Important Events on July the 4th:
1054 - Brightest known super-nova starts shining for 23 days
1057 - Crab Nebula supernova recorded by Chinese & Japanese astronomers.
1776 - Declaration of Independence -- US gains independence from Britain.
1802 - US Milt Academy officially opened at West Point NY
1819 - William Herschel makes last telescopic observation comet of 1819.
1826 - 2nd & 3rd presidents-John Adams & Thomas Jefferson die
1828 - 1st US passenger railroad was begun Baltimore & Ohio
1831 - James Monroe the fifth president died
1845 - Thoreau moves into his shack on Walden Pond
1862 - Lewis Carroll began inventing the story of Alice in Wonderland for his friend Alice Pleasance Liddell during a boating trip
1863 - Boise Idaho founded (now capital of Idaho)
1873 - Aquarium opens in Woodward Gardens
1876 - 1st public exhibition of electric light in SF
1882 - Telegraph Hill Observatory opens in SF.
1884 - Statue of Liberty was presented to US in Paris
1889 - Washington state constitutional convention holds 1st meeting.
1894 - Elwood Haynes successfully tests one of the 1st US autos
1894 - Republic of Hawaii established.
1900 - Aphelion Passage
1903 - Pacific Cable (SF Hawaii Guam Phil) opens FDR sends message
1933 - Work begins on the Oakland Bay Bridge
1939 - Yankees retire 1st uniform #4 Lou Gehrig 1st Old Timers Day
1942 - 1st American bombing mission over enemy-occupied Europe (WW2)
1946 - Philippines gains independence from US
1959 - America's new 49-star flag honoring Alaska statehood unfurled
1960 - Mickey Mantle hits career homer # 300
1960 - America's new 50-star flag honoring Hawaiian statehood unfurled
1965 - Mariner 4 flies past Mars sends 1st close-up photos.
1966 - LBJ signs Freedom of Information Act
1967 - Freedom of Information Act goes into effect
1976 - Raid on Entebbe - Israel rescues 229 Air France passengers
1982 - Fourth Space Shuttle Mission - Columbia 4 returns to Earth
1982 - Jimmy Connors beats John McEnroe for championship at Wimbeldon
1983 - Yankee Dave Righetti no hits the Red Sox
1984 - Yuri Sedykh of USSR throws hammer a record 86.33 m.
1985 - Tinker Bell's nightly flight begins
1987 - Martina Navaratalova wins her 6th straight Wimbeldon