Daily List

Today in History, September 8th

On September 8, 1900, a Category 4 hurricane devastated Galveston, Texas. Plus Ford's pardon of Nixon and the death of Elizabeth II.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published September 8, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

September 8 is best known for 1900, when a Category 4 hurricane swept over Galveston, Texas, killing at least 6,000 people in one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. The date also saw President Gerald Ford pardon Richard Nixon in 1974 and the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

The big story: The Galveston hurricane (1900)

At the end of the 1800s, Galveston was a busy port on a skinny barrier island about 28 miles long and 2 miles wide, sitting barely above sea level. On Saturday, September 8, 1900, a Category 4 hurricane came ashore with sustained winds of at least 115 mph. Nobody knows the true peak, because the town’s wind gauge blew away. Waves rose about 15 feet above the normal tide, and by mid-afternoon water covered nearly the entire island. Roofs peeled off almost every building, and flying slate tiles became deadly. More than 6,000 people died in Galveston alone, and some estimates run as high as 12,000. Many victims were never identified, so the real toll will never be known. The city rebuilt fast. Work on a seawall 17 feet high started in 1902, and when a comparable storm hit in 1915, eight people died. Galveston had learned the hard way that an island city needs a plan for the water.

More events on September 8

Year	What happened
1504	Michelangelo’s statue of David was unveiled outside the town hall in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria.
1664	The Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to English forces of the Duke of York, and the town was renamed New York.
1935	Louisiana Senator Huey Long was shot. He died about 30 hours later.
1941	German and Finnish forces began the siege of Leningrad, which lasted 872 days.
1943	Gen. Dwight Eisenhower announced Italy’s surrender to the Allies in World War II.
1957	Althea Gibson became the first African American to win the U.S. national tennis championship.
1966	The first episode of Star Trek aired on NBC.
1974	President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, who had resigned a month earlier.
1998	Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his 62nd home run, breaking Roger Maris’s single-season record.
2022	Queen Elizabeth II died at 96 after more than seven decades on the British throne, and her eldest son became King Charles III.
2023	A powerful earthquake in western Morocco killed more than 2,900 people.

Born on September 8

1157: Richard I, “the Lionheart,” king of England and a leader of the Third Crusade, born in Oxford.
1925: Peter Sellers, English comic actor of the Pink Panther films, born in Southsea, England.
1932: Patsy Cline, American country singer, born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia.
1954: Ruby Bridges, civil rights figure who helped desegregate a Southern school at age six, born in Tylertown, Mississippi.