August 5

Scott Winters August 5, 2025 1 Comment

A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1620 – The Mayflower departed from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America.

1833 – The village of Chicago, IL was incorporated. The population at the time was approximately 250.

1861 – In order to help pay for the war effort, the U.S. Federal government levied its first income tax. The tax was 3% of all incomes over $800. It was rescinded in 1872.

1882 – The Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was established.

1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe’s Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.

1914 – The first electric traffic lights were installed in Cleveland, OH.

1921 – The first play-by-play broadcast of a baseball game was done by Harold Arlin, on KDKA Radio, in Pittsburgh, PA. The game was between the Pirates and Philadelphia.

1923 – Henry Sullivan became the first American to swim across the English Channel.

1924 – In the New York “Daily News”, the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” by Harold Gray, debuted.

1926 – Harry Houdini spent 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.

1957 – TV’s “American Bandstand”, hosted by Dick Clark, made its network debut on ABC. Until this day the show had been a local show in Philadelphia, PA since 1952.

1958 – Herbert Hoover eclipsed John Adams as having the longest retirement of any former President until that time. Hoover would live another 6 years. His record 31 years, 7 months, and 16 days has since been eclipsed by Jimmy Carter.

1960 – For the first time two major league baseball clubs traded managers. Detroit traded Jimmy Dykes for Cleveland’s Joe Gordon.

1966 – In New York, NY, groundbreaking began for the construction of the original World Trade Center.

1969 – The Mariner 7 made its closest fly-by Mars. Photographs and other data were sent back to Earth.

1974 – President Richard Nixon said that he expected to be impeached. Nixon had ordered the investigation into the Watergate break-in to halt.

1974 – The comic strip “Tank McNamara” premiered in 75 newspapers.

1975 – Stevie Wonder signed a $37 million deal with Motown Records, the biggest at that time.

1980 – The Osmonds split up.

1981 – Olivia Newton-John received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1981 – President Ronald Reagan fired 11,259 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order to return to work.

1983 – The movie “Risky Business”, starring Tom Cruise, was released in theaters.

1984 – Amtrak began rail service between Grand Rapids, MI and Chicago, IL with the Pere Marquette train route.

1998 – The TV show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” debuted on TV.

2008 – IBM was granted a patent for storing a customers preference for ‘paper or plastic bags’ on stores’ customer loyalty cards.

2009 – Google purchased its first public company. The company was a video software maker named On2 Technologies.

2011 – NASA announced that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons.

2011 – The first solar-powered spacecraft to go to Jupiter, Juno, was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

2016 – The Summer Olympic Games opened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.