On July 17, 1821, Spain ceded Florida to the U.S.

In 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act, which said that all slaves taking refuge behind Union lines during the Civil War were to be set free.

In 1918, the Bolsheviks executed Russia’s Czar Nicholas II and his family.

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began as right-wing army generals launched a coup attempt against the Second Spanish Republic.

In 1955, Disneyland, Walt Disney’s metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy and futurism, opens. The $17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California, and soon brought in staggering profits.

In 1962, the United States conducted its last atmospheric nuclear test to date, detonating a 20-kiloton device, codenamed Little Feller I, at the Nevada Test Site.

In 1967, after seven dates, Jimi Hendrix quit as opening act for the Monkees.

In 1997, Woolworth Corp. announced it was closing after 117 years in business.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17was shot down over the Ukraine-Russia border.