On June 17, 1885, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor aboard the French ship Isère. Designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the statue was created to honor the friendship between France and America and to celebrate the ideals of liberty and democratic government. The statue did not arrive standing tall as Americans know it today. It had been disassembled into 350 individual pieces and packed into 214 crates for its journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

On June 16, 1884, inventor and businessman LaMarcus Adna Thompson opened the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. Often described as America’s first amusement roller coaster, the ride was far slower and simpler than modern coasters. Passengers rode along a gravity-powered track at about six miles per hour and paid a nickel for the experience. The American Society of Civil Engineers describes the ride as an immediate success. Later roller coaster designs were built on Thompson’s early work.

On June 15, 1775, the Second Continental Congress appointed George Washington as commander in chief of the newly formed Continental Army. This decision came just one day after Congress formally created the army, as the colonies faced the growing reality of war with Great Britain. Washington was attending Congress in military uniform, and his selection helped show that the struggle was no longer only a New England conflict but a broader colonial cause. The National Park Service notes that Washington was appointed after a unanimous vote in Independence Hall.