Date with History: September 8

Michelangelo's David rises in Florence; Galveston drowns in America's deadliest storm.

One paperback for one calendar date: what happened on September 8, and who was born on it.

What happened on September 8

1504: Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence

On September 8, 1504, Florentines got their first look at David in the Piazza della Signoria: seventeen feet of marble that other sculptors had already rejected as unworkable. The statue was a political statement as much as an artwork, a small republic poised and confident before its giant. It stood in that square for over three centuries before being moved indoors to the Accademia.

1900: The Galveston hurricane strikes the Texas coast

A Category 4 hurricane came ashore at Galveston with winds near 145 mph and a storm surge that put the entire barrier island underwater, killing somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 people. It remains the deadliest natural disaster in United States history; the toll is uncertain because whole families vanished without trace. Galveston rebuilt behind a seawall and raised the city's grade by up to seventeen feet, but Houston inherited its future.

Famous birthdays on September 8

1157 — Richard I of England
Richard the Lionheart, crusader king who spent barely six months of his ten-year reign in England.

1925 — Peter Sellers
Comic chameleon of Dr. Strangelove and Inspector Clouseau, who felt he had no self of his own.

Nearby dates

September 7 · September 9 · All September dates

Part of Date with History, a 366-book collection with one book for every date of the year. 5″×8″ paperback, cream paper.

Historical selections are editorially researched. This is a date-specific book, not a personalized or custom-made product.