© Copyright 2022 Day 2 Day History.

Historical Events

17 Apr 1397
Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of English King Richard II
17 Apr 1524
Giovanni Verrazano a Florentine navigator discovers New York Bay
17 Apr 1534
Sir Thomas More confined in the Tower of London
17 Apr 1704
1st successful US newspaper published in Boston by John Campbell
17 Apr 1711
Charles VI becomes Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his brother Joseph I
17 Apr 1747
French troops occupy Zeeuws-Flanders Netherlands
17 Apr 1758
Francis Williams 1st US black college graduate publishes poems
17 Apr 1797
Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan Puerto Rico one of the largest invasions of Spanish territories in America
17 Apr 1817
1st US school for deaf (Hartford Connecticut)
17 Apr 1824
Russia abandons all North American claims south of 54 40N
17 Apr 1853
Johan Rudolf Thorbeckes government in the Netherlands resigns
17 Apr 1853
US Marine Hospital at Presidio San Francisco forms
17 Apr 1860
Champion of England Tom Sayers and American John Heenan fight out brutal 2 hour 27 minute draw near Farnborough England police stop fight acknowledged as first world title bout
17 Apr 1861
Indianola TX - Star of West taken by Confederacy
17 Apr 1861
Virginia secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
17 Apr 1863
Griersons raid begins as Colonel Grierson and 1700 horse troopers set off from La Grange Tennessee
17 Apr 1865
Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Lincolns assassination
17 Apr 1869
1st pro baseball games-Cincinnati Reds 24 Cin amateurs 15
17 Apr 1875
Modern Snooker invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain a bored British officer in Jabalpur India
17 Apr 1892
1st Sunday NL baseball game Reds beat Cards 5-1
17 Apr 1895
Treaty of Shimonoseki is signed ending the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
17 Apr 1899
3rd Boston Marathon won by Lawrence Brignolia in 25438
17 Apr 1900
7 high chiefs of American Samoa sign Instrument of Cession
17 Apr 1905
US Supreme court judges maximum work day unconstitutional
17 Apr 1905
9th Boston Marathon won by Fred Lorz in 23825.4
17 Apr 1905
The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York which held that the right to free contract was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
17 Apr 1907
Ellis Island New York records 11745 immigrants
17 Apr 1912
1st unofficial gold record (Al Jolsons Ragging The Baby To Sleep)
17 Apr 1916
20th Boston Marathon won by Arthur Roth in 22716.4
17 Apr 1922
26th Boston Marathon won by Clarence DeMar in race record 21810 his 2nd race victory first of 3 consecutive wins
17 Apr 1923
Longest NL opening game Phillies & Dodgers tie 5-5 in 14
17 Apr 1924
Metro Pictures Goldwyn Pictures & Louis B Mayer Co merged to form Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM)
17 Apr 1925
Paul Painlev succeeds Edouard Herriot as French premier
17 Apr 1927
Japans Wakarsoeki government falls Baron Tanaka becomes premier
17 Apr 1930
DuPont scientist Elmer K. Bolton invents neoprene using Julius Nieuwlands divinyl acetylene
17 Apr 1933
Chicago Bears win their 1st NFL Game beating NY Giants 23-21
17 Apr 1933
37th Boston Marathon won by Leslie Pawson in 23101.6
17 Apr 1934
New Fenway Park opens Washington Senators beat Red Sox 6-5
17 Apr 1935
Provincial-National elections (Musserts NSB achieves 7.9% 44 chairs)
17 Apr 1939
SN Behrmans No Time for Comedy premieres in NYC
17 Apr 1939
43rd Boston Marathon won by Ellison Brown in 22851.8 his second victory in the event
17 Apr 1941
US Office of Price Administration forms (handled rationing)
17 Apr 1941
World War II The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
17 Apr 1942
Operations begin to destroy Sobibor Concentration Camp
17 Apr 1942
POW French General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Knigstein
17 Apr 1943
Marshal Admiral Yamamoto flies from Truk to Rabaul
17 Apr 1944
48th Boston Marathon won by Gerard Cote of Canada in 23150.4 second straight victory 3rd of 4 titles
17 Apr 1945
German occupiers flood Wieringermeer Netherlands
17 Apr 1945
US troops land in central Mindanao Philippines during Battle of Mindanao
17 Apr 1946
Syria declares independence from French administration
17 Apr 1950
54th Boston Marathon won by Kee Yong Ham of South Korea in 23239
