1607, an expedition of English colonists, including Captain John Smith, landed at Cape Henry, Virginia, to establish the first permanent English settlement in the New World.
1904, Ty Cobb, making his pro baseball debut at the age of 17, homered and doubled for Augusta in the South Atlantic League.
1921, Weather broadcasts were heard for the first time on radio when WEW in St. Louis aired weather news.
1964, the Rolling Stones released their self-titled debut album.
1964, the Boston Celtics won an unprecedented sixth consecutive NBA championship. The Celtics went on to win two more titles before the string came to an end.
1977, The infamous Studio 54 opened in New York City.
1986, the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union. An explosion at the plant caused a fire that burned for days, sending radioactivity spreading through the atmosphere over parts of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and later, Western Europe. Thirty-one people died within three months, and thousands more were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.
1987, Tennis star Chris Evert won her 150th career tennis tournament when she beat Martina Navratilovain Houston.
1989, Actress-comedian Lucille Ball died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 77.
1992, The final episode of Growing Pains aired on ABC.
1993, Conan O’Brien was named to succeed David Letterman as host of NBC’s Late Night program.
1994, voting began in South Africa’s first all-race elections. South African blacks voted for the first time and gave the power of government to the African National Congress and President Nelson Mandela.
2000, Vermont Governor Howard Dean signed the nation’s first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions.