Notable Historical Events on April 17th
April 17th Historical Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
858 |
Benedict III ends his reign as Catholic Pope |
1397 |
Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as when the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury starts. |
1492 |
Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find Indies |
1524 |
Giovanni Verrazano, a Florentine navigator, discovers New York Bay |
1534 |
Sir Thomas More confined in London Tower |
1555 |
Siena surrenders for Spanish troops |
1596 |
Archduke Albrecht of Austria occupies Calais |
1629 |
1st commercial fishery established |
1704 |
1st successful US newspaper; published in Boston by John Campbell |
1711 |
Charles VI becomes Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his brother Joseph I |
1747 |
French troops occupy Zeeuws-Flanders, Netherlands |
1758 |
Francis Williams, 1st US black college graduate, publishes poems |
1793 |
Battle of Warsaw |
1797 |
Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would be one of the largest invasions to Spanish territories in America. |
1808 |
Bayonne Decree by Napoleon I of France orders seizure of US ships |
1817 |
1st US school for deaf (Hartford, Conn) |
1824 |
Russia abandons all North American claims south of 54° 40'N |
1839 |
Guatemala forms republic |
1853 |
Thorbecke government resigns |
1853 |
US Marine Hospital at Presidio (SF) forms |
1861 |
Indianola TX - "Star of West" taken by Confederacy |
1861 |
Virginia secedes from the Union (US Civil War) |
1863 |
R Grierson's: La Grange, TN to Baton Rouge, LA |
1864 |
Battle of Plymouth, NC |
1864 |
Bread revolt in Savannah, Georgia |
1864 |
Grant suspends prisoner-of-war exchanges |
1865 |
Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Lincoln's assassination |
1869 |
1st pro baseball games-Cin Reds 24, Cin amateurs 15 |
1875 |
Snooker invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain |
1892 |
1st Sunday NL baseball game, Reds beat Cards 5-1 |
1895 |
Treaty of Shimonoseki signed, ends 1st Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) |
1900 |
7 high chiefs of American Samoa sign Instrument of Cession |
1905 |
US Supreme court judges maximum work day unconstitutional |
1905 |
The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York which held that the "right to free contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. |
1907 |
Ellis Island, NY-11,745 immigrants arrive |
1912 |
1st unofficial gold record (Al Jolson's "Ragging The Baby To Sleep") |
1920 |
American Professional Football Association forms (NFL) |
1923 |
Longest NL opening game, Phillies & Dodgers tie 5-5 in 14 |
1924 |
Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures & Louis B Mayer Co merged to form MGM |
1925 |
NY Yankee Babe Ruth has ulcer surgery |
1925 |
Paul Painlevé follows Edouard Herriot on as French premier |
1927 |
Japan's Wakarsoeki government falls/Baron Tanaka becomes premier |
1930 |
Abkhazian ASSR forms in Georgian SSR |
1930 |
DuPont scientist Elmer K. Bolton invents neoprene using Julius Nieuwland's divinyl acetylene |
1932 |
Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia ends slavery |
1933 |
Chicago Bears win their 1st NFL Game beating NY Giants 23-21 |
1934 |
New Fenway Park opens, Washington Senators beat Red Sox 6-5 |
1935 |
Provincial-National elections (Musserts NSB achieves 7.9%/44 chairs) |
1937 |
Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, debut |
1939 |
Joe Louis KOs Jack Roper in 1 for heavyweight boxing title |
1939 |
SN Behrman's "No Time for Comedy" premieres in NYC |
1939 |
Stalin signs British-France-Russian anti-Nazi pact |
1941 |
British troop land in Iraq/Yugoslavia; surrender to nazis |
1941 |
Office of Price Administration forms (handled rationing) |
1941 |
World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany. |
1942 |
12 Lancasters bomb MAN factory in Augsburg |
1942 |
Operations begin to destroy Sobibor Concentration Camp |
1942 |
POW French General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein. |
1943 |
Admiral Yamamoto flies from Truk to Rabaul |
1943 |
SS-lt-general Jurgen Stoop arrives in Warsaw |
1945 |
8th Air Force bombs Dresden |
1945 |
German occupiers flood Wieringermeer Neth |
1945 |
Benito Mussolini flees from Salò to Milan |
1945 |
US troops lands in Mindanao |
1946 |
Syria declares independence from French administration |
1947 |
Jackie Robinson bunts for his 1st major league hit |
1948 |
Elpidio Quirino assumed the presidency, taking his oath of office two days after the death of President Manuel Roxas |
