Born On This Day:

• King Oscar I Sweden, 1799
• Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1804
• Giuseppe Garibaldi, 1807
• Stephen Foster, 1826
• Calvin Coolidge, 1872
• Rube Goldberg, 1883
• Louis B. Mayer, 1885
• Gertrude Lawrence, 1898
• Louis Armstrong, 1900
• Meyer Lansky, 1902
• Lionel Trilling, 1905
• Mitch Miller, 1911
• Tokyo Rose, 1916
• Ann Landers & Abigail Van Buren, 1918
• Leona Helmsley, 1920
• Eva Marie Saint, 1924
• Neil Simon, 1927
• Gina Lollobrigida, 1928
• Stephen Boyd, 1928
• George Steinbrenner, 1930
• Michael Milken, 1946
• Pam Shriver, 1962

Died On This Day:

• Samuel Richardson, 1761
• Thomas Jefferson, 1826
• John Adams, 1826
• James Monroe, 1831
• François René de Chateaubriand, 1848
• Madame Marie Curie, 1934
• Suzanne Lenglen, 1938
• Eva Gabor, 1995
• Charles Kuralt, 1997
• Mordecai Richler, 2001
• Barry White, 2003
• Jesse Helms, 2008

Today's Events:

• 1054 - Crab Nebula, brightest known super-nova begins shining in sky; observed by Chinese astronomers.
• 1636 - Providence RI founded.
• 1776 - Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence; official signing of all members-Aug. 2.
• 1817 - Construction begins on Erie Canal.
• 1828 - Ground-breaking ceremony in Baltimore, MD for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
• 1829 - First London bus runs.
• 1831 - The song 'America' by Samuel Francis Smith first performed at Park St. Church, Boston.
• 1848 - Communist manifesto published by Marx & Engels.
• 1862 - Lewis Carroll conceives idea for 'Alice in Wonderland' on boat trip on River Thames, London.
• 1863 - Surrender at Vicksburg; Confederacy surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant's Union troops in Civil War.
• 1883 - Statue of Liberty presented to U.S. by France.
• 1884 - America's first bullfight held in Dodge City, KS.
• 1888 - First rodeo in America held at Prescott, AZ.
• 1894 - Republic of Hawaii established.
• 1895 - Poem 'America the Beautiful' by Katherine Lee Bates published in Boston.
• 1902 - First motorcycle race in America from Boston to New York.
• 1904 - Construction begins on Panama Canal.
• 1919 - Jack Dempsey KO's Jess Willard in 3rd at Toledo to become world heavyweight boxing champ.
• 1924 - According to flackery, Caesar salad invented today by Chef Caesar Cardini at Palace Hotel, Tijuana.
• 1955 - First king cobra snakes born in captivity at the Bronx Zoo.
• 1976 - Millions of Americans celebrate 200th anniversary of U.S. independence.
• 1997 - Mars Pathfinder reaches the red planet just before dawn deploying 22 lb rover to explore.

Feast Day of Saint:

• Martin of Tours
• Odo the Good
• Andrew of Crete
• Ulric of Augsburg

Holiday:

• UNITED STATES INDEPENDENCE DAY (1776)
• Independence Day Philippines (1946)

Non-Specific Holiday:

• JAGANNATH, RATHA YATRA, Hindu Festival of Car Procession of Vishnu
• CHI HSI, Festival of the Milky Way in China (seventh day of the seventh moon)
• CHUNG YÜAN, Festival of the Dead in China (fifteenth day of the seventh moon)
• NAGA PANCHAMI, Hindu Festival of the Serpent God
• RAKHI, Hindu Festival to Pledge Protection
• CHUNG-CH'IU, Mid-autumn festival, Harvest or Moon Festival (fifteenth day of the eighth moon)
• TISH'AH B'AB (Jewish) Anniversary of fall of Jerusalem and destruction of first & 2nd temples Ab 9
• NEBUTA, Japanese Festival at peak of summer to drive off lethargy
• SOMA NOMAOI, Japanese Festival of samurai equestrian displays