Jack London, future author of 'The Call of the Wild' and 'White Fang,' was born in San Francisco, going on to become one of America's first celebrity writers.

Alexander Graham Bell filed his patent application for the telephone in Washington, D.C., just hours before a rival inventor filed a similar claim.

Alexander Graham Bell received U.S. Patent No. 174,465 for the telephone, just days before he successfully transmitted speech.

The US Patent Office issued Alexander Graham Bell patent number 174,465 for 'the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal sounds telegraphically.'

Alexander Graham Bell spoke the first intelligible sentence over a telephone to his assistant Thomas Watson: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."

Anheuser-Busch introduced Budweiser lager to the American market, launching what would become the best-selling beer in the United States for over a century.

Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors annihilated Lt. Col. George Custer's 7th Cavalry detachment at the Little Bighorn River in Montana.

Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors annihilated Custer's 7th Cavalry detachment near Montana's Little Bighorn River.

Colorado becomes the 38th U.S. state, earning the nickname "Centennial State" for joining a century after the Declaration of Independence.