September 14 is the 257th day of the year (258th in leap years). There are 108 days remaining.

Events

• 786 - Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasid caliph upon the death of his brother al-Hadi
• 1752 - The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (September 2 was followed directly by September 14 this year)
• 1812 - Russian army burns Moscow to prevent Napoleon from capturing it
• 1814 - Francis Scott Key writes The Star-Spangled Banner.
• 1847 - Winfield Scott captures Mexico City
• 1886 - Typewriter ribbon patented.
• 1901 - Theodore Roosevelt becomes President of the United States.
• 1917 - Republican government declared in Russia
• 1923 - Miguel Primo de Rivera becomes dictator of Spain
• 1944 - United States Marines land on the island of Peleliu
• 1948 - Groundbreaking for the United Nations headquarters in New York City
• 1959 - The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.
• 1960 - The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded.
• 1964 - The opening of the third period of Second Vatican Council
• 1965 - The opening of the fourth and final period of Second Vatican Council
• 1975 - The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI
• 1984 - Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a hot air balloon solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1999 - Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.
• 2000 - Juan Antonio Samaranch leaves the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after 20 years.
• 2003 - Sweden rejects adopting the Euro in a referendum. (Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• 2004 - Canada wins the 2004 World cup of Hockey.

Births

• 1547 - Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch statesman (d. 1619)
• 1760 - Luigi Cherubini, composer (d. 1842)
• 1769 - Alexander von Humboldt, naturalist and explorer (d. 1859)
• 1804 - John Gould, English ornithologist
• 1849 - Ivan Pavlov, scientist (d. 1936)
• 1867 - Charles Dana Gibson, artist (d. 1944)
• 1879 - Margaret Sanger, birth control advocate (d. 1966)
• 1880 - Archie Hahn, American athlete
• 1898 - Hal B. Wallis, film producer (d. 1986)
• 1899 - José Mojica, Mexican singer and film actor (d. 1974)
• 1909 - Peter Scott, naturalist, artist, and explorer (d. 1989)
• 1913 - Jacobo Arbenz, president of Guatemala (d. 1971)
• 1914 - Lída Baarová, Czech actress (d. 2000 )
• 1914 - Clayton Moore, actor The Lone Ranger (d. 1999)
• 1918 - Israel "Cachao" López, Cuban musician
• 1920 - Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer
• 1921 - Ruth Brooks Flippen, television writer (d. 1981)
• 1923 - Bud Palmer, sports reporter
• 1933 - Zoe Caldwell, actress
• 1933 - Harve Presnell, actor
• 1934 - Kate Millett, feminist writer
• 1936 - Walter Koenig, actor
• 1938 - Nicol Williamson, actor
• 1940 - Larry Brown, NBA basketball coach
• 1941 - Alberto Naranjo, Venezuelan musician
• 1947 - Sam Neill, actor
• 1959 - Mary Frances, actress
• 1959 - Morten Harket, singer with a-ha
• 1968 - Michelle Stafford, soap opera actress
• 1971 - Kimberly Williams, actress
• 1973 - Nas, rap music singer
• 1974 - Hicham El Guerrouj, Moroccan athlete
• 1984 - Adam Lamberg, actor (Lizzie McGuire)

Deaths

• 258 - Cyprian, early Christian writer
• 786 - Al-Hadi, Abbasid caliph
• 891 - Pope Stephen V
• 1214 - Albert Avogadro, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
• 1321 - Dante Alighieri, author
• 1404 - Duke Albert IV of Austria
• 1523 - Pope Adrian VI
• 1638 - John Harvard, clergyman, namesake of Harvard College
• 1836 - Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States (b. 1756)
• 1851 - James Fenimore Cooper, author
• 1852 - Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, British general and Prime Minister
• 1886 - Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard
• 1898 - William Seward Burroughs, inventor of the calculator
• 1899 - Henry Bliss, first American automobile fatality
• 1901 - United States President William McKinley
• 1927 - Isadora Duncan, dancer & mother of modern dance
• 1936 - Irving Thalberg, film producer
• 1960 - Sir Arthur Percy Morris Fleming, radar pioneer
• 1966 - Gertrude Berg, actress
• 1982 - Bachir Gemayel, President-elect of Lebanon of Lebanon
• 1982 - Princess Grace of Monaco
• 1982 - John Gardner, American novelist
• 1984 - Janet Gaynor, Academy Award winning actress
• 1989 - Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban musician (b. 1916)
• 1996 - Juliet Prowse, actress, dancer
• 2000 - Beah Richards, actress

Holidays and observances

• Roman Catholicism-Exaltation of the Holy Cross (compare May 3- Finding of the Holy Cross).
• Eastern Orthodox Church Exaltation of the Cross, which commemorates the discovery of the (allegedly) original Christian cross in 326 by Helena, mother of Constantine.
• In the Irish calendar the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday following Sept. 14 were observed as Quarter tense.
• In ancient Greece, the first day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, during which the sacred objects were brought from Eleusis to Athens.

September 13 - September 15 - August 14 - October 14 - more historical anniversaries