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Daily Calendar for Monday, April 17, 2023 | Almanac.com

Daily Calendar for Monday, April 17, 2023

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, from “Concord Hymn”

Patriots Day commemorates the events of April 19, 1775, that marked the start of the American Revolutionary War, especially the midnight rides of Paul Revere and others to warn of the approach of British troops, and the battles of Lexington and Concord. Today, Massachusetts and Maine celebrate Patriots Day as a legal holiday on the third Monday in April, with reenactments and other events.

Learn more about the first shots fired on Lexington Green to “the shot heard round the world” at Concord’s North Bridge by visiting the Minute Man National Park in Concord. The annual running of the Boston Marathon also takes place on this day. You may want to do your patriotic duty and check out the official Web site of the Boston Marathon, sponsored by the Boston Athletic Association.”

Born

  • Samuel Chase (lawyer)
  • John Pierpont Morgan (business tycoon)
  • Thornton Wilder (author)
  • William Holden (actor)
  • Olivia Hussey (actress)
  • Boomer Esiason (football player)
  • Joel Murray (actor)
  • Jennifer Garner (actress)

Died

  • Benjamin Franklin (U.S. statesman )
  • Linda McCartney (photographer, singer, activist, & wife of Beatle Paul McCartney)
  • Dr. Robert C. Atkins (cardiologist who introduced the Atkins Diet”“)
  • Doris Roberts (actress)
  • Barbara Bush (U.S. First Lady)

Events

  • Christopher Columbus’s trip financed by Spain
  • Lewis M. Norton patented a vat for forming pineapple-shape cheese
  • First Minot’s Ledge Light in Massachusetts swept away during storm
  • Song Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here, was copyrighted
  • Geraldine Mock completed solo flight around the world
  • Apollo 13 returned safely to Earth after having major difficulties
  • 6-lb. 10-oz. goldfish caught in Lake Hodges, California
  • Spacelab’s final mission, Neurolab, launched
  • Discovery of first Earth-size planet in Habitable Zone” publicized”

Weather

  • Eastern Massachusetts was blanketed with 12-18 inches of snow
  • Twenty-eight degrees F at St. Louis, Missouri
  • The Red River in Minnesota and North Dakota reached 20 feet above flood stage
  • Eastern U.S. heat wave: 80 degrees F, Portland, Maine; 97 degrees F, Newark, New Jersey
  • Del Rio, Texas, experienced a temperature of 101 degrees F

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