First Posted: 6/12/2014

The History Channel

* On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of a new United States of America from Great Britain. The declaration came 442 days after the first shots of the American Revolution.

* On July 1, 1916, 25-year-old Army Lt. Dwight D. Eisenhower marries 19-year-old Mamie Geneva Doud. He would go on to lead the Allies to victory in Europe in World War II and later become the nation’s 34th president. The couple lived in 33 homes during Eisenhower’s 37-year military career.

* On July 6, 1933, Major League Baseball’s first All-Star Game takes place at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The event was designed to bolster the sport during the darkest years of the Great Depression. Fans who could still afford tickets migrated from the more expensive box seats to the bleachers, which cost 50 cents.

* On June 30, 1953, the first production Corvette is built at the General Motors facility in Flint, Mich. All 300 Corvettes were white convertibles with red interiors and black canvas tops. The 1953 Corvette was outfitted with a six-cylinder engine and a two-speed automatic transmission.

* On July 5, 1975, Arthur Ashe defeats the favored Jimmy Connors to become the first black man ever to win Wimbledon. While the confident Connors strutted around the tennis court, Ashe rested between sets. Finally, with the shocked crowd cheering him on, Ashe finished Connors off in the fourth set, 6-4.

* On July 3, 1985, the blockbuster “Back to the Future,” starring Michael J. Fox, opens in theaters. The time-travel device in the film was a DeLorean DMC-12 sports car outfitted with a nuclear reactor that would achieve the 1.21 gigawatts of power necessary to travel through time.

* On July 2, 1990, a stampede of religious pilgrims in a pedestrian tunnel in Mecca leaves more than 1,400 people dead. This was the most deadly of a series of incidents over 20 years affecting Muslims making the trip to Mecca. Hundreds die each year in this pilgrimage, in stonings, stampedes or fires.