This day in history

Some notable historical events that happened today include:

1789 -  George Washington appointed Alexander Hamilton as the first Secretary of Treasury of the US. He served for 5 1/2 years

1850 -  singer Jenny Lind of Sweden made her debut in NYC. She was known as the Swedish Soprano or Nightingale 

1883 -  James Goold Cutler received a patent for a mail chute. Patent No. 284,951 describes a collection box for mail in apartments and businesses and was intended for the mail to be collected in a central location by mail carriers

1951 -  Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions 

1954 -  the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, NJ  made it's tv debut. Miss Lee Ann Meriwether of California was crowned 28th Miss America 

1977 -  the Atari 2600 was released. The most popular games included Asteroids, Missile Command, Mario Bros. and Pac Man

2001 -  the militant group Al Qaeda hijacked 4 planes in the US and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. The coordinated attack killed over 3,000 people 

Some interesting birthdays include:

Mary Watson Whitney (1847) -  

co-founded the American Astronomical Society 

O. Henry (1862) - born William Sydney Porter

D. H. Lawrence (1885) - author of Sons and Lovers and Lady Charterley's Lover

Paul Bear Bryant (1913)

Donald Blakeslee (1917)

Charles Evers (1922) - took up the baton of civil rights activist after the murder of his brother Medgar Evers

Pauline Cawley (1924)

Robert Laurel Crippen (1937) - piloted the Space Shuttle Columbia on its first orbital test flight

Harry Connick Jr. (1967)