On this day, Aug. 25

1875 Capt. Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, going from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours.

1916 The Mellons purchased a site at Smithfield Street and Oliver Avenue, Downtown, for construction of a bank building.

1953 Following a six-month trial, Steve Nelson, already under a 20-year sentence to the workhouse, and five other Communist leaders of Pittsburgh were convicted under the Smith Act in Federal Court and sentenced to five years in prison.

1981 The U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 came within 63,000 miles of Saturn’s cloud cover, sending back pictures and data about the ringed planet. 1988 Art Rooney Sr., who acquired the Steelers in 1933 for $52,500 and saw the team win four Super Bowls, died at the age of 87.

2017 Hurricane Harvey, the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade, made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas, with 130 mph sustained winds. The storm delivered five days of rain totaling close to 52 inches, the heaviest tropical downpour recorded in the continental U.S. The hurricane kiled at least 68 and caused an estimated $125 billion in damage in Texas. Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Alyssa Brown

Today’s birthdays: Actor Sean Connery, 88. TV personality Regis Philbin, 87. Actor Tom Skerritt, 85. Rock singer-actor Gene Simmons, 69. Rock singer Elvis Costello, 64. Movie director Tim Burton, 60. Country singer Cyrus (aka Billy Ray Cyrus), 57. Actress Joanne Whalley, 57. Actor Blair Underwood, 54. Television chef Rachael Ray, 50. Country singer Jo Dee Messina, 48. Model Claudia Schiffer, 48. Actor-writerdirector Ben Falcone, 45. Actor Alexander Skarsgard, 42. Actress Blake Lively, 31. Thought for today: “Tradition is what you resort to when you don’t have the time or the money to do it right.” — Kurt Herbert Adler, Austrian-born conductor (1905-1988)