September 1, 1985: The wreck of the Titanic is found. The joint British-French expedition locates the wreckage on the floor of the North Atlantic 73 years after it struck the iceberg.
September 2, 1789: Congress establishes the United States Département of Treasury. George Washington appoints Alexander Hamilton as the first Secretary of Treasury, and he was later sworn in on September 11th.
September 3, 301: San Marino is founded. It is in the Italian Peninsula and is one of the smallest nations. It is the oldest sovereign state still in existence and the oldest constitutional republic.
September 4, 1998: Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google. Both founders were PhD candidates at Stanford University who built the search engine as part of a research project.
September 5, 1774: The first Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia. Attendees such as George Washington, John Adams, and John Jay assembled to draft a response to the British Parliament’s passage of the Intolerable Acts.
September 6, 1991: Leningrad is renamed back to Saint Petersburg after the collapse of the USSR by Russian legislators. It was changed to Leningrad in 1924 after the Bolshevik Revolution swept communists into power.
September 7, 1822: Brazil declares independence after being under Portugal rule for 322 years.
September 8, 1883: The Northern Pacific Railroad is completed in the US. This makes it the second transcontinental railroad to be completed in the United States.
September 9, 1956: Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. He performed “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog,” becoming a household name overnight.
September 10, 1913: The Lincoln Highway opens. It is the first paved highway in the United States that stretches from the East to the West Coast.
September 11, 1903: The Milwaukee Mile opens at the Wisconsin State Fair Park, making it the oldest motor speedway in the world.
September 12, 1940: Prehistoric paintings are discovered in a cave in Lascaux, France. An 18-year-old discovered the entrance of the cave. The paintings depict horses, deer, and other animals. The paintings are estimated to be around 17,000 years old.
September 13, 1985: Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
September 14, 1752: Great Britain changes from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian one, making September 3, 1752, to September 14, 1752, instantly.
September 15, 1916: Tanks are used in war for the first time at the Battle of Somme in WW1.
September 16, 1620: The Pilgrims set sail for America on the Mayflower.
September 17, 1787: Members of the Constitutional Convention sign the Constitution, making this day Constitution Day.
September 18, 1977: Voyager 1 photographs the Earth and Moon together.
September 19, 1902: The Wright Brothers begin experimenting with gliders. They performed 1,000+ glider flights near Kitty Hawk, NC. A year later, they took off with the world’s first airplane.
September 20, 2011: The US Military ends the “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
September 21, 1898: The Hundred Days of Reform in China come to an end. The Empress Dowager Cixi seized power from the emperor, putting an end to his social programs.
September 22, 1888: The first issue of the National Geographic magazine is published. It was sent to 165 charter members of the National Geographic Society; since then, the magazine has reached millions of people worldwide.
September 23, 1846: The Planet Neptune is discovered by astronomers Jean Urbain Le Verrier, John C. Adams, and Johann Galle.
September 24, 1929: Jimmy Doolittle flies an airplane at Mitchel Field in New York. This is a notable feat as Doolittle flew with a canvas canopy covering the cockpit.
September 25, 1981: Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in as the first female US Supreme Court justice.
September 26, 1687: The Parthenon in Athens explodes. When Turkish forces were occupying the city, they used it as a munitions dump. It exploded, partially destroying the Parthenon when a missile from Venetian forces sparked it.
September 27, 1825: The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens in England. This was the first public railroad to use steam locomotives.
September 28, 48 BCE: The Roman General Pompey the Great was murdered. After his army is defeated by one led by Caesar during the Roman Civil War, he fled to Egypt. King Ptolemy wanted to win favor with Rome, so he ordered his execution as soon as he came ashore.
September 29, 1227: Pope Gregory IX excommunicates the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II for refusing the take part in the Crusades.
September 30, 1791: Mozart debuts The Magic Flute in Vienna, Austria.