NOW YOU KNOW

• On Aug. 1, 2007,  the Interstate 35 bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, collapsed during the evening rush hour.
• On Aug. 2, 1934,  Adolf Hilter, the chancellor of Germany, became the country's Fuhrer (president and chancellor) after GERman President Paul Von Hindenburg died.
• On Aug. 3, 1492,  Chrisstopher Columbus set sail on the Santa Maria.  He was accompanied by a crew of 90 and two more ships, the Nina and the Pinta.
• On Aug.4, 1892,  the parents of Lizzie Borden were found murdered at their home in Massachusetts.  And although never found guilty the following rhyme is remembered even to this day: Lizzie Borden took an axe, And gave her mother forty whacks, When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one.
• On August 7, 1782,  Gen. George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and non-commissioned officers.
• On August 8, 1974,  President Richard Nixon announced his resignation following the Watergate scandal during a nationally televised broadcast.
• On August 9, 1969,  members of Charles Manson's cult killed five people in movie director Roman Polanski's Beverly Hills, California, home, including Polanski's pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate.
• On August 10, 1846,  President James Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution, named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest of $500,000 had made it possible.
• On August 11, 1965,  race riots begin in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif.  By the end of the riots the following week 34 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured.
• On August 15, 1939,  "The Wizard of Oz" premiered in Hollywood.
• On August 16, 1960,   Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a ballon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet, setting three records that still stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft.
• On August 17, 1998,  President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physcial relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
• On August 18, 1587,  Virginia Dare, granddaughter of governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, child born in the Amercias.
• On August 22, 1787,  inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
• On August 23, 1990,  West Germany and East Germany announced that they will untie on Oct. 3.
• On August 24, 1682,  William Penn received the area that is now the state of Delaware, and added it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
• On August 25, 1875,  Capt. Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, getting from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours.
• On August 26, 1920,  the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing American women the right to vote, was certified in effect by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.
• On August 29, 2005,  Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast near Buras, La., bringing floods that devasted New Orleans.  More than 1,800 people in the region died.
• On August 30, 1997,   Americans received word of the car crash in Paris that claimed the lives of Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul.  (Because of the time difference, it was Aug. 31 where the crash occurred.)
• On Aug. 31, 1803,  Lewis and Clark started their expedition to the west by leaving Pittsburgh at 11 in the morning.