Pack Rat Day
National Cherry Cobbler Day
May 17, 1510, death of Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi), Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Examples of his art can be found at Wikiart.org
1527 – Pánfilo de Narváez, Spanish conquistador, departed to explore and colonize Florida. He left Spain with five ships and 600 men. A storm south of Cuba wrecked the ships and a group of men were shipwrecked in Florida among hostile natives. The survivors worked their way along the US gulf coast trying to get to the province of Pánuco. During a storm Narváez and a small group of men were carried out to sea on a raft and were not seen again. Only four men survived the Narváez expedition.
Anne Boleyn’s four “lovers” were beheaded on May 17, 1536.
England passes Molasses Act in 1733, putting high tariffs on rum and molasses imported to the colonies from any country other than British possessions.
May 17, 1756, the beginning of the 7 Years’ War or the French and Indian War as it is called in the United States.
American Revolutionary War: the Continental Congress bans trade with Canada on May 17, 1775.
Running of the first Kentucky Derby, May 17, 1875: Oliver Lewis aboard Aristides wins in 2:37.75.
1876 – 7th US Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer left Ft Lincoln, North Dakota.
1877 – Edwin T Holmes installs 1st telephone switchboard burglar alarm. Per The first switchboard was installed on May 17, 1877, at 342 Washington St. in Boston, the office of Edwin T. Holmes, who happened to run the Holmes Burglar Alarm Service. The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, gave Holmes a dozen telephones on loan and helped him set up the switchboard. Holmes hired men to operate the switchboard on hourly shifts and it was used as a telephone service in the daytime. At night, it became part of the Holmes security system.
Alaska becomes a US territory in 1884.
Congress changes name “Porto Rico” to “Puerto Rico”. In 1932, the U.S. Congress officially corrected what it had been misspelling as Porto Rico back into Puerto Rico. It had been using the former spelling in its legislative and judicial records since it acquired the territory. Patricia Gherovici states that both “Porto Rico” and “Puerto Rico” were used interchangeably in the news media and documentation before, during, and after the U.S. invasion of the island in 1898. The “Porto” spelling, for instance, was used in the Treaty of Paris, but “Puerto” was used by The New York Times that same year. Nancy Morris clarifies that “a curious oversight in the drafting of the Foraker Act caused the name of the island to be officially misspelled.
On May 17, 1943, the United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
Pres Harry Truman seizes control of nation’s railroads on May 17, 1946 to delay a strike.
Soviet Union recognized Israel in 1948.
British government recognized Republic of Ireland in 1949.
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Brown v Topeka Board of Education, reversing 1896 “separate but equal” Plessy Vs Ferguson decision.
1961 – Castro offered to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers.
1970 – Thor Heyerdahl crossed Atlantic on reed raft Ra.