On this day, Sept. 9

1543 Mary Stuart was crowned Queen of Scots at Stirling Castle, nine months after she was born.

1850 California became the 31st state of the union.

1947 A river excursion boat, the Island Queen, said to be the largest river pleasure boat in the world, exploded as it was tied to the Monongahela River wharf; 19 people were killed.

1974 President Gerald Ford visits Pittsburgh among cheers and boos, the latter for giving a pardon to former President Richard Nixon.

1999 The Waterfront, providing shopping and entertainment, opened on the former site of United States Steel’s Homestead Works at a cost of $ 300 million.

2019 The acting chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the agency likely had violated its scientific integrity rules by publicly chastising a weather office that had contradicted President Donald Trump concerning a hurricane threat to Alabama. Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” ( digital. library. pitt. edu/ chronology).

— Compiled by Rick Nowlin

Today’s birthdays: Actor Topol, 85. Singer Inez Foxx, 78. Singer Dee Dee Sharp, 75. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Joe Theismann, 71. Rock musician John McFee ( The Doobie Brothers), 70. Actor Tom Wopat, 69. Actor Angela Cartwright, 68. Musician- producer Dave Stewart, 68. Actor Hugh Grant, 60. Sen. Chris Coons, D- Del., 57. Actor- comedian Charles Esten ( formerly Chip), 55. Actor Constance Marie, 55. Actor David Bennent, 54. Actor Adam Sandler, 54. Rock singer Paul Durham ( Black Lab), 52. Actor Julia Sawalha, 52. Model Rachel Hunter, 51. Actor Eric Stonestreet, 49. Actor Henry Thomas, 49. Actor Goran Visnjic, 48. Pop- jazz singer Michael Buble, 45. Latin singer Maria Rita, 43. Actor Michelle Williams, 40. Actor Julie Gonzalo, 39. Neo- soul singer Paul Janeway ( St. Paul & the Broken Bones), 37. Actor Zoe Kazan, 37. Author- motivational speaker- businessman Farrah Gray, 36. Actor Kelsey Asbille, 29. Contemporary Christian singer Lauren Daigle, 29. Country singer- songwriter Hunter Hayes, 29.

Thought for today: “A heretic, a man who sees with his own eyes.”

— Gotthold Lessing, German dramatist- critic ( 1729- 1781)