This week in New York State history: April 17-23

This week in New York State history features the first adopted constitution, Yankee Stadium opening, and the death of Mark Twain. All information has been provided by the New York State Museum History Department.

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- This week in New York State history features the first adopted constitution, Yankee Stadium opening, and the death of Mark Twain. All information has been provided by the New York State Museum History Department.

April 17

• 1524: Explorer Giovanni Verrazano, a Florentine navigator, discovers New York Bay.
• 1813: Author Susan Fenimore Cooper, daughter of author James Fenimore Cooper, was born in Scarsdale.
• 1905: The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York which held that the "right to free contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

April 18

• 1776: Colonial Governor William Tryon declares that the New York Assembly is dissolved.
• 1890: Castle Garden closed as New York’s immigrant depot.
• 1912: The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
• 1923: Yankee Stadium opens.

April 19

• 1894: Jules Massenet's opera "Werther" premieres in New York City.
• 1940: “Lake Shore Ltd" derails, killing 34 near Little Falls.

April 20

• 1777: New York adopts its first constitution.
• 1852: Susan B. Anthony helps to found the New York Women's State Temperance Society at a convention in Rochester.

April 21

• 1965: The New York World's Fair reopens for its second and final season.
• 1910: Mark Twain dies in New York City.

April 22

• 1642: Jonas Bronck signed a peace treaty with Dutch authorities and the Weckquaeskeek sachems Ranaqua and Tackamuck at his homestead. His homestead was 680 acres and covers south of 150th Street in the Bronx and what is today Mott Haven.
• 1774: The New York City Tea Party. Similar to the Boston Tea Party, men from New York City protested the Tea Act by dumping tea from the ship London into the Hudson River.
• 1832: Julius Sterling Morton, 3rd United States Secretary of Agriculture and founder of Arbor Day, was born in Adams.
• 1897: First issue of the (Jewish Daily) Forward was published.
• 1904: Theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the men who worked on the Manhattan Project, was born in New York City.
• 1923: Author Paula Fox was born in New York City.
• 1964: New York World’s Fair opens for its first season.
• 1970: Legislation creating the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is signed on the first Earth Day.

April 23

• 1886: Thomas Edison demonstrated the "vitascope" at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City. For the first time in this country, a theater audience watched moving images projected by this invention.
• 1933: Formation of the Chinese Hand-Laundry Alliance.
• 1964: The New York State Theater opens.