This Week In American History

July 13 1923 The Hollywood Sign was officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles. Harvey and Daeida Wilcox founded Hollywood in 1887 as a community for likeminded followers...

July 6 1957 Althea Gibson claimed the women's singles tennis title at Wimbledon and became the first African American to win a championship at London's All England Lawn Tennis and...

June 29 1776 Edward Rutledge, one of South Carolina’s representatives to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, expressed his reluctance to declare independence from Britain in a letter to the like-minded John...

June 22 1940 The first Dairy Queen store opens along historic Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois. The soft-serve formula was first developed in 1938 by John Fremont "J.F." "Grandpa" McCullough...

June 15 1846 Representatives of Great Britain and the United States signed the Oregon Treaty, which settles a long-standing dispute with Britain over who controlled the Oregon territory. The treaty established...

June 8 1967 During the SIx-Day War, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty in international waters off Egypt’s Gaza Strip. The intelligence ship, well-marked as an American vessel...

May 25     1935 At Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Babe Ruth hit his 714th home run, a record for career home runs that would stand for almost 40 years....

May 18 1860 Abraham Lincoln, a one-time U.S. representative from Illinois, was nominated for the U.S. presidency by the Republican National Convention meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Lincoln first gained national stature during...

May 11 1858 Minnesota entered the Union as the 32nd state. Known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Minnesota is the northern terminus of the Mississippi River’s traffic and the...

May 4 1776 Rhode Island, the colony founded by the most radical religious dissenters from the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony, became the first North American colony to renounce its...

April 27 1956 World heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano retired from boxing at age 31, wanting to spend more time with his family. Marciano ended his career as the only heavyweight...

April 20 1841 Edgar Allan Poe’s story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," first appeared in Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine. The tale is generally considered to be the first...