17 Apr 1953
Mickey Mantle hits a 565 (172 m) HR in Washington D.C.s Griffith Stadium
17 Apr 1956
Premium Savings Bonds introduced in Great Britain
17 Apr 1956
Willie Mosconi sinks 150 consecutive balls in a billiard tournament
17 Apr 1960
American Samoa sets up a constitutional government
17 Apr 1960
Cleveland Indians trade Rocky Colavito to Tigers for Harvey Kuenn
17 Apr 1961
65th Boston Marathon won by Eino Oksanen of Finland in 22339 his 2nd event title
17 Apr 1964
Cafe Crown opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 3 performances
17 Apr 1964
High Spirits opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 375 performances
17 Apr 1964
1st game at Shea Stadium NY Mets lose to Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3
17 Apr 1964
Ford Mustang formally introduced (2368 base)
17 Apr 1964
Jerrie Mock becomes 1st woman to fly solo around the world
17 Apr 1966
100th international soccer match between Netherlands and Belgium (3-1)
17 Apr 1967
Shortwave Radio NY Worldwide goes back on the air after a week off
17 Apr 1967
Surveyor 3 launched soft lands on Moon April 20
17 Apr 1967
71st Boston Marathon Dave McKenzie of New Zealand wins in 21545 American Bobbi Gibb 1st woman for 2nd straight year in 32717 (unsanctioned)
17 Apr 1967
Italian boxer Nino Benvenuti beats American Emile Griffith in a 15 round points decision to win world middleweight crown at Madison Square Garden start of famous trilogy of fights between the pair
17 Apr 1968
Fade Out-Fade In closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 72 performances
17 Apr 1968
As 1st game in Oakland-Alameda Stadium lose 4-1 to Baltimore Orioles
17 Apr 1969
Alexander Dubek forced to resign as first secretary of Czechoslovakias Communist Party
17 Apr 1969
Mont Expos Bill Stoneman no-hits Phillies 7-0
17 Apr 1969
The Band (formerly The Hawks) perform their 1st concert
17 Apr 1969
Peoples Democracy activist Bernadette Devlin becomes the youngest woman Member of Parliament ever elected to Westminster at 21 years old
17 Apr 1970
Apollo 13 limps back safely Beech-built oxygen tank no help
17 Apr 1972
76th Boston Marathon Olavi Suomalainen of Finland wins mens race in 21539 American Nina Kuscsik takes inaugural womens title in 31026 first year womens race officially sanctioned
17 Apr 1972
Kiteman attempting to throw out 1st ball in Phillie Vet crashes into centerfield seats
17 Apr 1974
Bundy victim Susan Rancourt disappears from CWU Ellensburg Washington
17 Apr 1974
Muslim fundamentalists assault military academy in Heliopolis Egypt
17 Apr 1975
Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh Cambodia (Kampuchea National Day)
17 Apr 1977
I Love My Wife opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 864 performances
17 Apr 1977
Christian-democrats win Belgium parliamentary election
17 Apr 1978
63500000 shares traded on NY stock exchange (record)
17 Apr 1978
82nd Boston Marathon US double Bill Rodgers wins his 2nd mens title in 21013 Gayle Barron womens champion in 24452
17 Apr 1978
Pulitzer prize awarded to Carl Sagan for Dragons of Eden
17 Apr 1979
Brian Clarks Whose Life is it Anyway premieres in London
17 Apr 1979
Four Royal Ulster Constabulary officers are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army van bomb in Bessbrook County Armagh the bomb is believed to be the largest PIRA bomb used up to that point
17 Apr 1981
Isle Potvins 3 playoff power-play goals tie NHL record vs Oilers
17 Apr 1981
Rangers Anders Hedberg is 2nd to score on a Stanley Cup penalty shot
17 Apr 1983
Grete Waltz runs female world record marathon (22529)
17 Apr 1983
In Warsaw police route 1000 Solidarity supporters
17 Apr 1983
India entered space age launching SLV-3 rocket
17 Apr 1983
NY Islanders tie NHL record with 3 shorthanded playoff goals vs NY Rangers
17 Apr 1984
Braves pitcher Pascual Perez suspended due to cocaine usage
17 Apr 1984
During Libyan Embassy demonstration in London British police officer Yvonne Fletcher shot dead
17 Apr 1986
Netherlands & Scilly Islands sign peace treaty (war of 1651)
17 Apr 1986
Pulitzer prize awarded to Larry McMurtry for Lonesome Dove
17 Apr 1988
Ethiopian Belayneh Densimo runs world record marathon (20650)
17 Apr 1989
18th Boston Womens Marath won by Ingrid Kristiansen of Nor in 22433
17 Apr 1989
