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American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250thOn this day › July 24
What happened on July 24 in American history
July 24 is the 205th day of the year (the 206th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 10 stories from July 24 spanning 1701 to 1974. Among them: in 1701, a hundred men land on the Detroit River and start cutting white oak; and in 1847, Young sees the valley from a sickbed wagon: "This is the right place, drive on".
1701Member story · 1776 Club
A hundred men land on the Detroit River and start cutting white oak
Cadillac stakes out a fort at the narrowest strait between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, calling it the future Paris of New France.
1847Member story · 1776 Club
Young sees the valley from a sickbed wagon: "This is the right place, drive on"
A thousand-mile trek from Nebraska ends in a desert basin still claimed by Mexico.
1847Member story · 1776 Club
A revolving cylinder replaces the flatbed; newspapers can now print by the thousands
Patent 5,199 turns a New York machine shop invention into 8,000 sheets an hour.
1866
Tennessee is back in the Union; no other rebel state gets the deal
Congress lets Tennessee skip military rule because it ratified the Fourteenth Amendment first.
1929Member story · 1776 Club
Fifty-seven nations have now sworn off war; a Wisconsin senator asked who would enforce it
The treaty binding fifteen original signers to renounce war takes legal effect, with no army, court, or penalty behind it.
1943Member story · 1776 Club
Bombers begin round-the-clock assault on Hamburg; fires burn out of control
British bombers strike by night, American planes by day, in the heaviest air raid yet flown against a city.
1950Member story · 1776 Club
A German V-2 and an American WAC Corporal fly together off a Florida beach
The second stage failed and the missile pitched low, but the range commander called it a complete success.
1959Member story · 1776 Club
Nixon and Khrushchev argue over capitalism versus communism, standing in a model kitchen
The Vice President pushes back on a lemon juicer's honor at the American National Exhibition in Sokolniki Park.
1969
Apollo 11 splashes down in the Pacific; Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins are home
Eight days after leaving Kennedy Space Center, the crew that walked on the Moon returns to Earth's ocean.
1974
Supreme Court rules 8-0: Nixon must hand over the tapes
Executive privilege has limits, Chief Justice Burger writes, and the special prosecutor gets his subpoena.
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