This Day in History – September 13, 2011

335 Emperor Constantine the Great consecrated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. 1501 Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David. 1609 Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him,the Hudson River. 1788 The Philadelphia Convention sets the date for the first presidential election in the United States, and New York City becomes the country’s temporary capital. 1789 1st loan to US Govt (from NYC banks) 1812 War of 1812: A supply wagon sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows. 1814 In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore, Maryland. 1848 Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives a 3-foot (0.91 m)-plus iron rod being driven through his head; the reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulate thinking about the nature of the brain and its functions. 1862 American Civil War: Union soldiers find a copy of Robert E. Lee’s battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland. It is the prelude to the Battle of Antietam. 1898 Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film. 1899 Henry Bliss is the first person in the United States to be killed in an automobile accident. 1922 The temperature (in the shade) at Al ‘Aziziyah, Libya reaches a world record 57.8 °C (136.0 °F). 1940 World War II: German bombs damage Buckingham Palace. 1942 World War II: Second day of the Battle of Edson’s Ridge in the Guadalcanal campaign. U.S. Marines successfully defeated attacks by the Imperial Japanese Army with heavy losses for the Japanese forces. 1948 Margaret Chase Smith is elected senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate. 1949 Ladies Pro Golf Association of America formed in NYC 1956 IBM introduces the first computer disk storage unit, the RAMAC 305. 1959 USSR’s Luna 2 becomes 1st probe to contact another celestial body 1965 Today Show’s 1st totally color broadcast 1965 Willie Mays hits his 500th HR 1971 World Hockey Association formed 1971 State police and National Guardsmen storm New York’s Attica Prison to end a prison revolt. 1973 Congress passes & sends a bill to Nixon to lift football’s blackout 1974 Phillies set NL record, using 27 players in a game, St Louis uses 24, tying record of 51. Phils win 7-3 in 17 1977 1st TV viewer discretion warning-Soap 1983 US mint strikes 1st gold coin in 50 years (Olympic Eagle) 1987 Paul Lynch of Great Britain does 32,573 push-ups in 24 hours 1991 A 55 ton concrete beam falls in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium 1993 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy. 1994 Ulysses probe passes the Sun’s south pole. 2001 Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the U.S. after the September 11, 2001 attacks. 2005 A glitch in the MMORPG World of Warcraft results in a plague affecting thousands of players. 2007 The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. 2008 Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.]]]]> ]]>