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What happened in history on this day: July 17?
On July 17 in ...
- 1794 - African Church of Saint Thomas in Philadelphia is dedicated.
- 1794 - Richard Allen organizes Philadelphia's Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
- 1856 - Sunday school excursion train collides, killing 46 children (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
- 1861 - US Congress authorizes first US government-issued paper money, $50 million worth, known as "demand notes" and "Greenbacks".
- 1862 - US Congress passes Postage Currency Act allowing all forms of government postage stamps to be exchanged by assistant treasurers for greenbacks for payments of less than $5, and outlaws all privately issued notes with value under $1.
- 1862 - US army is authorized to accept blacks as laborers.
- 1863 - Battle of Honey Springs, largest battle of war in Indian Territory.
- 1867 - First permanent university dental school in US opens at Harvard.
- 1897 - First ship arrives in Seattle carrying gold from the Yukon.
- 1938 - Douglas Corrigan takes off from New York for California, accidentally flies the "wrong way" to Ireland, becoming known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan.
- 1942 - 3 feet of rain falls on Pennsylvania, flooding kills 15.
- 1942 - Estimated 87.5 cm (34.5 inches) of rainfall, Smethport, Pennsylvania (state record).
- 1943 - United Artists releases Disney's animated and live-action feature film Victory Through Air Power to theaters.
- 1944 - Two ammunition ships explode at Port Chicago, California, killing 322.
- 1945 - American President Harry Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet at Schloss Cecilienhof in Potsdam near Berlin, Germany, beginning a 17-day conference. Partway through the conference, Chruchill is replaced by the newly elected British Prime Minister Clement Attlee. Peace terms are drafted, and discussions are held on Germany, Poland, and Japan. Stalin tells Truman that he believes Adolf Hitler did not commit suicide, but probably escaped.
- 1954 - Construction begins on Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
- 1955 - At 2:00 PM, Disneyland park opens, in Anaheim, California. Eighteen attractions are ready for use. Five themed areas are Main Street, U.S.A., Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland. Based on an initial US$10,000 for planning, the final construction cost was US$17 million. 15,000 guests were invited, but attendance for the day is 28,000-33,000.
- 1955 - At 4:30 PM, the ABC Television network airs the 90-minute Dateline Disneyland show, broadcasting the opening of Disneyland park. An estimated 90 million people watch the show, the largest live TV broadcast to date, with over twenty cameras and a staff of hundreds. Hosts of the show are Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings, and Ronald Reagan. The official dedication is made by Walt Disney and California Governor Goodwin Knight.
- 1955 - Arco, Idaho becomes first US city lit by nuclear power.
- 1962 - US Senate rejects medicare for the aged.
- 1962 - Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site.
- 1966 - Pioneer 7 launched.
- 1967 - The Monkees music group performs at Forest Hills, New York; Jimi Hendrix is opening act.
- 1967 - Race riots in Cairo, Illinois, USA.
- 1970 - 30,000 attend Randall's Island Rock Festival, New York City.
- 1970 - Ralph Baer demonstrates his television video game system to Magnavox. Despite a lack of interest from most Magnavox engineers, Bill Enders negotiates an exclusive license to manufacture and distribute the system, and sublicense Sanders Associates' patents on the technology.
- 1975 - American Apollo 18 and Soviet Soyuz 19 spacecraft dock with each other in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
- 1979 - Nicaraguan dictator General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.
- 1980 - Ronald Reagan formally accepts Republican nomination for president of US.
- 1981 - Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, USA collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114, injuring 200.
- 1981 - Israeli aircraft bomb Beirut, destroying multi-storey apartment blocks containing the offices of PLO associated groups, killing approximately 300 civilians and resulting in worldwide condemnation and a U.S. embargo on the export of aircraft to Israel.
- 1987 - Ten teens die in Guadalupe River flood (Comfort, Texas).
- 1987 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time, at 2,510.04.
- 1988 - Highest temperature ever recorded in San Francisco, California: 103 degrees F (39 degrees C).
- 1989 - The Splash Mountain attraction opens in Critter Country at Disneyland, after five years of planning. The ride features 103 Audio-Animatronic characters, some from the former America Sings attraction. This is the longest flume chute ride in the world.
- 1989 - The B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber first flies.
- 1995 - The Nasdaq Composite stock market index closes above the 1,000 mark for the first time.
- 1996 - Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 (Boeing 747) explodes off the coast of Long Island, New York, killing all 230 on board.
- 2008 - American investment bank Merrill Lynch & Company posts a US$4.89 billion quarterly loss after writing down bad debts, and unveils plans to sell billions of dollars of assets.
- 2016 - In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, three police officers are ambushed and killed by ex-serviceman Gavin Long.
Births on July 17
- 1876 - Birth of Rosa Jackson in Lumpkin, Georgia, USA; lived to be 115 (died in 1991).
- 1898 - Birth of Berenice Abbott in Springfield, Ohio, USA; photographer (World of Atget).
- 1905 - Birth of William Gargan in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor (Dynamite, Ellery Queen).
- 1914 - Birth of Lucille Benson in Scottsboro, Alabama, USA; actress (Lilly - Bosom Buddies).
- 1916 - Birth of Eleanor Steber in Wheeling, West Virginia, USA; soprano (Metropolitan Opera-1940).
- 1917 - Birth of Phyllis Diller in Lima, Ohio, USA; comedien (Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number).
- 1920 - Birth of Bill Monroe in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; newscaster (NBC-TV, Congressional Report).
- 1921 - Birth of George Barnes in Chicago Heights, Illinois, USA; guitarist (Skip Farrell Show).
- 1935 - Birth of Diahann Carroll in the Bronx, New York, USA; actress/singer (Julia, Claudine, Dominique - Dynasty, The Colbys).
- 1935 - Birth of P.D.Q. Bach [Peter Schickele] in Iowa, USA; composer ("5th of Beethoven").
- 1940 - Birth of Phyllis Davis in Port Arthur, Texas, USA; actress (Love American Style, Vega$).
- 1951 - Birth of Lucie Arnaz in Los Angeles, California, USA; actress (Kim - Here's Lucy, Jazz Singer, Sons and Daughters, The Lucy Show).
- 1952 - Birth of David Hasselhoff in Baltimore, Maryland, USA; actor (Revenge of the Cheerleaders, Knight Rider, Baywatch).
- 1963 - Birth of Denise Miller in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actress (Billie - Archie Bunker's Place).
Deaths on July 17
- 1959 - Death of Billie Holliday AKA Ellinore Harris at age 44 of liver failure in New York hospital; jazz singer ("Strange Fruit", "God Bless the Child", "Yesterdays").
- 2006 - Death of Mickey Spillane at age 88 of cancer in South Carolina, USA; writer (Mike Hammer novels).
- 2009 - Former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America," dies in New York at age 92.
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