Today:
1675: Christopher Wren began work on rebuilding St. Paul’s Cathedral in London after the Great Fire.
1788: The United States Constitution officially went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.
1834: Cyrus McCormick was granted a patent for his mechanical reaper, an invention that revolutionized farming.
1893: The first Ferris wheel made its debut at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
1919: German sailors scuttled their own fleet at Scapa Flow, Scotland, to prevent the ships from falling into Allied hands after World War I.
1942: Tobruk fell to Italian and German forces during World War II, resulting in the capture of 33,000 Allied troops.
1945: The Battle of Okinawa, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II in the Pacific, officially ended.
1963: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected Pope and took the name Paul VI.
1982: John Hinckley Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
2004: SpaceShipOne completed the world’s first manned private spaceflight.