| Between 1663 and 1729, North Carolina was under the control of the Lords Proprietors and their descendants, who commissioned colonial officials and authorized the governor and his council to grant lands in the name of the Lords Proprietors. In 1729, seven of the Lords Proprietors sold their interests in North Carolina to the Crown and North Carolina became a royal colony. The eighth proprietor, Lord Granville, retained economic interest and continued granting land in the northern half of North Carolina. All political functions were under the supervision of the Crown until 1775. |
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| The Granite Railway introduced several important inventions, including railway switches, the turntable, and double-truck railroad cars. In addition it was the site of the first fatal railway accident in the United States, on July 25, 1832, when the wagon containing Mr. Thomas B. Achuas, of Cuba, derailed as he was taking a tour. |
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| In 1854, Walter Hunt of New York City was awarded the first U.S. patent for a paper shirt collar. Very thin white paper was pasted on both sides of a base of thin white cotton muslin. After being cut out or stamped out of this material, such collars could be pressed between heated forms to the shape of the neck. To guard against the effect of perspiration, the collars were then varnished with a colorless bleached shellac which also enabled cleaning by wiping with a damp cloth. It was expected the collar could be made at less than the cost of laundering a linen shirt collar. Walter Hunt (1796-1859) was a prolific inventor, best known for the safety pin and as developer of the first repeating rifle. |
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| Grant's fighting style was what one fellow general called "that of a bulldog". Although Grant lost battles in 1864, he was the only major commander to win all his campaigns during the Civil War. After the war, on July 25, 1866, Congress authorized the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States, the equivalent of a full (four-star) general in the modern U.S. Army.Grant was appointed as such by President Andrew Johnson on the same day. |
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| In 1871, the first U.S. patent for perforated wrapping paper was awarded to Seth Wheeler of Albany, NY. The paper was wound into rolls and could easily be torn off at the perforations. It was claimed that the fibers left between the perforations were sufficient for holding the sheets together as wound on the roll. I Paper was already manufactured in rolls; only the step of perforation was addedin its production, either with a row of holes or short cuts. |
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| In 1871, the first U.S. patent for a carousel was issued to Willhelm Schneider of Davenport, Iowa. It was described as a two-story "'carrousel' or rotary pavillion used in public parks or other places of amusement." A staircase within the central supporting frame enabled access to the upper story. Radial partitions could provide separate "apartments" with a sofa, imitation horse or other seats. It could be turned by a person or other apparatus. However, it was not very practical or successful. |
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| Tassey's first patent was for an improved appratus for raising sunken vessels which she received in July 1876. In December of that year she received three other patents on the same day for an Improvement in siphon propeller-pumps; for Propulsion of vessels; and a Dredging machine. The pump is designed to "provide means of discharging large portions of water--as from a coffer-dam--into the river." |
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| On July 25, 1898 USA troops landed in Guánica as part of the course of the Spanish-American War. This invasion led to Puerto Rico being acquired by the United States. The invasion, just one small part of the war between Spain and America, occurred in Guánica due to its sheltered harbor and proximity to Ponce, besides being such an unexpected site for such an attack, which had been anticipated at the heavily fortified city of San Juan. |
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| In 1909, French aviator Louis Blériot flew across the English Channel in a monoplane, traveling from Calais, France, to Dover, England, in 37 minutes. Blériot made the historic crossing after Lord Northcliffe, the owner of the Daily Mail, offered £1,000 to the first successful pilot. After asking, "Where is England?" he took off from France and landed in England near Dover, where he was greeted by English police. |
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| At Philadelphia, Pirates OF Max Carey scores five runs against the Phils without a hit, reaching first on an error and four walks, as the Bucs win 12-2. He also steals four bases and advances twice on wild pitches. A student at St. Louis Theological Seminary, he will lead the NL in runs this season: he'll lead in stolen bases as well, the first of 10 such seasons. |
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| Station 2XAG in Schenectady, NY became the first radio station in the U.S. to broadcast with a 50,000-watt transmitter. The station, soon known as WGY Radio, could broadcast with 50,000 watts, since it was owned by the General Electric Company -- a company that knew lots about watts. Today, WGY still broadcasts with its original call letters and is still using 50,000 watts of power. |
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| Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union at the USSR Cabinet of Ministers or TASS was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. It was established by decree of the USSR Central Executive Committee Presidium. TASS was created from the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA), the first state news agency in Soviet Russia. |
