| On September 17, 1787, members of the Constitutional Convention signed the final draft of the Constitution. Two days earlier, when a final vote was called, Edmund Randolph called for another convention to carefully review the Constitution as it stood. This motion, supported by George Mason and Elbridge Gerry, was voted down and the Constitution adopted. |
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| Herschel stated: “The great light of my forty-foot telescope was so useful that on the 17th of September, 1789, I remarked the seventh satellite, then situated at its greatest western elongation.” Mimas is named after one of the Titans in Greek mythology. |  |
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| In 1822, at the French Academie Royale des Inscriptions, Jean-François Champollion read a paper, Lettre a M. Dacier, describing his solution to the mystery of the triple inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone which had been unearthed July of 1799, by Napoleon’s army near the Rosetta branch of the Nile. Champollion's work to decipher the hieroglyphics had began in 1808. Thomas Young did some preliminary fragmentary work, but otherwise it was Champollion's major accomplishment. |
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| In 1872, the first U.S. patent for an automatic sprinkler system was issued to Phillip W. Pratt, of Abington, MA. The system was operated by means of a valve to which cords and fuses were attached. The cords held the valve closed with a spring-loaded lever. In case of a fire, when the fuses ignited, the cords burned, and the valve opened releasing a stream of water. Water then flowed through overhead pivoted pipes which would revolve rapidly, throwing water in all directions, wetting ceiling, walls and floor. |
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| Ohio State's roots go back to 1870, when the Ohio General Assembly established the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. Classes began at the new college on September 17, 1873. Twenty-four students met at the old Neil farm just two miles north of Columbus. In 1878 the college's name was changed to The Ohio State University. In that same year the first class of six men graduated, and in 1879, the university graduated its first woman. |
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| In 1908, the first U.S. airplane fatality was Thomas Etholen Selfridge at Fort Meyer, Arlington Heights, Virginia. He was a passenger with Orville Wright while demonstrating to the army the Wright Flier airplane when the machine fell 75-ft and crashed into the ground. Wright had installed new, longer, but not flight-tested propellers only the day before. One of the propellers had struck one of the wings' vibrating guy wires and disintegrated. Lieutenant Selfridge, 26 years old, was an army artillery officer on special duty with the Balloon Corps. |
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| In 1911, "Cal" (Calbraith Perry) Rogers took off from Long Island, NY, on the first coast to coast airplane flight. When William Randolph Hearst offered a $50,000 prize for the first 30-day transcontinental flight, Cal Rodgers took up the challenge. He was a slender motorcycle racer with only limited flying experience (some of it gained at the Wright School,) using a 35 h.p.Wright EX biplane, named the "Vin Fiz" after his commercial sponsor's soft drink. He made thirty stops, including nineteen crashes, virtually rebuilding the "Vin Fiz" by the time he reached Pasadena, California, on November 5. |
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| Elmer Ambrose Sperry is noted as the "father of modern navigation technology." Sperry engineered a gyroscope that would replace the magnetic compass, a faulty and unreliable form of navigation used on ships. His gyrocompass was first installed on the U.S. battleship Delaware in 1911. During World War I, the U.S. Navy adopted the gyrocompass for its activities. It proved so effective that it remained in use through World War II. Sperry's gyroscope technology was later applied to guide torpedoes, steer ships, and stabilize airplanes, ships and spacecraft. |
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| An organizational meeting was held at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto showroom in Canton, Ohio, August 20. This meeting resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Conference. A second organizational meeting was held in Canton, September 17. The teams were from four states-Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Dayton from Ohio; the Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers from Indiana; the Rochester Jeffersons from New York; and the Rock Island Independents, Decatur Staleys, and Racine Cardinals from Illinois. The name of the league was changed to the American Professional Football Association. Hoping to capitalize on his fame, the members elected Jim Thorpe president. |
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| In 1931, very early versions of 33 rpm long-playing records were first demonstrated at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in New York by RCA (Radio Corporation of America). The record players were so expensive that the product flopped. The first plastic LP records as we know them, did not come out until 1948, when RCA rival, Columbia, began mass production of the LP. |
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| When James Forrestal became the first secretary of defense on 17 September 1947 his swearing-in took place, at President Truman's order, several days earlier than originally scheduled. Concerned that the Communist government of Yugoslavia might attempt to seize the Adriatic city of Trieste, still occupied by U.S. and British troops, Truman decided that Forrestal should assume office at once. He soon discovered that perhaps the chief obstacle to accomplishing his objectives for the National Military Establishment was the inherent weakness in the secretary of defense's powers as defined in the National Security Act. Another problem was the existence of virtually autonomous heads for the military departments. |
