Disneyland, Walt Disney’s metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy and
futurism, opened on July 17, 1955. The $17 million theme park
was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim,
California, and soon brought in staggering profits. Today,
Disneyland hosts more than 18 million visitors a year, who
spend close to $3 billion.

    
    
Walter (Walt) Elias Disney 
(December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966)
   

GINGER ROGERS AND FRED ASTAIRE

Ginger Rogers (Virginia Katherine McMath)
(July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995)

On this day in history, July 16, 1911, American star Ginger
Rogers was born in Independence, Missouri.

Ginger Rogers was an American actress and dancer who
was best known for work with the legendary Fred Astaire
during that time period and much of the 20th century. 

Rogers won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her
starring role in Kitty Foyle (1940).

On July 16, 1995, Amazon officially opened for business as
an online bookseller. Within a month, the fledgling retailer
had shipped books to all 50 U.S. states and to 45 countries.

Founder Jeff Bezos’s motto was “get big fast,” and Seattle-
based Amazon eventually morphed into an e-commerce
colossus, selling everything from groceries to furniture to
live ladybugs, and helping to revolutionize the way people
shop.

Jeffrey Preston Bezos, the founder, executive chairman,
and former president and CEO of Amazon.

At 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11, the first U.S. lunar landing mission, 
was launched on a historic journey to the surface of the moon.

After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into
a lunar orbit on July 19.

The Apollo 11, from left, Neil Armstrong, commander;
Michael Collins, module pilot; Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin,
lunar module pilot.