January 1 » New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
February 23 » Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J'Accuse…!, a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
April 22 » Spanish–American War: The USSNashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
July 3 » A Spanish squadron, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is defeated by an American squadron under William T. Sampson in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba.
August 28 » Caleb Bradham's beverage "Brad's Drink" is renamed "Pepsi-Cola".
September 13 » Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.
Day of death August 17, 1954
The temperature on August 17, 1954 was between 8.7 °C and 20.7 °C and averaged 15.3 °C. There was 0.1 mm of rain. There was 9.3 hours of sunshine (64%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the south. Source: KNMI
March 1 » Armed Puerto Rican nationalists attack the United States Capitol building, injuring five Representatives.
April 25 » The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
May 13 » The original Broadway production of The Pajama Game opens and runs for another 1,063 performances. Later received three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreography.
July 7 » Elvis Presley makes his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, "That's All Right".
November 19 » Télé Monte Carlo, Europe's oldest private television channel, is launched by Prince Rainier III.
November 22 » The Humane Society of the United States is founded.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Randy James Hammock, "RanHam Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/ranham-tree/P517.php : accessed September 30, 2026), "Ethel Fay Hammock (1898-1954)".
Copy warning
Genealogical publications are copyright protected. Although data is often retrieved from public archives, the searching, interpreting, collecting, selecting and sorting of the data results in a unique product. Copyright protected work may not simply be copied or republished.
Please stick to the following rules
Request permission to copy data or at least inform the author, chances are that the author gives permission, often the contact also leads to more exchange of data.
Do not use this data until you have checked it, preferably at the source (the archives).
State from whom you have copied the data and ideally also his/her original source.