93rd Boston Marathon Abebe Mekonen of Ethiopia takes mens race in 20906 Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway wins her 2nd womens title in 22433
17 Apr 1989
Maximum NY State unemployment benefits raised to 245 per week
17 Apr 1989
Soviet-US agreement allows Soviets to fight US pros
17 Apr 1990
Gas explosion on passenger train in Kumrahar India 80 die
17 Apr 1991
Dow Jones closes above 3000 for 1st time (3004.46)
17 Apr 1994
Little More Magic closes at Belasco Theater NYC after 30 performances
17 Apr 1994
Twilight - Los Angeles 1992 opens at Cort Theater NYC for 72 performances
17 Apr 1994
55th PGA Seniors Golf Championship Lee Trevino wins by 1 stroke from Jim Colbert for his 4th Seniors major title
17 Apr 1995
99th Boston Marathon Cosmas Ndeti of Kenya claims 3rd straight title in 20922 Uta Pippig of Germany wins 2nd consecutive womens event in 22511
17 Apr 1999
NFL Draft University of Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch first pick by Cleveland Browns
17 Apr 2000
104th Boston Marathon Kenyan double Elijah Lagat wins mens race in 20947 Catherine Ndereba takes womens title in 22611
17 Apr 2002
Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two United States Air Force F-16s the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War
17 Apr 2005
51st British Academy Television Awards Little Britain Best Comedy Sex Traffic Best Drama
17 Apr 2006
110th Boston Marathon Kenyan double Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot wins 2nd mens title in 20714 Rita Jeptoo takes womens title in 22338
17 Apr 2013
5 people are killed in Wana Pakistan by a United States drone attack
17 Apr 2013
15 people are killed and 100 are injured after a fertilizer plant explodes in West Texas
17 Apr 2013
North Korea blocks a South Korean supply delegation from the Kaesong joint industrial zone
17 Apr 2014
Abdelaziz Bouteflika wins a fourth term as President of Algeria
17 Apr 2015
James Anderson becomes the highest wicket-taking bowler in Englands test cricket history
17 Apr 2017
1st living giant shipworm at 3 ft found in the Philippines really a type of clam
17 Apr 2017
121st Boston Marathon Kenyan double Geoffrey Kirui takes mens title in 20937 Edna Kiplagat womens champion in 22152
17 Apr 2018
Former F.B.I. director James Comey publishes his political autobiography A Higher Loyalty Truth Lies and Leadership
17 Apr 2018
Protests across India at the rape and murder of an 8-year old Muslim girl in Kathua Bengalu
17 Apr 1905
US Supreme Court judges maximum work day unconstitutional in Lochner v. New York by declaring the right to free contract implicit in the due process clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution
17 Apr 1987
Richard Wilbur appointed as American poet laureate
17 Apr 1994
PGA Seniors Championship Mens Golf PGA National GC Lee Trevino beats Jim Colbert by 1 stroke for his second title in the event
17 Apr 2019
Research showing pigs brains partially brought back to life at Yale University published in Nature
17 Apr 2019
Terror alert closes schools in Denver Colorado due to 18 year-old woman obsessed with Columbine massacre who is then found dead
17 Apr 2019
10 babies with bubble boy disease cured using a gene therapy made from HIV at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital Memphis according to new study
17 Apr 1774
First Unitarianism church service in England held by Theophilus Lindsey at the Essex Street Capel in London
17 Apr 1865
Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Abraham Lincolns assassination
17 Apr 1975
The Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh Cambodia marking the end of the Cambodian Civil war (Kampuchea National Day)
17 Apr 1981
Carl Gottliebs movie Caveman starring Ringo Starr Shelley Long Barbara Bach Dennis Quaid Jack Gilford and John Matuszak premieres
17 Apr 1981
New York Islander Dennis Potvins 3 playoff power-play goals vs Edmonton Oilers tie NHL record
17 Apr 2020
WHO warns Africa could be next epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with over 300000 deaths pushing 30 million into poverty as it records nearly 1000 deaths and 19000 cases to date
17 Apr 1941
Egyptian steamer SS Zamzam attacked and later scuttled by German cruiser Atlantis (all on board rescued)
17 Apr 1964
Albert Hague and Marty Brills musical Cafe Crown starring Theodore Bikel opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC runs for 3 performances
