Today:
1630 – The city of Boston, Massachusetts, was founded by English Puritan colonists on the Shawmut Peninsula. It would become one of the most important cities in colonial America and the American Revolution.
1778 – The Treaty of Fort Pitt was signed between the United States and the Lenape (Delaware) Nation during the American Revolution. It was the first formal written treaty between the new United States and a Native American nation.
1787 – The United States Constitution was signed at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Thirty-nine delegates signed the document, which was then sent to the states for ratification. September 17 is now observed as Constitution Day.
1849 – Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland with two of her brothers. Although her brothers turned back, Tubman continued north and later made numerous trips back to help other enslaved people escape through the Underground Railroad.
1862 – The Battle of Antietam was fought near Sharpsburg, Maryland, during the Civil War. Approximately 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing, making it the bloodiest single day in American military history.
1908 – U.S. Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge was killed when a Wright Flyer piloted by Orville Wright crashed at Fort Myer, Virginia. Selfridge became the first person to die in a powered-airplane crash.
1939 – The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded from the west. The invasion followed the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact dividing parts of Eastern Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union.
1961 – The Pittsburgh Civic Arena opened. Its enormous retractable stainless-steel roof made it an architectural landmark and the world’s first major sports venue with a retractable roof.
1976 – NASA publicly unveiled the first Space Shuttle orbiter, Enterprise, in Palmdale, California. The name was chosen after a campaign by fans of the television series Star Trek.
1983 – Vanessa Williams was crowned Miss America, becoming the first Black woman to win the title in the pageant’s 62-year history.