Today is Wednesday, Aug. 18, the 230th day of 2010. There are 135 days left in the year.

On this date:

In 1587, Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born on American soil, on what is now Roanoke Island in North Carolina. (However, the Roanoke colony ended up mysteriously disappearing.)

In 1838, the first marine expedition sponsored by the US government set sail from Hampton Roads, Va.; the crews travelled the southern Pacific Ocean, gathering scientific information.

In 1846, US forces led by General Stephen W. Kearny captured Santa Fe, N.M.

In 1894, Congress established the Bureau of Immigration.

In 1910, floral delivery service FTD began under the name Florists' Telegraph Delivery (the "T" now stands for "Transworld").

In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right of all American women to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.

In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King dedicated the Thousand Islands Bridge connecting the United States and Canada.

In 1958, the novel "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov was first published in New York by G.P. Putnam's Sons, almost three years after it was originally published in Paris.

In 1963, James Meredith became the first black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, N.Y. wound to a close after three nights with a mid-morning set by Jimi Hendrix.

In 1976, two US Army officers were killed in Korea's demilitarized zone as a group of North Korean soldiers wielding axes and metal pikes attacked US and South Korean soldiers.

In 1983, Hurricane Alicia slammed into the Texas coast, leaving 21 dead and causing more than a billion dollars' worth of damage.

Thought for Today:

"The self-hatred that destroys is the waste of unfulfilled promise." — Moss Hart, American playwright and director (1904-1961).