17 Apr 1969
The Band (formerly The Hawks) perform their 1st concert at Winterland Ballroom San Francisco California
17 Apr 2021
San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau ties Gordie Howes NHL record for most regular season games played at 1767
17 Apr 2021
Global COVID-19 death toll passes three million (Johns Hopkins University figures)
17 Apr 2021
Canada registers more new daily COVID-19 cases than the US for the first time as infections surge in Ontario [1]
17 Apr 1934
Fenway Park in Boston re-opens after a major renovation including a hand-operated electronic scoreboard though it didnt help the Red Sox who lost to the Washington Senators 6-5
17 Apr 1979
Brian Clarks stage drama Whose Life is it Anyway starring Tom Conti and Phillip Bosco and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg opens at the Trafalgar Theatre NYC runs for 223 performances winning Conti a Tony Award
17 Apr 1387
The fictional characters in Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury (according to scholars)
17 Apr 1524
Florentine navigator Giovanni Verrazano on a voyage for France is the first European to discover New York harbour
17 Apr 1596
Albert VII Archduke of Austria occupies Calais
17 Apr 1851
Clipper Marco Polo launched at St Johns New Brunswick - then the fastest ship in the world [1]
17 Apr 1900
High chiefs of American Samoa sign the Instrument of Cession of Tutuila and swear allegiance to the United States [1]
17 Apr 2015
Marianne Winkler finds message in a bottle on the shore of the German island of Amrum it had been dropped in the North Sea by British marine scientist George Parker Bidder on November 30th 1906 making its length of time spent adrift 108 years 138 days
17 Apr 2019
Terror alert closes schools in Denver Colorado due to 18-year-old woman obsessed with Columbine massacre who is then found dead
17 Apr 2023
New Research shows the Great Pacific Garbage Patch now has coast creatures living and breeding in it including jellyfish sponges and worms raising concerns about the spread of invasive species [1]
17 Apr 1684
Dutch East India Company signs treaty with Sultan Hadji of Banten (Java) to aid him in a civil war with his father in exchange for sole right to trade in the Sultanate [1]
17 Apr 1961
Construction begins on the Space Needle in Seattle Washington 5850 tons of concreter delivered by 467 trucks over 12 hours for the foundation
17 Apr 1963
NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspends Green Bay Packers halfback Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras indefinitely for betting on football games
17 Apr 1986
Pulitzer Prize is awarded to Larry McMurtry for Lonesome Dove
17 Apr 1991
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3000 for 1st time (3004.46)
17 Apr 2024
Extreme weather moves on from the UAE to cause heavy rain and flooding in Pakistan and Afghanistan and at least 135 deaths [1]
17 Apr 2024
Three Russian missiles strike an apartment building in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv killing at least 17 people and injuring 61 [1]
17 Apr 1747
French troops occupy Zeeuws-Flanders in the Netherlands
17 Apr 1758
Poems by Jamaican Black intellectual and writer Francis Williams are published
17 Apr 1824
Russia abandons all claims in North America south of 5440N
17 Apr 1875
Modern snooker is invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain a bored British officer in Jabalpur India
17 Apr 1892
First Sunday National League baseball game Reds defeat Cardinals 5-1
17 Apr 1935
First commercial flight from mainland to Hawaii when Pan Ams Pioneer Clipper flew from San Francisco to Honolulu
17 Apr 1964
American pilot Jerrie Mock (38) becomes 1st woman to fly solo around the world returning to Columbus Ohio after 29-12 days in The Spirit of Columbus a single engine Cessna 180
17 Apr 2006
George H. Ryan the former governor of Illinois is convicted on 22 counts of fraud racketeering and lying to the FBI [1]
17 Apr 2015
After 108 years a message in a bottle placed in the sea by the UK Marine Biological Association is found on a beach on the island of Amrum Germany
17 Apr 2025
A US citizen hijacks Tropic Air Flight 711 at knifepoint and injures three passengers before being killed by police in Belize [1]