TODAY IN HISTORY - SEPTEMBER 9TH

1676 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, French soldier, founded Montreal (b. 1612) dies.

1776 – The Continental Congress officially names its new union of sovereign states the United States.

1791 – Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is named after President George Washington.

1828 – Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and playwright (d. 1910) is born.

1839 – John Herschel takes the first glass plate photograph.

1850 – California is admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state.

1850 – The Compromise of 1850 transfers a third of Texas's claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) to federal control in return for the U.S. federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt.

1890 – Colonel Sanders, American businessman, founded KFC (d. 1980) is born.

1915 – Albert Spalding, American baseball player, manager, and businessman, co-founded Spalding (b. 1850) dies.

1926 – In the United States the National Broadcasting Company is formed.

1940 – George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer.

1956 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.

1965 – The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is established.

1965 – Hurricane Betsy makes its second landfall near New Orleans, leaving 76 dead and $1.42 billion ($10–12 billion in 2005 dollars) in damages, becoming the first hurricane to cause over $1 billion in unadjusted damage.

1966 – Adam Sandler, American actor, screenwriter, and producer is born.

1966 – The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act is signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.

1969 – In Canada, the Official Languages Act comes into force, making French equal to English throughout the Federal government.

1971 – The four-day Attica Prison riot begins, eventually resulting in 39 dead, most killed by state troopers retaking the prison.

1975 – Michael Bublé, Canadian singer-songwriter and actor is born.

1978 – Jack L. Warner, Canadian-American production manager and producer, co-founded Warner Bros. (b. 1892) dies.

1993 – The Palestine Liberation Organization officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state.

1999 – Sega releases the first 128-bit video game console, the Dreamcast.