Historical Events on June 16

  • 1774: Harrodsburg in Kentucky is founded on this day.
  • 1779: The Great Siege of Gibraltar starts when Spain declares war on Great Britain.
  • 1795: The First Battle of Groix starts. This battle is also known as Cornwallis’ Retreat.
  • 1858: In Springfield, Illinois, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers one of his most famous speeches: the “House Divided” speech.
  • 1871: Students are allowed to enter Cambridge University, Oxford and Durham University without having to take a religious test first thanks to the University Tests Act.
  • 1883: In Sunderland, England, over 180 children are killed when the Victoria Hall Theater Panic happens on this date.
  • 1897: A treaty that annexes Hawaii to the U.S is signed on this day.
  • 1904: Jame Joyce starts a relationship with Nora Barnacle and uses the date to set the action for his novel Ulysses. The day is now known as Bloomsday.
  • 1911: In Endicott, New York, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company is founded. This company would eventually change its name to IBM.
  • 1940: In Lithuania, a Communist government is established.
  • 1944: George Junius Stinney, Jr. is executed at the age of 14. He’s the youngest person to be put to death in the U.S in the 20th
  • 1981: The Congressional Gold Medal is awarded to Ken Taylor by United States’ President Ronald Reagan. Ken Taylor received the award for helping 6 Americans escape Iran during the hostage crisis on 1979 to 1981 while he was Canada’s foreign ambassador to Iran.
  • 2012: The Boeing X-37B returns to Earth after finishing its orbital mission.

Famous Birthdays on June 16

  • Apache American tribal leader and resistance fighter, Geronimo is born in 1829.
  • German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate, Georg Wittig is born in 1897.
  • American geneticist and Nobel Prize laureate, Barbara McClintock is born in 1902.
  • American paleontologist and author, George Gaylord Simpson is born in 1902.
  • American politician Richard Madaleno is born in 1965.
  • American singer-songwriter and producer, Adam Schmitt is born in 1968.
  • American rapper and producer, Tupac Shakur is born in 1971.