Henry Bergh, the founder of the ASPCA, was born in New York City on August 29, 1813.
In an effort to stop the spread of the horse flu in 1872, Bergh stood in the middle traffic to urge carriage drivers to return to their stables.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
August 29, 1944 – soldiers of the US 28th Infantry division march in a victory parade through newly-liberated Paris.
Image via Shutterstock
On August 29, 1898 the Goodyear Tire Company was founded in Akron, Ohio.
Image: Goodyear Tire ad from 1920 via Wikimedia Commons, no known restrictions
In late August 1786, the early American uprising known as Shays’ Rebellion began in Massachusetts. What were the causes? Apparently the causes were numerous…
“The story of this startling episode in Massachusetts history is in its general features well known. The causes that led to this rebellion are plainly apparent: — the conditions, public and private, prevailing in the State after the close of the Revolution, — the State burdened with an immense debt, its annual tax a million, the imposition of special taxes to meet current interest, its resources scanty, public credit impaired, indebted to its own soldiers, — a third or so of the whole patriot army, — more than half a million dollars, the condition of the currency affecting all interests, money scant, the present disturbed, the future uncertain, general unrest and uneasiness among a considerable part of its citizens, private embarrassments and difficulties even greater and more keenly felt, the debtor class increasing, debts piling up and means lessening, the relentless exactions of creditors, the persecutions of too many unscrupulous lawyers, the lower courts crowded with suits, — some two thousand pending at one time in a single county, consequent judgments numerous and oppressive, levies thereon distressing, the debtor willing it may be but helpless, the unwise enforcement of processes, too often the well-to-do made poor, and the poor made beggars, no stay law to protect, discontent and want and suffering in many quarters, grievances fancied as well as real stirring up the people, dissatisfaction magnifying present troubles and foreboding worse, complaints springing up about the courts, the lawyers, the fees, the salaries of officials, the Senate and even the Constitution of the State, complaints in short of all sorts and kinds, — the ominous mutterings of the coming storm.”
From: A few notes on the Shays rebellion by John Noble, published in 1903
https://archive.org/details/fewnotesonshaysr00nobl/page/n8
Source says not in copyright
Image: Shays’ mob in possession of a court-house.
via New York Public Library Digital Collections, no known restrictions
Charles F. Kettering was born on August 29, 1876, and his more than 180 patents changed American life.
Among his significant innovations is the electric self-starter, which increased car accessibility and safety. He oversaw advancements in medical devices, diesel engines, and automotive paint while serving as General Motors’ research chief.
The Delco-Light system for rural electrification and the creation of Freon refrigerant—a substance later discovered to be detrimental to the ozone layer—were also products of Kettering’s labor.
His varied contributions fueled advancement and shaped the contemporary era.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On today’s date August 29, 1962:
The lower level of the George Washington Bridge opened.
Photo from the 1930s of the George Washington Bridge before it had a lower level
Riverside Drive and 179th Street, Manhattan. From NY Public Library Digital Collection, public domain
Elliott Gould was born August 29, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York.
He played the role of Capt. John Francis Xavier “Trapper John” McIntyre in the movie M*A*S*H in 1970.
Image Elliott Gould in 1986 by CBS via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Sylvia Fine, who was the wife of American entertainer Danny Kaye, was born on August 29, 1913 in Brooklyn, New York. She wrote many songs that Kaye performed.
Image of Sylvia and Danny in 1948 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
In response to numerous raids on early American settlements in Pennsylvania and New York, Major General John Sullivan leads 3,200 Americans in an attack against a few hundred loyalists, some British regulars and one thousand Iroquois at the Battle of Newtown in present day Chemung County, New York on August 29, 1779.
He later became the 3rd President (now Governor) of New Hampshire.
Image of Major General John Sullivan via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Thirteen years before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, there was an earlier English landing in New England that occurred on August 29, 1607. It was the establishment of the Popham Colony in present day Maine, but it only lasted for a little more than a year.
Image of Fort St. George at Popham Colony via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
President Johnson’s reception at the City Hall, New York, August 29, 1866
Image via NYPL Digital Collections, no known restrictions
American poet and medical doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was born on August 29, 1809 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He wrote the following poem in 1859 titled:
At a Birthday Festival
We will not speak of years to-night,—
For what have years to bring
But larger floods of live and light,
And sweeter songs to sing?
We will not drown in wordy praise
The kindly thoughts that rise;
If Friendship own one tender phrase,
He reads it in our eyes.
We need not waste our school-boy art
To gild this notch of Time;—
Forgive me if my wayward heart
Has throbbed in artless rhyme.
Enough for him the silent grasp
That knits us hand in hand,
And he the bracelet’s radiant clasp
That locks our circling band.
Strength to his hours of many toil!
Peace to his starlit dreams!
Who loves alike the furrowed soil,
The music-haunted streams!
Sweet smiles to keep forever bright
The sunshine on his lips,
And faith that sees the ring of light
Round nature’s last eclipse!
Image: Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in 1886 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
American musician, Dinah Washington, who recorded songs across a variety of musical genres between the 1940s-60s was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on August 29, 1924.
Her song “TV Is the Thing (This Year)” from 1953 is credited as being one of the songs that helped the development of rock and roll according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Betty Lynn, the woman who played Deputy Barney Fife’s girlfriend (Thelma Lou) on The Andy Griffith Show was born on August 29, 1926 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
