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1935

Hurricane “Labor Day” was an extremely powerful and devastating Atlantic hurricane that struck the southeastern United States. The most intense tropical cyclone known to make landfall in the Western Hemisphere, having the lowest sea level pressure ever officially recorded on land—a central pressure of 892 millibars (26.3 inHg)—suggesting an intensity of between 186 and 189 mph. It struck Florida and lasted for 10 days—from September 1 to September 10, 1935.

In the Upper Florida Keys, the hurricane left a path of near-total destruction, centered on what is today the village of Islamorada, although the hurricane's destructive path was narrower than most tropical cyclones. Its eye was 8 mi across and the fiercest winds extended 20 mi off the center.

Upper Florida Keys experienced winds from 150 to 200 mph , while gusts probably went above 200 mph. Tides reached high enough to wash away crossties and railroad tracks of the Florida East Coast Railway, which had viaducts that were 30 ft above the average water level. Additionally, storm surge ranged from 18 to 20 ft in height.

Flattened a 30-mile stretch of the Keys

Matecumbe Ferry Slip

One of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, particularly affecting Florida. Approximately 490 people died as a result of the hurricane. It struck workers' camps of World War I veterans who were constructing the Overseas Highway. About 260 veterans lost their lives in these camps.

Monopoly game hit the shelves, a multiplayer economics-themed board game. Players roll two dice to move around the game board, buying and trading properties and developing them with houses and hotels. Players collect rent from their opponents and aim to drive them into bankruptcy. Money can also be gained or lost through Chance and Community Chest cards and tax squares. Players receive a salary every time they pass "Go" and can end up in jail, from which they cannot move until they have met one of three conditions. House rules, hundreds of different editions, many spin-offs, and related media exist.

The Monopoly game board consists of forty spaces containing twenty-eight properties—twenty-two streets (grouped into eight distinct color groups), four railroads, and two utilities—three Chance spaces, three Community Chest spaces, a Luxury Tax space, an Income Tax space, and the four corner squares: GO, (In) Jail/Just Visiting, Free Parking, and Go to Jail.

The game was a smash hit upon its release, and has gone on to sell over 275 million copies since its inception.

1937

Hoover dam begins operation, a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, during the Great Depression, it was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over 100 lives. Bills passed by Congress during its construction referred to it as Hoover Dam (after President Herbert Hoover), but the Roosevelt administration named it Boulder Dam. In 1947, Congress restored the name Hoover Dam.

A total of 3,250,000 cubic yards of concrete was used in the dam before concrete pouring ceased on May 29, 1935. More than 582 miles of cooling pipes were placed within the concrete. Overall, there is enough concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York. Concrete cores were removed from the dam for testing in 1995; they showed that "Hoover Dam's concrete has continued to slowly gain strength" and the dam is composed of a "durable concrete having a compressive strength exceeding the range typically found in normal mass concrete".

The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction, with 7 million tourists a year.

The first three Allis Chalmers built Francis turbine-generators, all on the Nevada side, began operating. In March 1937. September 1939, four more generators were operating, and the dam's power plant became the largest hydroelectricity facility in the world. The final generator was not placed in service until 1961, bringing the maximum generating capacity to 1,345 megawatts at the time.

There are two lanes for automobile traffic across the top of the dam, which formerly served as the Colorado River crossing for U.S. Route 93. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, authorities expressed security concerns and the Hoover Dam Bypass project was expedited. Pending the completion of the bypass, restricted traffic was permitted over Hoover Dam. Some types of vehicles were inspected prior to crossing the dam while semi-trailer trucks, buses carrying luggage, and enclosed-box trucks over 40 ft long were not allowed on the dam at all and were diverted to U.S. Route 95 or Nevada State Routes 163/68. The four-lane Hoover Dam Bypass opened on October 19, 2010.

Bypass in front of the dam

The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident (May 6) in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume.

Filled with hydrogen, it caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The accident caused 35 fatalities (13 passengers and 22 crewmen) among the 97 people on board (36 passengers and 61 crewmen), and an additional fatality on the ground.

The Hindenburg made ten trips to the United States in 1936. After opening its 1937 season by completing a single round-trip passage to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in late March, the Hindenburg departed from Frankfurt, Germany, on the evening of May 3, on the first of ten round trips between Europe and the United States that were scheduled for its second year of commercial service. American Airlines had contracted with the operators of the Hindenburg to shuttle passengers from Lakehurst to Newark for connections to airplane flights.

Carrying only half its full capacity of passengers (36 of 70) and crewmen (61, including 21 crewman trainees) during the accident flight, the Hindenburg was fully booked for its return flight.

Around 7:00 p.m. EDT (23:00 UTC), at an altitude of 650 feet (200 m), the Hindenburg made its final approach to the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. This was to be a high landing, known as a flying moor because the airship would drop its landing ropes and mooring cable at a high altitude, and then be winched down to the mooring mast. This type of landing maneuver would reduce the number of ground crewmen but would require more time. Although the high landing was a common procedure for American airships, the Hindenburg had performed this maneuver only a few times in 1936 while landing in Lakehurst.

