Today In Hisytory September 20

 

Charles Duryea (left) with J.Frank Duryea

September 20 is the 263rd day of the year. There are 102 days remaining until the end of the year.




Today's  Highlight In History  1893 – Charles Duryea and his brother road-test the first American-made gasoline-powered automobile.


Charles Edgar Duryea (December 15, 1861 – September 28, 1938) was the engineer of the first-ever working American gasoline-powered car and co-founder of Duryea Motor Wagon Company. He was born near Canton, Illinois, the son of George Washington Duryea and Louisa Melvina Turner and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but spent most of his life working in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was in Springfield that Charles and his brother, Frank, produced and road-tested America's first gasoline-powered car.

1835 – Ragamuffin rebels capture Porto Alegre, then capital of the Brazilian imperial province of Rio Grande do Sul, triggering the start of ten-year-long Ragamuffin War.

1848 – The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created.
1857 – The Indian Rebellion of 1857 ends with the recapture of Delhi by troops loyal to the East India Company.

1881 – Chester A. Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st President of the United States following the assassination of James Garfield.
 
1893 – Charles Duryea and his brother road-test the first American-made gasoline-powered automobile.

1909 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the South Africa Act 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from the British Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony.

1942 – Holocaust in Letychiv, Ukraine. In the course of two days the German SS murders at least 3,000 Jews].

1977 – The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations.

1979 – A coup d'état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokasa I.

2001 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "War on Terror".

2007 – Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, in support of six black youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate.

2011 – The United States ends its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.