This Week In American History

August 16 1904 New York City and the Vanderbilts began building Grand Central Station. The building was the largest construction project in New York’s history up to that time. It’s...

August 9 1854 Henry David Thoreau's classic "Walden", or, "A Life in the Woods", was released. The American transcendentalist writer’s work is a first-person account of his experimental time of simple...

August 2     In a hotel in San Francisco, President Warren G. Harding died of a stroke at the age of 58. Harding was returning from a presidential tour of Alaska and the...

July 26    1775 The U.S. postal system was establish by the Scond Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. Today, the US has over 40,000 post offices...

July 19 1848 At the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, a woman's right convention - the first ever held in the United States - convened with almost 200...

July 12     1862 The Medal of Honor was created when President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a measure calling for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of...

July 5 1921 Chicago White Sox players, including stars Shoeless Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver and Eddie Cicotte, are accused of throwing the 1919 World Series. The White Sox, who were...

June 28 1953 Workers at a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan, assembled the first Corvette, a two-seater sports car that would become an American icon. The first completed production car...

June 21 1788 New Hampshire became the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby making the document the law of the land. Beginning...

June 14 1846 Anticipating the outbreak of war with Mexico, American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed the short-lived California Republic, starting the Bear Flag Revolt.. Though nominally...

June 7    1913 Hudson Stuck, an Alaskan missionary, led the first successful ascent of Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley), the highest point on the American continent at 20,320...

May 31 1889 The South Fork Dam in Pennsylvania collapsed, causing the Johnstown Flood and killing more than 2,000 people. The dam was once the largest earth dam in the...