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1653...New Amsterdam receives a charter for a municipal form of government, transforming the colony into the first city in North America. Ever the politician, Peter Stuyvesant leads a parade down Broadway to celebrate the reform – even though it's aimed at curbing his tight rule.

1876...The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs is formed at a meeting in Manhattan.

1913...Some 150,000 people visit Grand Central Terminal on its opening day.

1968...Garbage piles up on the city's sidewalks when sanitation workers go out on strike. Mayor John Lindsay and Governor Nelson Rockefeller clash over how to settle the dispute, but after eight days of bitter wrangling workers finally agree to go back on the job.

1979...Punk rocker Sid Vicious dies of a heroin overdose hours after he is freed on bail in the stabbing death of his girlfriend at the Chelsea Hotel.