This Day in History
In Alaska
• In 1884, John H. Kinkead was appointed the first governor of the District of Alaska, appointed by President Chester A. Arthur.
• In 1899, Professor Leonard made a hot air balloon ascent in Juneau, the first in Alaska.
• In 1900, Nome's second theater, the Columbia, opened, with seating capacity for 1,000. Construction took four days. Nome's first theater, the Olympia, had been built in 36 hours. The owners established the businesses on credit and went bankrupt shortly thereafter.
• In 1909, the first Mt. Marathon race was held in Seward.
• In 1913, the Alaska Pioneers' Home law, enacted by the First Territorial Legislature, became effective.
• In 1986, the Northwest Arctic Borough was officially dedicated.
In the nation
• In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
• In 1802, the United States Military Academy officially opened at West Point, N.Y.
• In 1845, Henry David Thoreau began his two-year experiment in simpler living at Walden Pond, near Concord, Mass.
• In 1939, baseball's "Iron Horse," Lou Gehrig, said farewell to his fans at New York's Yankee Stadium.
• In 1997, NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars, inaugurating a new era in the search for life on the Red Planet.
• In 2000, tall ships sailed through New York Harbor during OpSail 2000, celebrating Independence Day.
In the world
• In 1917, during a ceremony in Paris honoring the French hero of the American Revolution, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Charles E. Stanton declared, "Lafayette, we are here!"
• In 1976, Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing almost all of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.
• In 1995, President Boris Yeltsin announced that Russian troops would be permanently stationed in Chechnya.