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| Monroe’s two biggest hits, "Ballerina" and "Riders in the Sky," came in 1947 and 1949, respectively. The latter, an old Western chestnut, presaged Monroe's attempt at moving into Hollywood's singing-cowboy genre with a couple of early-'50s B-movies including “The Singing Guns” and “The Toughest Man in Arizona.” He recorded extensively for RCA Victor until the 1950's and his signature tune was "Racing with the Moon" (1941). Among his other hits were "There I've Said It Again" (1945), "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" (1946), "Ballerina" (1947), " Riders in the Sky" (1949), "Someday (You'll Want Me To Want You)" (1949), and "Sound Off" (1951). One lost opportunity - he turned down the chance to record "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". |
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| Constitution Day is an American federal holiday that recognizes the ratification of the United States Constitution. It is observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787. In 1952, President Harry S. Truman made September 17 Citizenship Day instead of calling it Constitution Day. |
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| The Cubs Ernie Banks goes 0-for-3 and makes an error in his first ML game, as the Phillies win 16-4. |  |
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| Former World Heavyweight champion Ezzard Charleslost by decision to Marciano in their first bout. Ezzard Charles was the only man to ever last fifteen rounds against Marciano, and the champ later praised him as one of the toughest men he ever fought in his life. After having his nose split in round six of the rematch, Marciano retained the title with an eighth-round knockout win. |  |
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| Boone’s 1955 version of "Ain't That a Shame" was a huge hit, selling far better than Fats Domino's original version. This set the stage for the early part of Boone's career, which focused on covering R&B songs by black artists for a white market. Previously, rock 'n' roll had had only limited exposure outside of the African American community. Pat Boone's pale covers gave attention to the more authentic original artists, such as Little Richard and Fats Domino and to rhythm and blues in general. In addition, the songwriters and copyright holders benefited even when individual artists did not. |
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| As with many of the X-aircraft, the X-15 was designed to be carried aloft under the wing of a B-52. The fuselage was long and cylindrical, with fairings towards the rear giving it a flattened look, and it had thick wedge-shaped dorsal and ventral fins. The retractable landing gear consisted of a nose wheel and two skids. The first X-15 flight was an unpowered test made by Scott Crossfield on June 8, 1959, who followed up with the first powered flight on September 17. |
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| When Elvis was in the US army, he was stationed in Germany and heard "O Sole Mio." When he was discharged, he asked his record company to write an English translation for him, a task that went to songwriters Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold. |  |
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| “The Fugitive” aired on ABC from 1963-1967. David Janssen starred as Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent man from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who was falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route to death row, Kimble's train derailed and crashed, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man" (played by Bill Raisch). At the same time, Dr. Kimble was hounded by the authorities, most notably by Stafford Police lieutenant Philip Gerard (Barry Morse). |
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| The long-running ABC sitcom “Bewitched” starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens, a pert, perky, suburban housewife who happened to be a genuine witch, with all the usual magical powers. Samantha was married to Darrin Stephens (played during the first five seasons by Dick York, and in the final three seasons by Dick Sargent), a rising young advertising executive who worked at the New York firm of McMahon and Tate. |
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| Kansas City was not originally on the schedule for this tour. Mr. Finley, being the prominant and rich owner of the Kansas City Athletics (which he later moved to Oakland), promised his community he'd get the Beatles to perform in his town. So he arranged contact with Brian Epstein shortly before the 17th of Sept. (one of the few days off that the Beatles had on their tour itinerary) and made them "an offer they couldn't refuse." |
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| The Yankees whip the Angels 62 to lock on to first place for good with a 2-percentage-point lead over the idle White Sox and Orioles. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle each have three hits. Mantle's include his 2,000th career hit and his 450th home run, his 31st of the year. The Yankees have won two in a row and will run their win streak to 11 games. |
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| The Motown songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote this innocent song about teenage love. They wrote 10 US Top-10 hits for The Supremes."Baby Love" was The Supremes first and only song to reach #1 in the UK. The Supremes were the first girl-group to have a #1 hit in Britain. It turned out to be the Supremes only UK #1, though they had many more in the US. |  |
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| The show took place at Stalag 13, a POW camp located near the town of Hammelburg, and run by the Luftwaffe for captured Air Force personnel. The show's premise was that the POWs were using the camp as a base of operations for allied espionage and sabotage against the Nazi war effort and could leave and return at will. |  |
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| The Smothers began their association with CBS in a failed situation comedy called “The Smothers Brothers Show” which ran for one season in 1965-66. The show featured straight man Dick as a publishing executive and slow-witted, bumbling Tom as his deceased brother who had come back as an angel-in-training. |  |
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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, AL.It was the first of a second row of consecutive #1 American hits the Supremes had. |  |
