A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on September 4th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On September 4, 1781, what is now the City of Los Angeles, California, was founded by four Spanish soldiers and 44 settlers, who called their new settlement El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles or perhaps El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles. On September 4, 1882, the Pearl Street Station opened for business in New York City, the first commercial…

A Brief History On September 4, 1882, the Pearl Street Station opened for business in New York City, the first commercial provider of electric power to customers.  Built and operated by the Edison Illuminating Company, a new era began of providing the public with mass quantities of electric power. Digging Deeper In the century plus since 1882, the US has seen an electrical grid fed by over 11,000 utility type electric plants.  Coal originally fired most electric plants, but today natural gas provides over 38% of our electricity.  Coal accounts for 22%, while nuclear energy provides almost 19% of our…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on September 3rd.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On September 3, 1783, the treaty that ended the American Revolutionary War was signed in Paris, France, thus becoming known as the Treaty of Paris. On September 3, 1838, Frederick Douglass, an African American slave in Maryland, finally made good on an escape attempt, using trains, ferry boats, and steam boats to find his way to Pennsylvania, a “free” state. On September 3, 1935,…

A Brief History On September 3, 1935, Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah was the scene of an historic automobile event, the first ever car to achieve a documented speed of over 300 mph.  Sir Malcolm Campbell, motor journalist and race car driver, piloted a Rolls-Royce V-12 powered Campbell-Railton Blue Bird to a new land speed world record, a record he himself already held since March of 1935 in the same car. Digging Deeper Campbell had set new world land speed records in his Blue Bird five times, and in other cars four more times, making him a nine time world…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on September 2nd.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On September 2, 1666, one of history’s most memorable fires occurred in the English capital of London. On September 2, 1807, the British Royal Navy and Army bombarded the port city of Copenhagen, Denmark, using fire bombs and phosphorus incendiary rockets in order to prevent neutral Denmark from deciding to align with Napoleonic France and turn over the use of its war…