Sir Christopher Michael Wren was born on this day in 1632. He is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710.

The principal creative responsibility for a number of the churches is now more commonly attributed to others in his office, especially Nicholas Hawksmoor. Other notable buildings by Wren include the Royal, and the south front of Hampton Court Palace. The Wren Building, the main building at the College of William and Mary, is attributed to Wren. It is the oldest academic building in continuous use in the United States.

Educated in Latin and Aristotelian physics at the University of Oxford, Wren was a notable astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist, as well as an architect. He was a founder of the Royal Society (president 1680–82), and his scientific work was highly regarded by Sir Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal. He was a member of Antiquity Lodge #2 in London, England.

On this day in 1944, after advancing island by island across the Pacific Ocean, Mason and General Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his promise of "I shall return," to the Philippine people in 1942.

On this day in 1803, the US Senate approves a treaty with France for the purpose of purchasing the territory that Masons Louis and Clark had surveyed at a previous time. This treaty, known as the Louisiana Purchase would double the size of the United States.