The Canal connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via
the Hudson River. Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York, the
driving force behind the project, led the opening ceremonies
and rode the canal boat Seneca Chief from Buffalo to New York
City.

Work began on the waterway in 1817. Teams of oxen plowed the
ground, but for the most part the work was done by immigrants,
among them Irish diggers who had to rely on primitive tools. They
were paid $10 a month, and barrels of whisky were placed along
the canal route as encouragement.

A painting at the Syracuse Canal Museum depicts Governor Dewitt Clinton bringing water from Lake Erie to New York
City, in the ceremony known as the “Wedding of the Waters.”

The Erie Canalway today.

On June 7, 1972, the production opened at the Broadhurst
Theatre on Broadway, and on November 21, it moved to the
Royale Theatre there, where it ran until January 27, 1980.

For the five final weeks of the run, the show moved to the
larger Majestic Theatre. By the time it closed on April 13,
1980, it had run 3,388 performances.

On April 30, 1939, the New York World’s Fair opened in New York
City. The opening ceremony, which featured speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ( above) and New York Governor Herbert
Lehman, ushered in the first day of television broadcasting in New
York (below).

People line up in front of the application office for passports.

More than two years after the Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany to prevent its citizens from fleeing its communist regime,
nearly 4,000 West Berliners were allowed to cross into East Berlin
to visit relatives. Under an agreement reached between East and
West Berlin, over 170,000 passes were eventually issued to West
Berlin citizens, each pass allowing a one-day visit to communist
East Berlin.

Citizens of West Berlin lining up for Christmas passes into
East Berlin.

President John Kennedy on an observation platform (left)
as he looks into East Berlin across the Communist Berlin
Wall that divided the German city. (AP Photo)

The United States Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, Maryland,
with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors. Known as the
Naval School until 1850, the curriculum included mathematics and navigation, gunnery and steam, chemistry, English, French along
with natural philosophy.

The Naval School officially became the U.S. Naval Academy in 1850,
and a new curriculum went into effect, requiring midshipmen to
study at the academy for four years and to train aboard ships each
summer—the basic format that remains at the academy to this day.