At 7:21 p.m., while the Hindenburg was at an altitude of 295 ft (90 m), the mooring lines were dropped from the bow; the starboard line was dropped first, followed by the port line. The port line was overtightened[further explanation needed] as it was connected to the post of the ground winch. The starboard line had still not been connected. A light rain began to fall as the ground crew grabbed the mooring lines.

At 7:25 p.m., a few witnesses saw the fabric ahead of the upper fin flutter as if gas was leaking. Others reported seeing a dim blue flame – possibly static electricity, or St. Elmo's Fire – moments before the fire on top and in the back of the ship near the point where the flames first appeared. The Hindenburg caught fire and quickly became engulfed in flames.

The flames quickly spread forward first consuming cells 1 to 9, and the rear end of the structure imploded. Almost instantly, two tanks (it is disputed whether they contained water or fuel) burst out of the hull as a result of the shock of the blast. Buoyancy was lost on the stern of the ship, and the bow lurched upwards while the ship's back broke; the falling stern stayed in trim.

As the tail of the Hindenburg crashed into the ground, a burst of flame came out of the nose, killing 9 of the 12 crew members in the bow. There was still gas in the bow section of the ship, so it continued to point upward as the stern collapsed down. The cell behind the passenger decks ignited as the side collapsed inward, and the scarlet lettering reading "Hindenburg" was erased by flames as the bow descended. The airship's gondola wheel touched the ground, causing the bow to bounce up slightly as one final gas cell burned away. At this point, most of the fabric on the hull had also burned away and the bow finally crashed to the ground. Although the hydrogen had finished burning, the Hindenburg's diesel fuel burned for several more hours.

Merle Haggard was born, an influential American country music singer-songwriter born on April 6, 1937, in Oildale, California. He overcame a troubled childhood and a history of criminal activity, including time in prison, to become a celebrated artist with 38 number-one hits and numerous awards.

His family moved from Oklahoma during the Great Depression after their farm burned down. Haggard's father, James, worked for the Santa Fe Railroad and died when Merle was nine. This loss deeply affected him and shaped his future.

Haggard faced a troubled youth, marked by criminal activities and time in juvenile detention. He learned to play guitar at age 12, influenced by country music legends. His early experiences with hardship and crime would later inspire his songwriting.

Haggard's music career began after he was released from San Quentin State Prison in 1960. The Hag wound up only serving 2 years of his 15 year sentence at San Quentin (the only prison that could hold him). He was eventually pardoned by California Governor Ronald Regan. He was inspired by a Johnny Cash concert while incarcerated. He quickly gained popularity, becoming a central figure in the Bakersfield sound, a style of country music characterized by its raw and honky-tonk influences.

Over his career, Haggard recorded more than 70 albums and had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts. His songs often reflected his life experiences, including struggles with poverty and the working class.

He passed away on April 6, 2016, his 79th birthday, from pneumonia.

Merle Haggard and Mary Wolever

Waylon Jennings was born, an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement in country music.

Jennings started playing guitar at age eight and performed at fourteen on KVOW radio, after which he formed his first band, the Texas Longhorns. Jennings left high school at age sixteen, determined to become a musician, and worked as a performer and DJ on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI, KLLL, in Coolidge, Arizona, and Phoenix.

In 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jennings's first recording session, a cover of “Jole Blon,” and hired him to play bass. Jennings gave up his seat on the ill-fated flight in 1959 that crashed and killed Holly, J. P. "the Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens.

Jennings was born on June 15, 1937, on the J. W. Bittner farm near Littlefield, Texas. He was the son of Lorene Beatrice (née Shipley, 1919–2006) and William Albert Jennings (1911–1968). The Jennings family line descended from Irish and Black-Dutch. He was the oldest of four children, followed by Tommy Jennings (1941–2019), James Jennings, and Bo Jennings (1950–2018). The Shipley line descended from his great-grandfather, a farmer and lawman from Tennessee, with Jennings adding that "along the way, a lot of Indian blood mixed in," including Cherokee and Comanche families.

Over the course of his career, Waylon Jennings released 45 studio albums and 49 other albums including 28 compilation albums and 16 collaborations. He sold over 20 million albums worldwide

At one point, Waylon would spend as much as $1,500 per day on cocaine and amphetamines. This soon led to a $2.5 million drug debt which he had to work hard to clear. Cigarettes were not left out, Waylon smoked up to 6 packs of cigarettes on a daily basis. In the mid-1980s, he decided to get clean, detoxifying himself with plans to take cocaine on an occasional basis.

Waylon only began to get clean after his habit started to tell on his health. He underwent a heart bypass surgery in 1988.

Mary and Waylon

He was diagnosed with diabetes in the early 1990s. He continued to record, and did limited performances on a few tours, but his diabetes forced surgery to improve circulation in his left leg. The operation failed, and his left foot was amputated in December 2001, the year he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Jennings died in his sleep from complications of diabetes on February 13, 2002, at his home in Chandler, Arizona. He was 64 years old.

Waylon Jennings married four times and had a total of 6 children from his wives. He was married to country singer Jessi Colter from October 26, 1969, to the time of his death.

Mary & Margaret Stathis at Waylon’s grave

City of Mesa, AZ Cemetery, 1212 N. Center Street