This day in history

Some notable historical events that happened today include:

1774 -  the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. Delegates front 12 of 13 colonies attended with Georgia remaining absent

1836 -  the first president of the Republic of Texas was elected. Sam Houston won over Henry Smith and Stephen F. Austin

1862 -  Scientist James Glaisher and balloon pilot Henry Tracy Coxwell took a balloon ride 37,000 ft to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere. A 2019 film, The Aeronauts, depicts a fictionalized version of the ascent with Coxwell replaced by a female character 

1882 -  10,000 workers marched in NYC in the first Labor Day parade. The celebration led Congress to pass legislation making Labor Day a national holiday 

1889 -  Christine Hardt of Dresden, Germany received a patent for a modern brassier, freeing women from the constraints of the corset

1898 -  Sara Edmonds (aka Frank Thompson) died in La Port, TX. In 1861 she volunteered with an infantry unit in Flint Michigan for the American Civil War. Under the name Frank Thompson she fought in several battles, including the first Battle of Bull Run. She even crossed Confederate lines, collecting intelligence disguised as a woman

1927 -  the cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabit debuted in Trolley Troubles. He was the precursor to Mickey Mouse

1957 -  Viking Press published Jack Kerouac's On the Road

1960 -  Cassius Clay won gold in the light heavyweight division at the Rome Olympics, his final bout against Poland's Zbigniew Pietrzykowski

1966 -  Jerry Lewis's first Muscular Dystrophy telethon aired. It raised $1 million

1976 -  The Muppet Show debuted 

1977 -  less than a month after the launch of Voyager I, NASA's Voyager II launched on a mission to the outer planets

1989 -  Deborah Norville joined the Today Show as a news anchor. She's the longest serving female anchor on national TV 

1991 -  the African National Congress elected Nelson Mandela as it's president 

2008 -  The Asthma Foundation of Queensland, Australia hosted a record breaking number 37,552 people blowing whistles at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia 

2018 -  Johnny Di Francesco of Australia piled 154 different varieties of cheese onto his pizza pie setting a world record. It's also national cheese pizza day but I think its just a coincidence 

Some interesting birthdays include:

Lester Allan Pelton (1829) - invented a water wheel that significantly contributed to hydroelectricity and hydropower

Jesse James (1847) - notorious Wild West outlaw

Amy Beach (1867)

Frank Baldwin Jewett (1879)

Arthur Nielson (1897) - founded the A.C. Nielson company to provide market research for TV and radio programming. He was also inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame

Helen Creighton (1899)

Bob Newhart (1929)

Raquel Welch (1940)

Freddie Mercury (1946)

Cathy Guisewite (1950) - created the comic strip Cathy. It debuted on November 22, 1976 and ran for 34 years