Sept. 1, 2005

Gov. Jim Doyle awards the largest combined highway construction contract in Wisconsin history. The nearly $360 million in contracts goes to Marquette Constructors LLC to complete the South Leg and Core portions of the Marquette Interchange project in Milwaukee.

 

Sept. 3, 1856

Architect and writer Louis H. Sullivan is born in Boston. He contributed to Chicago's architectural reputation and inspired a field of architecture with his philosophy that "form ever follows function."

Source: Library of Congress

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Sept. 5, 1882

Some 10,000 workers assemble in New York City to participate in America's first Labor Day parade. This first Labor Day celebration was initiated by Peter J. McGuire, a carpenter and labor union leader.

Source: Library of Congress

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Labor Day parade, Buffalo,
N.Y., circa 1900

Sept. 11, 1912

St. Mary's Hospital in Madison is dedicated. Madison architect Ferdinand Kronenberg designed the 70-bed facility, which cost more than $170,000 to complete.

Source: Wisconsin Historical Society

Image courtesy of St. Mary's Hospital

Sept. 14, 1638

John Harvard, a 31-year-old clergyman from Charlestown, Mass., dies, leaving his library and half of his estate to a local college. The minister's bequest let the college firmly establish itself. In honor of its first benefactor, the school adopted the name Harvard College.

Source: Library of Congress

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Sept. 17, 1851

North Hall, the first building on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, is erected. It opened as a dormitory for men, and the cost of construction was $19,000.

Source: Library of Congress

Photo courtesy of Michael Forster Rothbart/University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sept. 18, 2004

The $204 million Overture Center for the Arts in downtown Madison holds its grand opening.

Photo by Del Brown

Sept. 21, 1784

The nation's first daily newspaper, the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, begins publication.

Source: Library of Congress

 

Sept. 23, 1846

At the Berlin Observatory, German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovers the planet Neptune. The blue gas giant, which has a diameter four times that of Earth, was named for the Roman god of the sea.

Source: www.historychannel.com

Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech