Today:
1582: Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar system used by most of the world today. This change required skipping 10 days to correct the drift of the Julian calendar.
1777: During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Germantown was fought in Pennsylvania. General George Washington’s Continental Army launched an attack on the British-held city of Philadelphia but was ultimately repulsed.
1824: Mexico adopted a new constitution, becoming a federal republic. This followed the end of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.
1883: The first run of the luxurious Orient Express passenger train departed from Paris. It became a symbol of opulent long-distance travel.
1895: The first U.S. Open Men’s Golf Championship was held at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. Horace Rawlins was the winner of the inaugural tournament.
1927: Sculpting began on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The massive sculpture features the faces of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
1957: The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. This event marked the beginning of the Space Age and fueled the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1965: Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the United States and address the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
1966: Basutoland, a British colony in Southern Africa, gained its independence and was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho.
1993: The Russian constitutional crisis culminated in a military showdown where forces loyal to President Boris Yeltsin shelled the Russian White House, the parliament building, to oust his opponents.