July 22, 1844: William Archibald Spooner is born in London. Reverand Spooner’s supposed habit of flung tubs led to the term “spoonerism.”
July 22, 1796: Surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company name an area in Ohio “Cleveland” after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the surveying party. One explanation as to why the spelling changed is that, in 1830, when the first newspaper, the Cleveland Advertiser, was established, the editor discovered that the head-line was too long for the form, and accordingly left out the letter “a” in the first syllable of “Cleaveland”, which spelling was at once adopted by the public.
July 23, 1967: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings.
July 24, 1915: The SS Eastlandcapsizes while still tied to the dock on the Chicago River. 848 people die, making this the deadliest Great Lakes accident ever, and one of the worst disasters of any kind in U.S. history. Many of the dead were immigrants. 70% were under the age of 30. More passengers died on the *Eastland *than on the Titanic. Despite public outrage and trials, no one was held responsible and no fines were paid.
July 24, 1974: The Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes, and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
July 25, 1911: Bobby Leachbecomes the first male to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive. He would spend six months in the hospital recovering from various fractures and broken bones. Afterwards Leach achieved some fame travelling around the country with his barrel telling the tale of his daring Niagara waterfall adventure.
Leach died in 1926 as a result of injuries sustained when he slipped on an orange peel.
July 25, 1908: Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in kombu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it.
July 26, 1956: The Italian luxury ocean liner SS *Andrea Doria *collides with the Swedish ship MS *Stockholm * in the Atlantic Ocean about 60 miles from Nantucket. The *Andrea Doria *sinks and 46 die. 5 crew from the *Stockholm *are also killed.
The wreck site of the *Andrea Doria *is sometimes referred to as the “Everest of shipwrecks” because of the danger and allure for divers to go so deep (up to 250 ft down) to reach and possibly treasure hunt the site. 27 divers have diedexploring this wreck, including one yesterday July 25, 2017.
July 26, 1944: The Soviet Army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, capturing it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation.
July 27, 1943: The “Surprise” Hurricane hits Texas. Because of censorship during WWII, weather information does not reach Texas in time and thus few were prepared for a strong hurricane. 19 die and scores are injured. Damage is heavy in Houston and Galveston.
July 27, 1940: The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.
July 28, 1976: The Great Tangshan Earthquake kills somewhere between 250,000 and 650,000 people in China.
July 28, 1945: A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26. One engine shot through the side opposite the impact and flew as far as the next block, where it landed on the roof of a nearby building, starting a fire that destroyed a penthouse. The other engine and part of the landing gear plummeted down an elevator shaft. Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a plunge of 75 stories inside an elevator, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall recorded.
July 29, 1967: Accidental fire and explosions on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestalkill 134 and injure 160. Among the survivors was pilot and now Senator John McCain.
July 29, 1921: Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
July 30, 1975: Jimmy Hoffadisappears.
July 30, 1932: Premiere of Walt Disney’s Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short.
July 31, 1944: The Japanese troop transport ship *Yoshino Maru *is sunk by the submarine USS Parche. 2495 aboard the ship die.
July 31, 1964: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes.
July 31, 1816: Maj. Gen. George Henry Thomas, a Virginian who remained loyal to the Union and earned the nicknames “the Rock of Chickamauga” and “the Sledge of Nashville,” was born in Newsom’s Depot, Va.