July 17 - Train Ride

Train Ride

This Day In History

1402

Zhu Di, better known by his era name as the Yongle Emperor, assumes the throne over the Ming Dynasty of China.

1717

King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered.

1867

Harvard School of Dental Medicine was established in Boston. It was the first dental school in the U.S.

1938

Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the "wrong way" to Ireland and becomes known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan.

1955

Disneyland is dedicated and opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, California.

1975

An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.

Famous Birthdays

1674

Isaac Watts, English hymnwriter (d. 1748)

1763

John Jacob Astor, American businessman (d. 1848)

1870

Charles Davidson Dunbar, British military piper (d. 1939)

1889

Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (Perry Mason) (d. 1970)

1899

James Cagney, American actor (d. 1986)

1912

Art Linkletter, Canadian television host (d. 2010)

1920

Gordon Gould, inventor of the laser (d. 2005)

1935

Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor

1954

J. Michael Straczynski, American author

1968

Bitty Schram, American actress