On This Day: Sunday July 31, 2005 This is the 212th day of the year, with 153 days remaining in 2005. Fact of the Day: Philadelphia mint The first U.S. government building, the Philadelphia Mint, had its cornerstone laid in 1792. The Philadelphia mint still produces the majority of the coins used in daily circulation in the United States. Holidays Feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Justin de Jacobis, St. Neot, and St. Helen of Skövde. Events 1498 - Christopher Columbus first sighted the island of Trinidad. 1777 - Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, became a major-general in the Continental Army of the U.S. 1790 - The first U.S. Patent Office opened and the first patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a method of making pearlash and potash. 1792 - The first government building's cornerstone was laid: the Philadelphia Mint. 1904 - The Trans-Siberian railroad connecting the Ural Mountains with Russia's Pacific coast, was completed. 1919 - Germany's Weimar Constitution was adopted. 1922 - The first water skis were demonstrated, by Ralph Samuelson. 1948 - New York's International Airport was dedicated; it was later renamed John F. Kennedy Airport. 1964 - Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, took the first close-up images of the Moon. 1971 - The Apollo 15 astronauts drove a car on the Moon. 1972 - U.S. Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern, following disclosures Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment. 1981 - A seven-week-old Major League Baseball strike ended. Births 1867 - S.S. Kresge, American five-and-dime merchant, chain store developer. 1912 - Milton Friedman, American Nobel Prize-winning economist. 1929 - Lynne Reid Banks, English author. Deaths 1875 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States of America.