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| The 1939 New York City broadcast of "Topsy and Eva Television Edition" featured the Duncan sisters, Vivian and Rosetta, two white Vaudeville entertainers performing the two named roles, one in black-face, the other without makeup. The plot? Topsy and Little Eva buy Uncle Tom from Simon Legree's Used Slave Co., but can't keep up the payments. Topsy and Eva do a color switch under Legree's whip as Eliza saves the day. |
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| John Sigmund of St. Louis , MO completed a 292-mile swim down the Mississippi River. The swim from St. Louis to Caruthersville , MO took him 89 hours and 48 minutes. |
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| Forty-one-year-old Lefty Grove wins his 300th game as the Boston Red Sox defeat the Cleveland Indians 10-6 before a Fenway Ladies Day crowd of 16,000. Though he will make six more starts, this will be Grove's last career win. |
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| The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (German "Swallow") is the world's first operational jet-powered fighter. It was mass-produced in World War II and saw action from late summer of 1944 in bomber/reconnaissance and fighter/interceptor roles. Officially named Schwalbe, because the swallow is one of the fastest birds known when going into a dive to capture and eat an airborne insect, German pilots nicknamed it the Turbo, while the Allies called it the Stormbird. While the Me 262 had a negligible impact on the course of the war; shooting down an estimated 150 Allied aircraft for the loss of 100 Me 262s; the jet was both well-known and highly influential on post-war aircraft development. |
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| On July 25, 1946, Jerry began a show business partnership with Dean Martin, an association that would soon skyrocket both to fame. It started when Jerry was performing at the 500 Club in Atlantic City and one of the other entertainers quit suddenly. Lewis, who had worked with Martin at the Glass Hat in New York City, suggested Dean as a replacement. At first they worked separately, but then ad-libbed together, improvising insults and jokes, squirting seltzer water, hurling bunches of celery and exuding general zaniness. |
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| Signed to RCA-Victor Records, and accompanied by Hugo Winterhalter, Fisher had a string of US Top 10 hits through to 1956, including "Thinking Of You", "A Man Chases A Girl (Until She Catches Him)", "Turn Back The Hands Of Time", "Tell Me Why", "I'm Yours", "Maybe"/"Watermelon Weather" (duets with Perry Como), "Wish You Were Here" (number 1), "Lady Of Spain", "I'm Walking Behind You" (number 1), "Oh My Pa-Pa" (number 1), "I Need You Now" (number 1), "Count Your Blessings", "Heart", "Dungaree Doll" and "Cindy, Oh Cindy". |
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| A little after 11:00 p.m., the Stockholm struck the Doria, delivering a fatal blow. The impact opened such a gaping hole in the Doria's side that within minutes the ship was leaning dangerously far to her right side -- allowing the watertight compartments that kept the ship afloat to flood. Around 6:00 a.m. after all the survivors had been transplanted onto various rescue ships bound for New York. The Doria fully disappeared from sight at 10:09 -- almost exactly eleven hours after the collision with the Stockholm took place. |
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| Anka placed four songs in the Top 20 in 1958, including "You Are My Destiny" and "Crazy Love." He wrote one of Buddy Holly's last hits, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," and moved into movies with Let's Rock and Girls Town. The latter film spawned his biggest American hit, "Lonely Boy," just the first in a string of 1959 chart successes including "Put Your Head on My Shoulder," "It's Time to Cry," and "Puppy Love". |
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| Roger Maris hits four home runs, tying the American League record for a twin bill (at least one in each game), as New York beats Chicago 5-1 and 12-0. Mickey Mantle also homers off Frank Baumann in the first game. He ends the day with 38 home runs to 40 for Maris. |
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| Unless you were The Beatles, it was very hard to get a #1 hit in the US in 1964. This was a major accomplishment for an American group during the British invasion. The B-side of this single was the original version of "Silence Is Golden," a big hit with the English group Tremeloes in 1967. |
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| "A Hard Day's Night" was a breakthrough album for The Beatles, as it was their first album where they wrote all the songs. Of the album's thirteen tracks, it became Lennon's crowning achievement, as he wrote ten of the thirteen. During this time, Lennon was the unofficial leader of The Beatles, and although McCartney was more musically accomplished, Paul remained the junior player to John, since their first meeting in 1957. |
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| As rock legend has it, Bob Dylan was roundly booed at the 1965 festival for appearing backed by an electric blues band. The lineup included three from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Mike Bloomfield, guitar; Sam Lay, drums and Jerome Arnold, bass, plus Al Kooper, organ and Barry Goldberg, piano. Dylan was regarded by folk purists as betraying his "folkie roots" by doing this. Defenders noted he had an album in the Top Twenty radio airplay charts for most of 1965 which used electric instrumentation, and that the performance was modelled on the standard practice of Muddy Waters, who had been using the electric guitar in his performances for years. |
