On this day in:

1763 John Molson was born (died Jan 11, 1836).He founded Molson Brewery, Montreal, Canada.

1814 Sir John Bennet Lawes was born (died Aug 31, 1900).  English agronomist, he developed a superphosphate that marked the beginnings of the artificial fertilizer industry.

1846 Iowa became the 29th state.

1869 William Finley Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio received the first U.S. patent (No. 98,304) for chewing gum, although he never commercially manufactured any gum.

1877 John Stevens filed a patent application for a grain crushing mill

1886 Josephine Garis Cochran patented the first commercially successful dish washing machine.  It became a huge hit at the 1893 Columbian Exposition.   Her company eventually evolved into KitchenAid.

1897 Henry J. Heinz registered 'Heinz' trademark.

1897 Edmond Rostand's romantic, dramatic play 'Cyrano de Bergerac' premiers in Paris.  A unique combination of love, swordplay, comedy, pathos and an extraordinary nose ("That thing a nose? Marry-come-up!  'Tis a dwarf pumpkin, or a prize turnip!").

1943 Keith Floyd was born (died Sept 14, 2009). British celebrity chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and cooking show host.

1957 The largest abattoir in the north of England was closed after foot-and-mouth disease was found in cattle waiting to be slaughtered.

1968 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' by Marvin Gaye was number one on the music charts.

2000 Retailer Montgomery Ward, pioneer of mail-order catalogs in 1872, announced it is shutting down after nearly 128 years in business.

2001 The National Guard was called up out help Buffalo, New York dig out from a five-day storm that dropped almost 7 feet of snow.