September 17 is celebrated as:
Citizenship Day
Constitution Day
National Apple Dumpling Day
National Monte Cristo Day
A Monte Cristo is a fried ham and cheese sandwich. It is a variation of a French sandwich called a croque-monsieur. The Monte Cristo is also sometimes called French Sandwich, Toasted Ham Sandwich, and French Toasted Cheese Sandwich.
1776 – The Presidio of San Francisco was founded in New Spain. The Presidio has a rich history spanning back to the time of the native Ohlone people. The Spanish arrived in 1776 to establish the northernmost outpost of their empire in western North America. The Presidio fell under Mexican rule for 24 years before the U.S. Army took control in 1846. Over 148 years, the U.S. Army transformed the Presidio grounds from mostly windswept dunes and scrub to a verdant, preeminent military post. Since 1994, the Presidio has been a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
September 17, 1787: The United States Constitution was signed by 39 delegates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Read The Constitution. It doesn’t take long and should be read by every American.
In 1859, Joshua Abraham Norton, born in England but a resident of San Francisco, proclaimed himself his Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States of America. Eccentric possibly, but 30,000 turned up for his funeral.
1862 The bloodiest day in U.S. military history occurred at the Battle of Antietam when more than 23,000 were killed or wounded. Fought near Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland, it was the first major battle of the American Civil War to be fought on Union soil.
1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright on this date in 1908, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashed killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality. The Wright Flyer circled Fort Myer, Virginia four times at 150 feet. Halfway through the fifth circuit, the right propeller broke, losing thrust. This set up a vibration, causing the split propeller to hit a guy wire bracing the rear vertical rudder. The wire tore out of its fastening and shattered the propeller; the rudder swiveled to the horizontal and sent the Flyer into a nose-dive. Orville shut off the engine and managed to glide to about 75 feet, but the Flyer hit the ground nose first. Selfridge was thrown against one of the wooden uprights of the framework, and his skull was fractured. He underwent neurosurgery but died that evening without regaining consciousness. Orville suffered severe injuries, including a broken left thigh, several broken ribs and a damaged hip, and was hospitalized for seven weeks. Selfridge was not wearing any headgear, while Wright was only wearing a cap, as two existing photographs taken before the flight prove. If Selfridge had been wearing a helmet of some sort, he most likely would have survived the crash. As a result of Selfridge’s death, the US Army’s first pilots wore large heavy headgear reminiscent of early football helmets.
Birthday of Hank Williams (September 17, 1923), American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born Hiram Williams, his family called him “Harm”. He was born with spina bifida occulta, a birth defect, centered on the spinal column, which gave him lifelong pain – a factor in his later abuse of alcohol and drugs.
1930 – Construction on Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam, began in Black Canyon, near Las Vegas, NV.