1951 |
NY Yankee Mickey Mantle's 1st game, he goes 1 for 4 |
1953 |
Mickey Mantle hits a 565' (172 m) HR in Wash DC's Griffith Stadium |
1955 |
Betty Jameson wins LPGA Babe Didrikson-Zaharias Golf Open |
1956 |
Bulgaria premier Tchervenkov resigns |
1956 |
Premium Savings Bonds introduced in Great Britain |
1956 |
USSR's Cominform (Parliament) dissolves |
1956 |
Willie Mosconi sinks 150 consecutive balls in a billiard tournament |
1958 |
Brussells (Belgium) World Fair opens |
1960 |
American Samoa sets up a constitutional government |
1960 |
Cleveland Indians trade Rocky Colavito to Tigers for Harvey Kuenn |
1961 |
1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs in a doomed attempt to overthrow Castro |
1961 |
33rd Academy Awards - "Apartment" wins best film, Burt Lancaster & Elizabeth Taylor win best actor/actress |
1961 |
Jimmy Stewart accepts an honorary Oscar on behalf of his friend Gary Cooper, who is too ill to attend |
1964 |
"Cafe Crown" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 3 performances |
1964 |
"High Spirits" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 375 performances |
1964 |
1st game at Shea Stadium, NY Mets lose to Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 |
1964 |
Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2,368 base) |
1964 |
Jerrie Mock becomes 1st woman to fly solo around the world |
1966 |
100th international soccer match between Netherlands-Belgium (3-1) |
1966 |
Carol Mann wins LPGA Raleigh Ladies Golf Invitational |
1967 |
Shortwave Radio NY Worldwide goes back on the air after a week off |
1967 |
Surveyor 3 launched; soft lands on Moon, April 20 |
1968 |
"Fade Out-Fade In" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 72 perfs |
1968 |
A's 1st game in Oakland-Alameda Stadium, lose 4-1 to Balt Orioles |
1969 |
People's Democracy activist Bernadette Devlin becomes the youngest woman Member of Parliament ever elected to Westminster at 21 years old |
1969 |
Alexander Dubček forced to resign as first secretary of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party |
1969 |
Mont Expos Bill Stoneman no-hits Phillies, 7-0 |
1969 |
Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Sen Robert F Kennedy |
1969 |
The Band (formerly The Hawks), perform their 1st concert |
1970 |
Apollo 13 limps back safely, Beech-built oxygen tank no help |
1970 |
Paul McCartney's 1st solo album "McCartney" is released |
1971 |
Egypt, Libya & Syria form federation (FAR) |
1971 |
People's Republic Bangladesh forms, under sheik Mujib ur-Rahman |
1972 |
1st Boston Women's Marathon won by Nina Kuscsik of NY in 3:10:26 |
1972 |
76th Boston Marathon won by Olavi Suomalainen of Finland in 2:15:39 |
1972 |
Revised Dutch constitution proclaimed |
1972 |
Kiteman attempting to throw out 1st ball in Phillie Vet crashes into centerfield seats |
1973 |
2nd Boston Women's Marathon won by Jacqueline Hansen of CA in 3:05:59 |
1973 |
77th Boston Marathon won by Jon Anderson of Oreg in 2:16:03 |
1973 |
German counter-terrorist unit GSG 9 founded. |
1974 |
Bundy victim Susan Rancourt disappears from CWU, Ellensburg, WA |
1974 |
Moslem fundamentalists assault military academy in Heliopolis Egypt |
1975 |
Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Kampuchea Natl Day) |
1975 |
Penguins 6-Isles 4-Quarterfinals-Penguins hold 3-0 lead |
1976 |
NL greatest comeback, trailing 12-1 Phils win 18-16 in 10, Mike Schmidt hits 4 consecutive HRs |
1977 |
"I Love My Wife" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 864 performances |
1977 |
Christian-democrats win Belgium parliamentary election |
1977 |
Sandra Palmer wins LPGA Women's International Golf Tournament |
1978 |
63,500,000 shares traded on NY stock exchange (record) |
1978 |
7th Boston Women's Marathon won by Gayle Barron of Ga in 2:44:52 |
1978 |
82nd Boston Marathon won by Bill Rodgers of Mass in 2:10:13 |
1978 |
Pulitzer prize awarded to Carl Sagan for "Dragons of Eden" |
1979 |
Brian Clark's "Whose Life is it Anyway?" premieres in London |
1979 |
Four Royal Ulster Constabulary officers are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army van bomb in Bessbrook, County Armagh; the bomb is believed to be the largest PIRA bomb used up to that point |
1981 |
Isle Potvin's 3 playoff power-play goals tie NHL record vs Oilers |
1981 |
Ranger's Anders Hedberg is 2nd to score on a Stanley Cup penalty shot |
1982 |
Canada adopts its constitution |
1982 |
US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
