On this day: July 23
Miss America gives up her crown, Fergie gets a royal wedding, a new comet is discovered and a singer's life comes to a tragic ending, all on this day.
1715: The first lighthouse in America is authorized by the Boston Light Bill for construction at Little Brewster Island, Mass. The Boston Lighthouse, which marks the entrance to Boston harbor, has guided ships since its lantern was first lit just before sunset on Sept. 14, 1716. The lighthouse is also the last remaining manned station in the U.S.
1715: The first lighthouse in America is authorized by the Boston Light Bill for construction at Little Brewster Island, Mass. The Boston Lighthouse, which marks the entrance to Boston harbor, has guided ships since its lantern was first lit just before sunset on Sept. 14, 1716. The lighthouse is also the last remaining manned station in the U.S.
1829: William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.
1885: Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, dies in Mount McGregor, N.Y., at age 63.
1888: Author Raymond Chandler ("The Big Sleep") is born in Chicago.
1903: Ford Motor sells its first Model A car. It features a twin-cylinder internal combustion engine designed and manufactured by then little-known Michigan machinist, Henry Ford, and was assembled at the Mack Avenue plant in Detroit.
1904: Charles E. Menches, according to some accounts, invents the ice cream cone during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the St. Louis World's Fair.
1914: Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia will reject those demands and Austria will declare war on July 28.
1940: Talk radio host Don Imus is born in Riverside, Calif.
1948: Film director D. W. Griffith ("The Birth of a Nation," "Intolerance") dies in Hollywood, Calif., at the age of 73.
1956: A Bell X-2 rocket plane sets the record for fastest speed by an aircraft, reaching Mach 2.87, or more than 1,900 mph, 60,000 feet above the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
1961: Actor Woody Harrelson ("Cheers," "Zombieland" and "The Hunger Games") is born in Midland, Texas.
1962: The Telstar satellite relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.
1965: Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash is born under the birth name Saul Hudson in London, England.
1966: Bob Dylan's album "Blonde on Blonde" debuts on Billboard's Top LP's chart. It would peak at No. 9 and stayed on the chart for 34 weeks.
1967: Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote," "Doubt") is born in Fairport, N.Y.
1967: In Detroit, Mich., one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African-American inner city following a police raid of an unlicensed, after-hours bar. The riots will continue for five days, leaving 43 dead, 467 injured and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed.
1971: Country singer Alison Krauss is born in Decatur, Ill.
1972: The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite. The near-polar orbiting spacecraft served as a stabilized, Earth-oriented platform for obtaining information on agricultural and forestry resources, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water resources, geography, cartography, environmental pollution, oceanography and marine resources, and meteorological phenomena.
1982: The International Whaling Commission votes to end commercial whaling by 1985-86.
1984: Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown after nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine.
1986: In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
1989: "Harry Potter" actor Daniel Radcliffe is born in London, England.
1992: The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Pope Benedict XVI-to-be Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that "it is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account" when making laws concerning "adoption or foster care, in employment of teachers or athletic coaches and in military recruitment."
1995: Comet Hale-Bopp is discovered; it will become visible to the naked eye nearly a year later.
2000: Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to complete a career Grand Slam when he wins the British Open at age 24.
2010: The world's record heaviest hailstone falls in Vivian, S.D., weighing 1 pound, 15 ounces with a diameter of 8 inches and a circumference of 18.6 inches.
2011: Singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse dies of alcohol poisoning in the Camden neighborhood of London, England. She was 27.
2012: Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, dies following a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61.
