Today in History, July 17th
On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California. Plus the Potsdam Conference and the Apollo-Soyuz docking in orbit.
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July 17 is best known for 1955, when Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California. The date also saw the Potsdam Conference open in 1945 and American and Soviet spacecraft link up in orbit for the first time in 1975.
The big story: Disneyland opens its gates (1955)
Walt Disney spent $17 million turning 160 acres of orange groves in Anaheim, about 25 miles southeast of Los Angeles, into a park he hoped would teach as well as entertain, and charm grown-ups as much as kids. Construction had started only in 1954, and on July 17, 1955, it showed. Opening day was by invitation, but the passes were counterfeited, and thousands of people who were not on the list got in anyway while television cameras broadcast the event. Food and drinks ran out. The asphalt on Main Street USA was still soft enough to trap a woman’s high heel. The Mark Twain steamboat took on so many riders that it nearly tipped over. Guests could still try Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Snow White’s Adventures, the Jungle Cruise and Space Station X-1. The park shook off the rocky debut, started making money and became the model for Walt Disney World in Florida and Disney parks in Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong.
More events on July 17
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1453 | French forces beat the English at the Battle of Castillon, the last battle of the Hundred Years’ War. |
| 1862 | Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act, a forerunner of the Emancipation Proclamation. |
| 1902 | Willis Carrier finished drawings for what became the first modern air conditioner. |
| 1917 | Britain’s King George V dropped the royal family’s German name and renamed the house Windsor. |
| 1918 | Bolsheviks executed former Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, their five children and four servants in Yekaterinburg, ending more than 300 years of Romanov rule. |
| 1936 | A military revolt in Spanish Morocco spread to mainland Spain and started the Spanish Civil War. |
| 1938 | Douglas Corrigan took off from Brooklyn on a flight to Ireland that earned him the nickname “Wrong Way” Corrigan. |
| 1944 | An ammunition ship blew up while being loaded at Port Chicago, California, killing 320 people. |
| 1945 | The Potsdam Conference opened in Germany, the last wartime meeting of the American, Soviet and British leaders. |
| 1975 | An American Apollo capsule and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft docked in orbit, the first meeting of the two nations’ craft in space. |
| 1998 | A United Nations conference completed the statute that created the International Criminal Court. |
| 2014 | Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over separatist-held eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard. |
Born on July 17
- 1763: John Jacob Astor, fur trader and New York real estate investor who became one of the richest men in America, born in Waldorf, Germany.
- 1917: Phyllis Diller, American comedian and actress, one of the first women in stand-up comedy, born in Lima, Ohio.
- 1954: Angela Merkel, the first woman to serve as chancellor of Germany, born in Hamburg.
Sources
- Disneyland opens, History.com
- This Day in History: July 17, History.com
- On This Day: July 17, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- John Jacob Astor is born, History.com
- Phyllis Diller, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Angela Merkel, Encyclopaedia Britannica
