1883 – Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) staged his first Wild West show.
1884 – Construction began on the first skyscraper in America; the 10-story Home Insurance Building located on the corner of LaSalle and Adams in Chicago, IL. It was demolished in 1931.
1926 – The Ford Motor Company becomes the first in the U.S. to adopt a 5-day, 40-hour work week for its automotive factories.
1931 – The Empire State Building in New York City was dedicated.
1960 – The Soviets shot down an American U-2 plane piloted by the C.I.A.’s Francis Gary Powers. Seventeen months later, the Soviets exchanged Powers for Russian spy Rudolf Abel whom the CIA had exposed.
1971 – Amtrak went into service.
Chief Writing Wolf 