August 3

Today in History
• 1492 - Columbus sets sail from Palos, Spain for "Indies"
• 1527 - First known letter sent from North America at St. John's, Newfoundland
• 1596 - David Fabricius discovers light variation of Mira (1st variable star)
• 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon publishes "Declaration of People of Virginia"
• 1678 - Robert LaSalle builds 1st ship in America, Griffon
• 1882 - US Congress passes 1st law restricting immigration
• 1900 - Firestone Tire and Rubber Company founded
• 1914 - 1st unofficial trip through the Panama Canal by the SS Christobel


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Clean Your Floors Day
• Cloves Syndrome Awareness Day
• India Pale Ale Day
• Makira-Ulawa Province Day
• National Big Forehead Day
• National Grab Some Nuts Day
• National Watermelon Day
• Pidjiguiti Day

Birthdays
• 1753 - Charles Stanhope, 3rd earl Stanhope, English radical politician and scientist
• 1770 - Frederik Willem III, King of Prussia (1797-1840)
• 1808 - Hamilton Fish, American politician (Governor of New York)
• 1811 - Elisha Graves Otis, inventor, safe elevator
• 1817 - Archduke Albrecht of Austria, Duke of Teschen (Battle at Custozza)
• 1838 - Yamagata Aritomo, soldier and statesman (Prime Minister of Japan 1889–91,1898–1900)
• 1867 - Stanley Baldwin, C, British Prime Minister, 1923-24, 1924-29, 1935-37
• 1872 - Haakon VII, born in Charlottenlund, Denmark, King of Norway, 1905-57