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| "You Can't Hurry Love" was written by the prolific songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. It was based on a Gospel song entitled "You Can't Hurry God," which was sung by Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes, a Gospel group based in Birmingham, Alabama. It was the first of a second row of consecutive #1 American hits the Supremes had. The first row had 5; the second had 4. |
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| "(They Long to Be) Close to You" was the first of a string of hits for The Carpenters. They dominated Easy Listening radio in the early '70s. The Carpenters' first single was a cover of The Beatles' "Ticket To Ride," which hit #54 in the US. This was their second single. |
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| Twenty-five dancers desperately auditioning for eight jobs on the chorus line of a new musical. The passion of the piece came from director/choreographer Michael Bennett's desire to make these dancers represent the thousands upon thousands of gypsies over the years who sublimated their own careers to support the star. |
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| The Reds lose to the Mets 9-2, but Pete Rose collects three hits to break Tommy Holmes' record. Holmes is in attendance at Shea and shakes Rose's hand after his 3rd inning single off Craig Swan. |
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| In 1978, in England, Louise Joy Brown, the first test tube baby was born in Oldham. She had been conceived through the technique of in-vitro fertilization. She weighed 5-lbs 12-ozs, and was delivered by Caesarean section at Oldham District General Hospital. By July 25, 1999, her 21st birthday, more than 300,000 babies have been born throughout the world using in vitro fertilisation (IVF), 29,000 of them in Britain. |
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| Saturn was Voyager2's second stop in its Grand Tour of the outer solar system, taking advantage of a rare planetary alignment to visit the four giant outer planets. Voyager 2 flew by Saturn's cloudtops at a distance of 100,800 kilometers (62,600 miles), and returned more sensitve images of jet streams and storms in the atmosphere. |
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| The Australian group Air Supply, founded by British-born Graham Russell and Australian Russell Hitchcock in 1976, lit up the US pop charts with their combination of pleasant melodies and romantic lyrics set to light orchestration. This was their biggest hit, and it was typical Air Supply, expanding upon their constant theme of the starry-eyed troubadour reflecting on matters of love. |
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| In 1983, a baboon, was the first nonhuman primate conceived in a lab dish, in San Antonio, Texas. The eggs with attached spermatozoa were transferred surgically into the oviduct of another baboon, who then gave birth to the offspring. The chief scientist for the research was Dr. Tom Kuehl. |
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| In 1984, 15 years ago, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya (sah-VEETS'-kah-yah) became the first woman to walk in space as she carried out more than three hours of experiments outside the orbiting space station "Salyut Seven." She was selected as a cosmonaut in 1980, as part of a female team selected to upstage pending female astronaut flights on the space shuttle. She became the second woman in space in 1982, seven months before Sally Ride became the first American female astronaut in space. On this, her second trip into space, she also became the first woman to walk in space. |
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| "Alone" was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. They are a very successful songwriting team who have written several other #1 hits, including "So Emotional," "Like A Virgin" and "Eternal Flame." Most of their songs start with a lyric Steinberg comes up with. Steinberg and Kelly met the Wilson sisters for the first time when they were invited to the studio where this was being recorded. Kelly, who was an experienced session singer, ended up singing high harmony parts on the record. |
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| On July 25, 1990, Barr screeched out the national anthem at a Padres game, grabbed her crotch and spit on the ground. The incident made the national news and set off widespread outrage. The first President Bush called it "disgraceful." |
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| The 1999 Tour de France was the 86th Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 1999. It was won by Lance Armstrong, his first of 7 consecutive wins, the most in Tour history. The 1999 edition of Tour de France had two bizarre moments. The first was on stage 2 when a 25 rider pile-up occurred at Passage du Gois. Passage du Gois is a two mile causeway which depending on the tide can be under water. The second bizarre incident was on stage 10, one kilometre from the summit of L'Alpe d'Huez. Leading Italian rider Giuseppe Guerini was confronted by a spectator holding a camera in the middle of the road. Guerini hit the spectator but recovered and went on to win the stage. |
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| It comprised 21 stages over 3607 km (2,240 mi), ridden at an average speed of 41.654 km/h. The first stages were held in the département of the Vendée, for the third time in 12 years. The 2005 Tour was announced on October 28, 2004. It was a clockwise route, visiting the Alps before the Pyrenees. The 2005 Tour saw Lance Armstrong make history by winning Le Tour for an unprecedented seventh time, all of which were won consecutively. |
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1729 North Carolina becomes royal
colony
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1832 First railroad accident in US, Granite Railway,
Quincy, Mass-1 dies
More ...
