July 13 in history — On This Day

A photograph taken after the 1871 fire can make Chicago look as though its future had been decided by a wall of flame. A view from around 1905 tells a different story: tall offices, busy transport routes and commercial streets crowded again.

Explore the frame →

Collections

Explore by Topic

People Places Eras Science

My Birthday in History

See what happened on your date.

July

SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Watch in 30 Seconds

Big moments, short videos.

Browse videos →

Explore the Archive

Choose a dateSurprise me

Coalition troops attack French positions at Trippstadt

This Week in History

Atlantis lifts off on the last shuttle mission

Writer Ghassan Kanafani is killed in Beirut

Four regional powers sign the Saadabad Pact

AI History Recreations

Politics

Rawya Ateya takes her seat in Egypt’s parliament

War & Conflict

Coalition troops attack French positions at Trippstadt

Space

Atlantis lifts off on the last shuttle mission

Technology

John Duigan flies an Australian-built biplane

History

New York opens the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations

Radio Free Europe begins broadcasting

The Iași pogrom begins

Crime & Justice

Peter Falconio disappears after an attack in Australia

Nine worshippers are murdered at Emanuel AME Church

France carries out its last public execution

Science

Joseph Priestley isolates the gas later named oxygen

A criticality accident exposes Louis Slotin to radiation

CERN circulates the first beam in the Large Hadron Collider

Medicine & Health

A French team reports isolating a virus later named HIV

An electron microscope reveals the shape of Ebola virus

Ether Day: The Demonstration That Changed Surgery

Nature & Disasters

A Rachel Carson sculpture is dedicated in Woods Hole

Scientists announce the identification of the olinguito

A Wyoming Discovery Brings the Black-Footed Ferret Back Into View

Exploration

Soviet scientists establish North Pole-1 on drifting ice

The First Flight Around the World Returns to Seattle

Cabrillo Enters San Diego Bay

Sport

Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland 0: The Game Behind the Impossible Score

Don Larsen’s Perfect Game: No Hits, No Walks, No Baserunners

Reggie Jackson’s Three Home Runs Seal a World Series

Art & Literature

The Catcher in the Rye is published

Evelyn Waugh publishes The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold

Rudolf Nureyev defects in Paris

Music

Handel’s Water Music is heard on the Thames

George Harrison and Ravi Shankar stage the Concert for Bangladesh

O Canada is first performed in Quebec City

Film & TV

Spirited Away opens in Japan

Candid Camera moves to television

Nickelodeon debuts its original Nicktoons

The Story Behind the Photo

Chicago After the Fire: From Burned Blocks to a New Skyline

Collections

The Road to the Moon

Fires That Changed Cities

The Age of Invention

Explore by Topic

My Birthday in History

Watch in 30 Seconds

Explore the Archive