1812 ~ The first pawnbroking ordinance was passed in New York City.

1832 ~ Henry Schoolcraft discovered the source of the Mississippi River in Minnesota. 

1835 ~ John Ruggles received patent #1 from the U.S. Patent Office for a traction wheel used in locomotive steam engines. All 9,957 previous patents were not numbered.

1896 ~ Philadelphia’s Ed Delahanty became the second major league player to hit four home runs in a single game.

1931 ~ ‘A major German financial institution, Danabank, failed. This led to the closing of all banks in Germany until August 5.

1941 ~ Britain and the Soviet Union signed a mutual aid pact, that provided the means for Britain to send war material to the Soviet Union.  

1954 ~ In Geneva, the United States, Great Britain and France reached an accord on Indochina which divided Vietnam into two countries, North and South, along the 17th parallel.

1967 ~ Race-related rioting broke out in Newark, NJ. At the end of four days of violence 27 people had been killed. 

1971 ~ The Army of Morocco executed ten leaders accused of leading a revolt. 

1972 ~ Carroll Rosenbloom (owner of the Baltimore Colts) and Robert Irsay (owner of the Los Angeles Rams) traded teams. 

1973 ~ David Bedford set a new world record in the 10,000-meter race in London. His time was 27 minutes, 31 seconds. 

1978 ~ Lee Iacocca was fired as president of Ford Motor Co. by chairman Henry Ford II.  

1979 ~ A 45-hour siege began at the Egyptian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. Four Palestinian guerrillas killed two security men and seized 20 hostages.

1982 ~ The All-Star Game was played outside the United States for the first time. They played in Montreal, Canada.

1984 ~  In Arkansas, Terry Wallis was injured in a car accident and was left comatose. He came out of the coma in June of 2003.

1994 ~  Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, was sentenced in Portland, OR, to two years in prison for his role in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.

1998 ~  "Image of an Assassination" went on sale. The video documentary is of Abraham Zapruder's home video of U.S. President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas.

1998 ~ Four young cousins in Gallup, NM, died after becoming trapped in a car trunk.

1998 ~  RealNetworks Inc. rolled out a test version of RealSystem G2. G2 is a streaming video and audio delivery system.

2000 ~ The United States and Vietnam singed a major trade agreement. The pact still needed to be approved by the U.S. Congress.

2000 ~ Sprint Corp. and WorldCom canceled their planned merger due to opposition by regulators in the United States and Europe.