Benjamin Lane patents the first self-contained gas mask (1850) - July 2
AbioCor self-contained implantable artificial heart is created (2001) - July 2
Amelia Earhart (American aviation pioneer and author) disappears near Howland Island located in the Pacific Ocean near the equator (1937) - July 2
African captives aboard La Amistad (American built/Spanish owned two masted schooner traveling between two Cuban ports) revolt and take over the ship (1839) - July 2
First Zeppelin flight was the ascent of the LZ 1 over Lake Constance (the Bodensee) in Germany (1900) - July 2
James A Garfield (20th President of the USA) is assassinated by Charles Guiteau in a Washington, D.C. railroad station (1881) - July 2
Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca) has disastrous results when a stampede in a pedestrian tunnel results in 1,426 pilgrim deaths (1990) - July 2
Incident at Xangwu Gate (China) where Li Shimin, in fear of assassination, kills his two brothers (626) - July 2
Independence Day - State of Bahia in Brazil from Portugese rule (1823) - July 2
Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavillion a Zen Budhist temple in Japan) is burned down by a monk (1950) - July 2
Nazi Massacre at Lubart Fortress in Lutsk Ukraine (1941) - July 2
Mururoa in French Polynesia was the site of France's first Nuclear Test (1966) - July 2
Mullet Day (Hairstyle that is short on the top front and sides but long in the back) - July 2
Susan B. Anthony silver dollar is released (1979) - July 2
Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine (1698) - July 2
Suspected UFO Crash at Roswell New Mexico (1947) - July 2
Violin Lovers Day - 7/2
First Wal-Mart discount store is opened in Bentonville, AR (1962) - July 2
July 3, 2017
2004 XP 14 is a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid made its closest path to earth (268,624 miles-2006) - 7/3
Anna Maria Mozart (mother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) dies at age 68 from an undiagnosed illness in Paris, France (1778) - July 3
Benz Patent Motorwagen (First purpose-built automobile) is unveiled (1886) - July 3
Chelopechene Explosions Bulgaria (munitions depot explosions that trigger an earthquake-2008) - July 3
Dog Days of Summer - July 3
Franz Kafka (Czech writer) is born (1883) - July 3
George M. Cohan (American composer and lyricist) is born (1878) - July 3
The last pair of Great Auks are killed (1844) - July 3
Hugh Capet is crowned King of France (996) - July 3
Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state (1890) - July 3
Independence Day (Belarus when German Forces lost Belarus to the Red Army-1944) - July 3
Jim Backus (American Actor - voice of Mr. Magoo cartoon character & Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island) died (1989) - July 3
Jim Morrison (Lead singer for the Doors) is found dead at age 27 in the bathtub of his Paris apartment (1971) - July 3
Mallard sets the world speed record for steam locomotives (1938) - July 3
Marie de' Medici (Queen Consort to Henry IV of France) dies in Cologne France at age 67 (1642) - July 3
Soviet N1 Rocket explodes on launchpad in the biggest explosion in the history of rocketry (1969) - 7/3
Steve Fossett (American aviator and adventurer) completes the first around the world trip in a balloon (2002) - July 3
The Stone of Destiny (aka the stone of scone that has sat in the Coronation Chair for all Kings and Queens of England since William I) is returned to Scotland (1996) - July 3
Tom Cruise (American Actor) is born (1962) - July 3
Air Conditioning Day - July 3
July 4, 2017
Independence Day (USA - 1776) - July 4
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll is first published (1865) - July 4
Erie Canal construction began in Rome NY (1817) - July 4
Deep Impact Probe strikes comet 9P/Tempel (2005) - July 4
Filipino-American Friendship Day (1946) - July 4
Grand Junction Railway (World's first long-distance railway) opens between Brimingham and Liverpool (1837) - July 4
James Monroe (5th President of the United States) dies (1831) - July 4
John Adams (2nd President of the United States) dies (1826) - July 4
Lou Gehrig, after diagnosed with ALS, makes his "luckiest man on the Face of the Earth" speech (1939) - July 4
Massacre of the Lviv Professors by Nazis (1941) - July 4
Romanov's executed at Ipatiev House (1918) - July 4 (O.S.) - July 17 (N.S.)
Supernova observed by Chinese and Arabs (1054) resulting in the crab nebula - July 4
Thomas Jefferson (3rd President of the United States) dies (1826) - July 4
Tuskegee Institute in Alabama opens (1881) - 7/4
Zaca Fire (2nd largest fire in history of CA) begins (2007) - July 4
July 5, 2017
Air Canada Flight 621 crashes near Toronto airport killing all 109 aboard (1970) - July 5
Baku Governorate Coat of Arms is established (1878) - July 5
The "Bikini" is first introduced in Paris (1946) - July 5
Catastrophic BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) in Kingman AZ kills 11 firemen (1973) - July 5
"Bloody Thursday" - Police open fire on striking longshoremen in San Francisco (1934) - July 5
Dolly (world's most famous cloned sheep) is born (1977) - July 5
Elizabeth of Austria (daughter of Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II and future Queen of France) is born in Vienna (1554) - July 5
Independence Day (Algeria from France-1962) - July 5
Independence Day (Cape Verde from Portugal-1975) - July 5
Independence Day (Venezuela from Spain-1811) - July 5
National Labor Relations Act is signed into law by President Roosevelt (1934) - 7/5
Tynwald (Parliament of the Isle of Man) celebration Day (1417) - July 5
Workaholics Day - 7/5
"Spam" (Hormel luncheon meat) is introduced into the market (1937) - July 5
Anxiety Day - July 5
July 6, 2017
Barry Winchell (Infantry soldier in the US Army) dies from baseball bat injuries inflicted by fellow soldiers (1999) - July 6
Edward VI of England (Henry VIII's only son) dies in Greenwich Palace Sat age 15 most likely from tuberculosis (1553) - July 6
George W. Bush (43rd President of the United States and 1st child of George H.W. and Barbarba Bush) is born in New Haven, CT (1946) - July 6
Hartford Circus Fire (Hartford, CT) kills 168 people and injures 700 (1944) - July 7/6
Henry II of England dies at age 56 in Chinon, France (1189) - July 6
Homestead Strike (Homestead PA) a labor lockout and strike culminates in a battle between strikers and private security agents (1892) - July 6
Independence Day (Comoros from France-1975) - July 6
Independence Day (Malawi from the UK-1964) - July 6
Jan Hus is burned at the stake (Jan Hus Day in Czech Republic-1415) - July 6
Lal Masjid Suicide Bombing (an apparent revenge attack on the anniversary of the siege kill 18-2008) - July 6
Joseph Meister (nine year old boy badly mauled by a rapid dog) is first to be innoculated against rabies by Louis Pasteur (1885) - July 6
Nancy Davis Reagan (wife First Lady to President Ronald Reagan) is born at Manhattan's Sloane Hospital for Women in New York (1921) - 7/6
Nicholas I of Russia (3rd son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna) is born in Gatchina (1796) - 7/6
Peter III of Russia (Emperor for only six months) dies at age 34 in captivity after signing his abdication (1762) - July 6 (O.S.)
Piper Alpha (North Sea Oil production platform) explosion kills 167 men (1988) - July 6
Princess Victoria of the UK (daughter of Edward VII) is born at Marlborough House, London (1868) - July 6
Richard I (The Lionheart) ascends to the throne of England upon his father's (Henry II) death (1189) - July 6
Richard III is crowned King of England (1483) - July 6
Sedan Nuclear Test (Nevada Test Site) blast had a yield of 104 kilotons and more than 12 million tons of soil (1962) - July 6
Sir Thomas More is executed at the Tower of London for treason against Henry VIII (1535) - July 6
Taunton sleeping car fire (Taunton England) killed 12 (1978) - July 6
July 7, 2017
Anna of Austria (daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I) is born (1528) - July 7
Arthur Conan Doyle (British author best known for creating Sherlock Holmes) dies (1930) - July 7
Construction Begins on the Boulder Dam (later renamed Hoover Dam) (1930) - July 7
Frances Xavier Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized (1946) - 7/7
Macaroni Day - July 7
Gian Carlo Menotti (American composer best known for his Amahl and the Night Visitors) is born (1911) - July 7
Great Gorge and International Railway trolley overloaded with 157 passengers crashed at Queenston docks killing 15 (1915) - July 7
Howard Hughes almost dies when his XF-11 spy plane crashes on maiden flight (1946) - July 7
Joan of Arc is retried posthumously and is found innocent of heresy (1456) - July 7
Joseph Marie Jacquard (Inventor of the punch system Jacquard loom) is born (1752) - July 7
Edward I of England dies at age 86 in Burgh-by-Sands, Cumberland while on his way to battle Robert the Bruce (1307) - July 7
Lincoln's Assassins (Four convicted conspirators, including one woman, Mary Surratt) are executed (1865) - July 7
First Live Earth concert is held (2007) - July 7
London's public transport system is bombed by terrorists (2005) - July 7
Marc Chagall (Russian-Belaursian-French painter) is born (1887) - July 7
Robert A. Heinlein (American Novelist and Science Fiction writer) is born (1907) - July 7
Roswell UFO Incident and with alleged alien bodies (1947) - July 7
Ruffian (Filly Triple Crown winner-1975) dies tragically after a racing accident (1975) - July 7
Sendai Tanabata (Japan Star Festival) - July 7
Independence Day (Solomon Islands from the UK-1978) - July 7
Western Black Rhinoceros (rarest of the Black Rhino subspecies) is tentatively declared extinct (2006) - 7/7
July 8, 2017
Charles XV of Sweden accedes to the throne (1860) - July 8
St. John's (Newfoundland, Canada) is devastated by a fire (1892) - July 8
Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression (1932) - 7/8
Edgar I of Wessex (aka The Peaceful) dies in Winchester at age 31 or 32 (975) - July 8
Allen Lee Davis whose execution by electrocution resulted in Florida adopting lethal injection (1999) - July 8
Ice Cream Sundae Day - July 8
Independence Hall where John Nixon gave the first reading of the Declaration of Independence (1776) - July 8
John D. Rockefeller (American Businessman and Philanthropist) is born (1839) - July 8
Oscar I of Sweden dies at age 60 in Stockholm, Sweden (1859) - July 8
Our Lady of Kazan (holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church) is discovered (1579) - July 8
Pepin of Italy (son of Charlemagne) dies most likely from a disease caught during his unsuccessful siege of Vienna (810) - July 8
Percy Bysshe Shelley (English Romantic Poet) dies less than a month before his 30th birthday when his schooner sinks while sailing back to Lerici (1822) - July 8
Sudan Airways Flight 39 crashed at the Port Sudan Airport shortly after take-off with a loss of all 117 people aboard (2003) - July 8
Vasco de Gama sets sail from Lisbon on first direct voyage to India (1497) - July 8
Vivien Leigh (English actress best known for playing Scarlett in the film Gone With the Wind) dies at age 53 in London, England from tuberculosis (1967) - July 8
Jean-Antoine Watteau's recently discovered "La Surprise" sold at Christies for 15 million euros (2008) - July 8
William Jennings Bryan gave his "Cross of Gold Speech" at the Democratic National convention (1896) - July 8
The Wall Street Journal is first published (1889) - July 8
John Nixon gives the first official public reading of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in the yard of Independence Hall (1776) - July 8
Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Omelet Day - July 8
July 9, 2017
Henry VIII annuls his marriage to his 4th wife (Anne of Cleves-1540) - July 9
Anne Radcliffe (English author and pioneer of the gothic novel) is born (1764) - July 9
Independence Day (Argentina from Spain-1916) - July 9
Martyrdom of the Bab (Bah'ai Faith-1850) - July 9
Charles IV (Holy Roman Emperor) lays the cornerstone of the King Charles Bridge (bridge which crosses the Vltava river) in Prague, Czech Republic (1357) - July 9
Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg dies at age 89 from cancer (1985) - July 9
The Great Train Wreck in Nashville TN (Two passenger trains collide killing 101 and injuring 171-1918) - July 9
Johnny Weissmuller breaks the world record for the 100 meters freestyle, swimming it in 58.6 seconds (1922) - 7/9
Millard Fillmore becomes 13th US President when Zachary Taylor dies of what is thought to be acute gastroenteritis (Fillmore is inaugurated on July 10-1850) - 7/9
France's National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly (1789) - July 9
Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner Louisiana due to a Microburst-induced windshear killing all 145 on board (1982) - July 9
Siberian Airlines Flight 778, unable to decelerate on landing at Irkutsk Intl Airport in Siberia, crashes killing 124 of the 203 aboard (2006) - July 9
Starfish Prime (high altitude nuclear explosion) is detonated over Hawaii creating widespread power outages and an artificial radiation belt (1969) - 7/9
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord becomes the First Prime Minister of France (1815) - July 9
Zachary Taylor (12th US President) dies in office at age 65 reportedly from acute gastroenteritis, but some still suspect he may have been poisoned (1850) - July 9
Most photos and captions are courtesy of Wikipedia