1854 The paper shirt collar was patented by Walter
Hunt of New York City
More ...
1866 Ulysses S. Grant became first four-star
general of the U.S. Army
More ...
1871 Seth Wheeler of Albany, NY patented perforated
toilet paper
More ...
1871 Carrousel patented by Wilhelm Schneider,
Davenport, Iowa
More ...
1876 Emily Tassey was granted a patent for an
apparatus for raising sunken vessels
More ...
1898 First US troops land & occupy Puerto
Rico, at Guanica Bay
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1909 World's first international overseas
airplane flight
More ...
1913 Pirates Max Carey goes hitless, but scores
5 runs against Phillies
More ...
1925 First radio station in the U.S. to broadcast
with a 50,000-watt transmitter - WGY
More ...
1925 USSR's official news agency TASS established
More ...
1939 W2XBS TV in New York City presented "Topsy and Eva," the first
musical comedy on TV
More ...
1939 Unbeaten rookie NY Yankee Atley Donald sets
AL rookie record with 12 consecutive win beating the Browns 5-1
1940 John Sigmund begins swimming the Mississippi R
More ...
1941 Red Sox Lefty Grove becomes 12th to win 300
games (his last victory)
More ...
1944 Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters recorded
Cole Porter's "Don't Fence Me In" in Los Angeles for Decca Records.
1944 First jet fighter used in combat (Messerschmitt
262)
More ...
1946 Crooner Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis
staged their first show as a team in Atlantic City
More ...
1953 "I'm Walking Behind You" by Eddie
Fisher topped the charts
More ...
1956 Italian liner Andrea Doria sank after colliding
with the Stockholm
More ...
1959 "Lonely Boy" by Paul Anka topped
the charts
More ...
1961 Maris hits home runs 37, 38, 39 & 40
in a double header
More ...
1964 "Rag Doll" by the Four Seasons
topped the charts
More ...
1964 Beatles' "Hard Day's Night, A,"
album goes #1
More ...
1965 Folk-rock begins, Dylan uses electric guitar
at Newport Folk Festival
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1966 Supremes release "You Can't Hurry Love"
More ...
1970 "(They Long to Be) Close to You"
by the Carpenters topped the charts
More ...
1975 "A Chorus Line," longest-running
Broadway show (6,137), premiers
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1978 Pete Rose sets NL record hitting in 38 consecutive
games
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1978 The first test-tube baby was born
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1981 Voyager 2 encounters Saturn
More ...
1981 Walter Payton signed a contract to play with
the Chicago Bears of the NFL on this, his 27th birthday
1981 "The One That You Love" by Air
Supply topped the charts
More ...
1983 First nonhuman primate (baboon) conceived
in a lab dish, San Antonio
More ...
1984 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became first
woman to walk in space
More ...
1987 "Alone" by Heart topped the charts
More ...
1990 Roseanne Barr sings the National Anthem at
San Diego Padre game
More ...
1999 Lance Armstrong overcomes cancer to win the Tour
de France
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2005 Lance Armstrong became the 1st 7-time
winner Tour de France bicycle race
More ...