August 17 - Going Places

Going Places

This Day In History

1807

Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
1891
First public bathhouse with showers opens in New York City (People's Bath).

1907

Pike Place Market, a popular tourist destination and registered historic district in Seattle, opens.

1908

Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, is shown in Paris.

1958

Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.

1959

Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.

1970

Venera 7 is launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).

1978

Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.

1980

Azaria Chamberlain disappears, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.

2008

American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.

Famous Birthdays

1601

Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)

1786

Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and soldier (d. 1836)

1863

Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and naturalist (d. 1924)

1893

Mae West, American actress (d. 1980)

1896

Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970)

1920

Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress

1943

Robert De Niro, American actor

1958

Belinda Carlisle, American singer

1969

Donnie Wahlberg, American actor and singer