, Tokyo and Tone River area, at least 1,930 killed.
1955, A Soviet Navy Zulu class submarine becomes 1st submarine to launch a ballistic missile.
1955, Juan Peron is deposed as the ruler of Argentina.
1959, 1st successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration on live television from New York City.
1963, Malaysia is formed from the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak.
1965, Fred Quimby, American cartoon producer (b. 1886) died.
1970, King Hussein of Jordan declares military rule following hijacking of 4 civilian airliners by PFLP.
1971, Typhoon Nancy, with possibly strongest winds measured in tropical cyclone, makes landfall in Osaka, Japan, killing 173 ppl.
1975, 1st prototype of the MiG-31 interceptor makes its maiden flight.
1975, Papua New Guinea gains its independence from Australia.
1975, The Cape Verde Islands, Mozambique, and Sao Tome and Principe join the United Nations.
1978, An earthquake measuring 7.5 to 7.9 on the Richter scale hits the city of Tabas, Iran killing about 25,000 people.
1987, The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.
1991, The trial of the deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega begins in the US.
2005, Gordon Gould, inventor of the laser (b. 1920) died.

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Chris Rivait

Chris loves history and hopes that Yesteeyear becomes a place where everyone can share their history knowledge. Chris owns an Internet Marketing company, Arrivait Marketing. He has a wonderful wife and four great children.