1607 – 100 English settlers disembark in Jamestown, the first English colony in America.
1626 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.
1844 – Samuel Morse sends the message “What hath God wrought” from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C.
1856 – John Brown and his men kill five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.
1883 – The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
1935 – The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 at Crosley Field.
1962 – American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
2007 – Congress voted to increase the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years — from $5.15 an hour to $7.25.
