1683 – Immigrant families founded Germantown, Pennsylvania in the first major immigration of German people to America.

1777 – American Revolutionary War: British forces captured Forts Clinton and Montgomery on the Hudson River.

1789 – French Revolution: King Louis XVI was forced to change his residence from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace.

1866 – The first train robbery in the US (Reno Brothers took $13,000).

1884 – The Naval War College of the United States was founded in Rhode Island.

1889 – Thomas Edison showed his first motion picture.

1893 – Nabisco Foods invented Cream of Wheat.

1927 – Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent “talkie” movie.

1939 – World War II: The Battle of Kock was the final combat of the September Campaign in Poland.

1939 – Adolf Hitler denied his intention to go to war against France and Britain.  Also, Hitler announced plans to regulate Jewish problem.

1945 – US General Eisenhower was welcomed in The Hague (on Hitler’s train).

1945 – Tavern owner “Billy Goat” Sianis bought a seat for his goat for Game 4 of Baseball World Series.  He and his goat are escorted out.  Sianis cast a goat curse on Chicago Cubs.

1952 – Agatha Christie’s play “The Mousetrap” opened in London. It ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Christie’s play has by far the longest initial run of any play in history, with its 27,500th performance taking place on 18 September 2018. 

1960 – “Spartacus”, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier, premiered in New York City.

1961 – Cold War: President John F. Kennedy advised Americans to build fallout shelters.

1965 – The Supremes released the single “I Hear a Symphony”.

1966 – LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) was first declared illegal in state of California, other states soon followed.

1977 – The first prototype of the Mikoyan MiG-29, designated 9-01, made its maiden flight.

1978 – Mick Jagger apologized for racist lyrics in “Some Girls”.

1979 – Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit the White House.

1980 – John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment on assault charges.

1987 – “Faith” single was released by George Michael.  It was the Billboard Song of the Year of 1988.

1993 – After 9 seasons and 3 Championships with the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan announced his retirement from the NBA.  He returned on March 18, 1995 and led the Bulls to another 3 NBA titles.

1995 – The first planet orbiting another sun, 51 Pegasi b, was discovered.

2007 – Jason Lewis completed the first human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth.

2010 – Instagram, a mainstream photo-sharing application, was founded.

2018 – Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed and sworn onto the US Supreme Court amid protests and after an FBI investigation.

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