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| The series, which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller, followed the missions of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a team of secret agents employed by the United States government. The team is sent on covert missions to combat dictators, evil organizations, and (primarily in later episodes) crime lords. |  |
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| "M*A*S*H" ran for 11 seasons, ending with one of the most watched events in the history of the medium. Featuring an ensemble cast that included Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Harry Morgan, and Jamie Farr and based on the Robert Altman film of the same name, the show followed the often hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking day-to-day lives of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital staff during the Korean War. |  |
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| On September 17, 1976, Enterprise was rolled out of Rockwell's plant at Palmdale, California. In keeping with its name, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and most of the cast of the original series of Star Trek (minus William Shatner, Majel Barrett, and Grace Lee Whitney), were on hand at the dedication ceremony, and the show's theme music was played. |  |
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| Once the Bee Gees experienced a career revival with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977, the Gibb brothers' younger sibling Andy began his own solo career. Following his brothers' disco style, Andy Gibb's first three singles ("I Just Want to Be Your Everything," "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water," and "Shadow Dancing") all hit number one. |  |
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| Camp David Peace Accords, a set of agreements between Egypt and Israel signed on 17 September 1978. The agreements were the culmination of years of negotiations for peace in the Middle East. Acting as a peace broker, President Jimmy Carter convinced Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to reach a compromise in their disputes. |  |
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| ‘Yaz’ played in his 3,299th game. When Carl Yastrzemski retired in 1983 after 23 seasons in Boston, he was the all-time Red Sox leader in eight major categories - games, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, total bases, RBI and extra base hits. An intense performer, Yaz played in more games (3,308) than any other American Leaguer, topping 3,000 hits and 400 home runs. |  |
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| Performing on other artist's recordings. Sembello got his start as part of Stevie Wonder's band in the early '70s, later doing session work for the likes of Sergio Mendes, the Jackson 5, Stephen Bishop, Randy Crawford, and David Sanborn, among others. "Maniac" was accidentally included on a tape of Sembello's songs his wife sent to Paramount for consideration in Flashdance. The studio loved it and used it in the movie. The album has since gone on to be certified six times platinum. |
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| Dwight Gooden strikes out 16 batters for the 2nd straight start to tie the major-league record of 32 strikeouts in consecutive games, but balks home the winning run in the 8th inning of a 21 loss to the Phillies. It is Gooden's 5th straight outing with 10 or more strikeouts. |  |
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| Reggie Jackson hits his 500th career home run in the 7th inning off Bud Black, but the Royals beat California 101 to move into first place in the American League West. Jackson is the 13th player in ML history to hit 500 home runs. It was seventeen years to the day after his first major-league home run. |  |
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| The main goals of the Chegets were to receive Cosmos 1686, a modified TKS, and conduct spacewalks with application to future space stations. Cosmos 1686 contained 4500 kg of freight, including large items like a girder to be assembled outside Salyut 7, and the Kristallizator materials processing apparatus. |  |
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| The Mets clinch the National League East Championship with a 42 win over the Cubs at Shea Stadium as Dwight Gooden tosses a 6-hitter. The Mets will win 108 games this season, most in the NL since the 1975 Reds. |
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| President Reagan spoke outside Independence Hall. And at 4 P.M., the moment of the Constitution's signing, former Chief Justice Warren Burger rang a reproduction of the Liberty Bell, signaling other bells to chime around the country and at United States installations around the world. Festivals and Fireworks. |
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| "Sweet Child o' Mine" didn't hit US #1 until a year after “Appetite For Destruction “was released. Its success prompted the group to re-release "Welcome To The Jungle," which then became a hit. |  |
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| Pitching in the 9th inning, Jeff Reardon saves his 40th game of the season in Minnesota's 31 win over Chicago, becoming the first pitcher ever to save 40 games in a season in each league. Reardon saved 41 for the Expos in 1985. |  |
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| The post-"End of the Road" buzz helped make Boyz II Men's next album, II, an instant smash when it arrived in 1994, even though it didn't include "End of the Road." Produced by the likes of Babyface and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, rather than Bivins (who wanted to concentrate on developing new artists), II debuted at number one on its way to sales of over 12-million copies. The first single, "I'll Make Love to You" (also penned by Babyface), raced up the charts and wound up tying Houston's short-lived record, with 14 weeks of its own at number one. |
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1787 US constitution adopted by
Philadelphia convention
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1789 William Herschel discovers Mimas, satellite
of Saturn
More ...
