On this date in 1990, the final stone of the Washington National Cathedral Church was placed, eighty-three  years after the church’s foundation stone was dedicated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
The church is the sixth-largest cathedral (bishop seat) church in the world and has been the site of funerals of three U.S. presidents — Eisenhower, Reagan and Ford.
The Reverend Martin Luther King preached his last Sunday sermon there, four days before he was assassinated.

On this date in 1066, William the Conqueror and his fleet of approximately 600 ships landed at Pevensey, Sussex, England, thus beginning the “Norman conquest.”

On this date in 1928, Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin when he noticed that a bacteria-killing mold was growing in his laboratory.

On this date in 2014, Scotland’s voters rejected proposed national secession from the United Kingdom.

And an armed intruder entered the White House unimpeded. Omar Gonzalez, carrying a knife, went over a fence of the White House, ran 70 yards to it, entered thorough an unlocked front door, overpowered a Secret Service agent, and went into the ceremonial East Room.

On this date in 1982, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott Fahlman proposed punctuating some e-mail messages with an improvised, horizontal ‘smiling face.’

:-)

On this date in 1881, U. S. President James Garfield died of wounds that were inflicted by an assassin.