1982 |
Proclamation of the Constitution Act by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau |
1983 |
1st National Coin Week begins |
1983 |
Grete Waltz runs female world record marathon (2:25:29) |
1983 |
In Warsaw, police route 1,000 Solidarity supporters |
1983 |
India entered space age launching SLV-3 rocket |
1983 |
Lynn Adams wins LPGA Combanks Orlando Golf Classic |
1983 |
Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter |
1983 |
Islanders tie NHL record with 3 shorthanded playoff goals vs Rangers Rangers 7-Isles 6-Patrick Div Finals-Isles hold 2-1 lead Wayne Gretzky scores 7 points in one Stanley Cup playoff game |
1984 |
Braves pitcher Pascual Perez suspended due to cocaine usage |
1984 |
During Libyan Embassy demonstration in London, British police officer Yvonne Fletcher shot dead |
1986 |
IBM produces 1st megabit-chip |
1986 |
Netherlands & Scilly Islands sign peace treaty (war of 1651) |
1986 |
Pulitzer prize awarded to Larry McMurtry for "Lonesome Dove" |
1987 |
Julius Erving becomes 3rd NBA player to score 30,000 points |
1987 |
Richard Wilbur appointed as US poet laureate |
1987 |
USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR |
1988 |
Ethiopian Belayneh Densimo runs world record marathon (2:06:50) |
1988 |
Nancy Lopez wins LPGA AI Star/Centinela Hospital Golf Classic |
1989 |
18th Boston Women's Marath won by Ingrid Kristiansen of Nor in 2:24:33 |
1989 |
93rd Boston Marathon won by Abebe Mekonen of Ethiopia in 2:09:06 |
1989 |
Maximum NY State unemployment benefits raised to $245 per week |
1989 |
Polish labor union granted legal status |
1989 |
Soviet-US agreement allows Soviets to fight US pros |
1990 |
Gas explosion on passenger train in Kumrahar India, 80 die |
1991 |
Dow Jones closes above 3,000 for 1st time (3,004.46) |
1991 |
Railroad workers go on strike in US |
1993 |
Police officers found guilty of violating Rodney Kings civil rights |
1993 |
STS-56 (Discovery) lands |
1994 |
"Little More Magic" closes at Belasco Theater NYC after 30 perfs |
1994 |
"Twilight - Los Angeles 1992" opens at Cort Theater NYC for 72 perfs |
1994 |
55th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Lee Trevino wins |
1994 |
Aruba government of Oduber falls |
1994 |
Val Skinner wins LPGA Atlanta Women's Golf Championship |
1995 |
24th Boston Women's Marathon won by Uta Pippig of Germany in 2:25:11 |
1995 |
99th Boston Marathon won by Cosmas Ndeti of Kenya in 2:09:22 |
1997 |
John Bell, 115, recieves new pacemaker |
1997 |
NJ Devil Martin Brodeur is 2nd NHL goalie to score in a playoff game |
2001 |
A letter between Gale Norton and Jeb Bush is released, stating that the Bush administration has decided to go ahead with plans to auction 6 million acres of potentially oil-and-gas-rich seabed in the Gulf of Mexico |
2002 |
Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two United States Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War. |
2012 |
The St Cuthbert Gospel, Europe's oldest intact book, purchased by the British Library for 9 million pounds |
2013 |
5 people are killed in Wana, Pakistan, by a United States drone attack |
2013 |
15 people are killed and 100 are injured after a fertilizer plant explodes in West, Texas |
2013 |
North Korea blocks a South Korean supply delegation from the Kaesong joint industrial zone |
2013 |
Same-sex marriage is legalized in New Zealand |
2014 |
Abdelaziz Bouteflika wins a fourth term as President of Algeria |
2016 |
Peru reports first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus |
2016 |
Strong 7.8 earthquake hits off coast of Ecuador |
2016 |
Congress to vote on impeaching Rousseff in divided Brazil |
2016 |
Greek Coast Guard Says Merchant Vessel Rescues 41 Migrants |
2017 |
China's Economy Grows 6.9%, Continuing Its Steady Rise |
2017 |
Arkansas fights on multiple legal fronts to begin executions |
2017 |
Vice President Mike Pence makes surprise visit to Korean Demilitarized Zone |
2017 |
Manhunt underway in Cleveland for suspect who broadcast killing on Facebook: Police |
2017 |
US Vice President Pence visits DMZ amid high tensions with North Korea |
2017 |
Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver added to Oxford Dictionary |
2017 |
More Than 100 Die In Suicide Attack On Syrian Evacuees |
2017 |
Protesters Call For Release Of Trump's Taxes |
2018 |
Kendrick Lamar wins Pulitzer Prize for 'Damn' |
2018 |
Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson name their daughter True Thompson |
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