20250923
From today's featured article
20 Exchange Place is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Completed in 1931, it was designed by Cross & Cross as the headquarters of the City Bank–Farmers Trust Company, predecessor of Citigroup. The building, standing at approximately 741 feet (226 m) with 57 usable stories, was one of New York City's tallest buildings and the world's tallest stone-clad building upon its completion. The building has a granite and limestone facade, while its internal superstructure is made of steel. The lower section of the facade fills the entirety of an irregular quadrilateral city block and contains piers with figures depicting the "giants of finance". The upper stories, consisting of a square tower with chamfered corners, are offset from the base. The building is an official New York City landmark and a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that Jorge Meléndez (pictured) was appointed as the National Democratic Party's candidate for president of El Salvador in 1919, after both frontrunners suddenly dropped out days before the election?
- ... that the Téléscaphe was an underwater cable car system that allowed tourists to visit the seabed?
- ... that opera singer Olga Olgina used the same stage name as her mother?
- ... that "Ya Laylat al-Eid", originally a number in Dananeer, a 1940 musical about a singing slave girl, was removed from the film and had its lyrics changed to better associate it with Eid?
- ... that being outranked by Bishop Thomas Agni of Lentini so infuriated the future Pope Urban IV that he left Palestine and went to Rome?
- ... that Taylor Swift announced her new album on a sports podcast?
- ... that the first field test of one potential truth serum by the U.S. government was on an unwitting mafia enforcer?
- ... that, amidst Laurent Saint-Cyr's transition to office as chair of Haiti's Transitional Presidential Council, "bursts of gunfire" were heard in the capital?
- ... that a musk duck named Ripper could apparently say "you bloody fool"?
In the news
- Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign an agreement to defend each other against attacks.
- American actor and filmmaker Robert Redford (pictured) dies at the age of 89.
- In boxing, Terence Crawford defeats Canelo Álvarez, becoming undisputed world champion in three weight classes.
- In television, The Studio wins best comedy and The Pitt wins best drama at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
On this day
September 23: Celebrate Bisexuality Day
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: British officer John André was captured by Patriot forces, thereby revealing a plot by Continental Army general Benedict Arnold (pictured) to hand over West Point, New York.
- 1913 – The United Mine Workers of America begin a strike against the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, sparking the Colorado Coalfield War.
- 2002 – The first version of the web browser Firefox was released by the Mozilla Organization.
- 2008 – A gunman shot and killed ten students at the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences in Kauhajoki, Finland, before committing suicide.
- 2019 – The British travel company Thomas Cook Group ceased operations with immediate effect, leaving around 600,000 tourists stranded around the world.
- John Ainsworth Horrocks (d. 1846)
- Ellen Hayes (b. 1851)
- Sigmund Freud (d. 1939)
- Sean Spicer (b. 1971)
Today's featured picture

Mary Terrell (September 23, 1863 – July 24, 1954) was an American civil rights activist, journalist, teacher and one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree. She taught in the Latin Department at the M Street High School—the first African-American public high school in the nation—in Washington, DC. In 1895, she was the first African-American woman in the United States to be appointed to the school board of a major city, serving in the District of Columbia until 1906. Terrell was a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Colored Women's League of Washington. She helped found the National Association of Colored Women and served as its first national president, and she was a founding member of the National Association of College Women.
Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden