1666 – Hurricane hits Guadeloupe, Martinique and St Christopher; thousands die
1772 – English poet and artist William Blake aged 14 is first apprenticed to engraver James Basire in London
1790 – United States Revenue Cutter Service is established to serve as an armed customs enforcement service (becoming the US Coast Guard in 1915)
1830 – Plans for city of Chicago laid out
1919 – The Communist Bela Kun comes to power in Hungary
1929 – Jones Beach in NY opens
1943 – British premier Winston Churchill travels on the Queen Mary to Canada
1961 – Spokane, Washington reaches August record 108°F
1964 – Bodies of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E Chaney discovered in an earthen Mississippi dam
1988 – Congress votes $20,000 to each Japanese-American interned in WW II