Daily Calendar for Thursday, August 7, 2025

Events

• La Salle’s Le Griffon, first ship to sail upper Great Lakes, entered Lake Erie– 1679
• George Washington established the Badge of Military Merit for U.S. soldiers injured in action. It later became known as the Purple Heart– 1782
• The United States War Department established– 1789
• Service began at first deaf church in U.S., St. Ann’s Church for Deaf Mutes, N.Y.C.– 1859
• Silver discovered in northern Ontario– 1903
• Peace Bridge opened– 1927
• U.S. satellite Explorer VI launched– 1959
• The Don Messer Show premiered on CBC television– 1959
• Love Canal, N.Y., was declared a disaster area– 1978
• Record-breaking flight around world by single-engine plane completed (6 days, 7 hours, 25 minutes, 47 seconds)– 1982
• President George Bush ordered the military buildup known as Operation Desert Shield in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait earlier in the month– 1990
• At the Summer Olympics, Katie Ledecky swam the 400m freestyle in 3:56.46, setting a world record– 2016