1822 Rosetta Stone decyphered
More ...
1872 Phillip W. Pratt, of Abington, MA, patented
an automatic sprinkler system
More ...
1873 19 students attend opening class at Ohio
State University
More ...
1908 The first fatality involving powered flight
occurred
More ...
1911 First transcontinental airplane flight, NY-Pasadena
in 82 hrs 4 min
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1918 Elmer Sperry received a patent for the gyrocompass,
essential to modern ship navigation
More ...
1920 The American Professional Football Association
formed in Canton Ohio
More ...
1922 Radio Moscow began transmitting
1931 RCA Victor demonstrates early
version of the 33-1/3 RPM record
More ...
1934 First 33 1/3 rpm recording released (Beethoven's
5th)
1937 First NFL game in Washington, DC; Redskins
beat NY Giants 13-3
1947 James Forrestal sworn in as first US secretary
of defense
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1949 "Someday" by Vaughan Monroe topped
the charts
More ...
1950 San Francisco 49ers (formerly AAFC) play
first NFL game, lose 21-17
1952 "I am an American Day" & "Constitution
Day" renamed "Citizenship Day"
More ...
1953 Ernie Banks becomes Chicago Cubs first black
player
More ...
1954 Rocky Marciano KO's Ezzard Charles to keep
world heavyweight boxing title
More ...
1955 "Ain't That a Shame" by Pat Boone
topped the charts
More ...
1959 Scott Crossfield takes X-15 up for first
powered flight
More ...
1960 "It's Now or Never" by Elvis Presley
topped the charts
More ...
1961 Minnesota Vikings' first NFL game (beat Chicago
Bears 37-13)
1963 "The Fugitive" premiers on ABC
TV
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1964 "Bewitched" premiers on ABC TV
More ...
1964 Beatles are paid a then record $150,000 for
a concert (Kansas)
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1964 Mickey Mantle gets hits #1999, 2000 &
2001
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1964 Supremes release "Baby Love"
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1965 CBS-TV debuted "Hogan’s
Heroes"
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1965 "The Smothers Brothers Show", a
sitcom, debuted on CBS-TV
More ...
1966 "You Can't Hurry Love" by the Supremes
topped the charts
More ...
1967 "Mission Impossible" premieres
on CBS-TV
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1967 New Orleans Saints first NFL game, they lose
to LA Rams 27-13
1972 "M*A*S*H," premieres on TV
More ...
1976 NASA publicly unveils space shuttle Enterprise
in Palmdale, CA
More ...
1977 "I Just Want to Be Your Everything"
by Andy Gibb topped the charts
More ...
1978 Begin, Sadat & Carter sign the Camp David
accord
More ...
1983 Slugger Carl Yastrzemski of the Red
Sox broke Hank Aaron’s MLB record for games played
More ...
1983 "Maniac" by Michael Sembello topped
the charts
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1984 Met's Dwight Goodin becomes 2nd to strikeout
32 over 2 cons games
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1984 Oil heir Gordon P. Getty, with a fortune
of $4.1 billion dollars, was named the richest person in the US
1984 Reggie Jackson of the California Angels hit his 500th
career homer
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1985 Soyuz T-14 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut
7 space station
More ...
1986 The Mets clinched their first divisional
title since 1973 by defeating the Cubs 4-2
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1987 Philadelphia celebrates 200th anniversary of the
Constitution
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1988 "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns 'n'
Roses topped the charts
More ...
1988 Jeff Reardon becomes first to record 40 or
more saves in both AL & NL
More ...
1994 "II", by Boyz II Men, debuted at
number one on the "Billboard" U.S. album chart
More ...
2004 Barry Bonds became the first new member
of baseball’s homerun 700 club in 31 years, joining Babe Ruth and Hank
Aaron