On Sept. 11, 1789, Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.
In 1936, Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) began operation as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam’s first hydroelectric generator.
In 1985, Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds cracked career hit number 4,192, eclipsing the record held by Ty Cobb.
In 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized control of four jetliners, sending two of the planes into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania.
In 2003, actor John Ritter died six days before his 55th birthday in Burbank, California.