Born on This Day Sultry-voiced star whose biggest roles were in noirs like The Big Sleep and Key Largo with offscreen love, Humphrey Bogart. Guitarist and singer who helped develop and popularize Delta blues with hits like 1969’s “The Thrill Is Gone.” Grammy-winning singer and salsa specialist whose hits include “Ahora Quien” (“Now What”). A bomb explodes at lunchtime in New York City’s Wall Street financial district, killing more than 30 people and injuring another 300. Authorities say they suspect Italian anarchists, but the perpetrators are never found. Also on This Day in History Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on September 16th Mexican War of Independence begins Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest, launches the Mexican War of Independence with the issuing of his Grito de Dolores, or “Cry of Dolores.” The revolutionary tract, so-named because it was publicly read by Hidalgo in the town of Dolores, called for the end of 300 years of Spanish rule in Mexico, redistribution of […] Suspected Christian spy is murdered

Phineas Wilcox is stabbed to death by fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, because he is believed to be a Christian spy. The murder of Wilcox reflected the serious and often violent conflict between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the surrounding communities. Joseph […] Settlers race to claim land in Oklahoma On September 16, 1893, the largest land run in history begins with more than 100,000 people pouring into the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma to claim valuable land that had once belonged to Native Americans. With a single shot from a pistol the mad dash began, and land-hungry pioneers on horseback and in carriages raced forward […] William Durant creates General Motors On September 16, 1908, Buick Motor Company head William Crapo Durant spends $2,000 to incorporate General Motors in New Jersey. Durant, a high-school dropout, had made his fortune building horse-drawn carriages, and in fact he hated cars–he thought they were noisy, smelly, and dangerous. Nevertheless, the giant company he built would dominate the American auto […] United States imposes the draft The Burke-Wadsworth Act is passed by Congress on September 16, 1940, by wide margins in both houses, and the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States is imposed. Selective Service was born. The registration of men between the ages of 21 and 36 began exactly one month later, as Secretary of War […] Opera star Maria Callas dies Celebrated soprano Maria Callas dies in Paris at the age of 53. Born in New York City in 1923 to Greek immigrants, Callas demonstrated her talent for singing at an early age. When she was 13, she went to Athens to study under the noted soprano Elvira de Hidalgo. Her first major operatic role came […] Gunman kills 12 in D.C. Navy Yard massacre On September 16, 2013, a 34-year-old man goes on a rampage at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., killing 12 people and wounding several others over the course of an hour before he is fatally shot by police. Investigators later determined that the gunman, Aaron Alexis, a computer contractor for a private information technology firm, […]