1884 The first U.S. theatrical school opens and will later be known as the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
1908 The Model T car is introduced by Henry Ford.
1988 A severe earthquake hits Los Angeles, California causing 7 deaths and more than $200 million in damages.@
October 2
1866 The first tin can with a key opener is patented by J. Osterhoudt in New York City
1889 The first Pan American conference is held in Washington, D.C.
1987 The U.S. imposes severe economic sanctions against South Africa for the racial policy of apartheid@
October 3
1698 The Annual Dog Mart is held in Fredericksburg, Virginia
1863 The last Thursday in November is officially declared Thanksgiving Day by President Lincoln
1969 The last wooden passenger train cars are taken out of service in Brooklyn, New York@
October 4
1830 The first power printing press capable of fine book work is patented by Isaac Adams of Boston, Massachusetts
1909 The first dirigible balloon race is held in St. Louis, Missouri
1977 New Jersey and Pennsylvania are the first states with daily lotteries to have the same winning number@
October 5
1853 R. M. Peale of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio is the first female college professor
1947 Harry Truman has the first televised Presidential address from the White House
1953 The first baseball team to win five World Series in a row is the New York Yankees@
October 6
1889 Thomas Edison exhibits his kinetoscope
1927 The first talking feature film, "The Jazz Singer," is shown in New York City
1991 University of Oklahoma law professor Anita F. Hill accuses Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of having sexually harassed her while she worked as his personal assistant. The majority of the U.S. Senate finds the charges groundless and he is later confirmed to the court.@
October 7
1492 A false cry of "Land ho!" and sighting of land birds makes Christopher Columbus change course and miss Florida
1849 Author and poet Edgar Allen Poe dies under mysterious circumstances in Baltimore, Maryland.
1916 The most one-sided intercollegiate football game between Georgia Tech and Cumberland University has the final score of 222 - 0@
October 8
1633 The first town government is organized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Dorchester, Massachusetts
1872 Most of Chicago, Illinois is destroyed by fire that is started when Mrs. O'Leary's cow knocks over a lantern
1955 The aircraft carrier "Saratoga" is launched as the world's most powerful warship@
October 9
1877 The American Humane Association is founded in Cleveland, Ohio
1987 Clare Boothe Luce, American writer and first American woman to hold a diplomatic post, dies
1991 The food and drug administration approves a drug known as dideoxyinosine for treatment of patients with AIDS. It is the second drug approved for this purpose.@
October 10
1845 The formal opening of the U.S. Naval Academy takes place in Annapolis, Maryland
1882 The skull of Guiteau, President Garfield's assassin, is stolen from a Medical Museum exhibit in Washington, D.C.
1973 Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns from office after pleading no contest to charges of tax evasion@
October 11
1614 The New Netherland Company is granted a charter by the Dutch government, giving the company a three-year monopoly in America between 40 degrees North and 45 degrees North
1868 Thomas Edison files for his first patent for an electrical vote recorder to tabulate votes in the U.S. Congress
1963 Anna Eleanor Roosevelt is the first Presidential wife portrayed on a commemorative U.S. postage stamp@
October 12 - Columbus Day
1773 The Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds is established in Williamsburg, Virginia
1871 President Grant publicly condemns the Ku Klux Klan and orders the arrest of over 600 citizens involved in its activities in South Carolina
1987 The "Forbes" magazine list of "The 400 Richest Americans" ranks Sam Walton, founder of WalMart Stores, as the richest, being worth $8.5 billion@
October 13
1792 The cornerstone for the White House is laid in Washington, D.C.
1913 The first air passenger flight is made from Albany, New York to New York City
1987 Los Angeles, California schools announce that they will begin a year-round schedule, beginning July 1989@
October 14
1912 President Theodore Roosevelt is shot during his campaign for his third Presidential term, but survives
1964 Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
1994 President Clinton bade Jean-Bertrand Aristide farewell as Aristide returned to Haiti after 3 years in exile@
October 15
1878 The Edison Electric Light Company is founded by Thomas Edison
1966 A man in McKinney, Texas commits four hit-and-runs, drives off the side of the road four times and causes six accidents in the span of twenty minutes, becoming perhaps the worst driver of all time
1969 In the U.S., demonstrations are staged to protest against the Vietnam War@
October 16
1701 Yale College is founded in Saybrook, Connecticut
1859 John Brown raids Harper's Ferry in an attempt to liberate and arm African American slaves
1973 Henry Kissinger receives the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Paris Peace Accord between the U.S. and Vietnam@
October 17
1777 General John Burgoyne surrenders to the Americans at Saratoga, New York
1916 The first motion picture sex shocker, "A Daughter of the Gods", makes its debut in New York City
1989 San Francisco, California suffers a major earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter Scale@
October 18
1648 The Massachusetts general court grants a charter to the shoemakers of Boston, and the first labor organization in America is born
1913 Emmeline Pankhurst, a British suffragette, is denied admission into the U.S. because she was declared an undesirable alien
1955 A new nuclear particle, the antiproton, is discovered by scientists at the University of California@
October 19
1630 The first general court is held in New England in Boston, Massachusetts
1944 U.S. forces land in the Philippines
1988 The U.S. Stock Market has its worst day in history, known as Black Monday@
October 20
1873 Handbills in New York announce the opening of P. T. Barnum's Hippodrome featuring "The Greatest Show on Earth"
1968 Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of assassinated President John Kennedy, marries Aristotle Onassis
1970 An American Norman Borlaug receives the Nobel Peace Prize for perfecting and introducing new strains of wheat and rice crops@
October 21
1879 Thomas Edison invents a workable incandescent lamp in his Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratories
1929 The first air ambulance is organized in New York City
1976 American Saul Bellow receives the Nobel Prize for Literature, making 1976 the first year all Nobel Prizes are won by Americans@
October 22
1863 Sam Houston becomes the first president of the Republic of Texas
1962 President Kennedy announces that the U.S.S.R. has installed missiles in Cuba
1987 The U.S. cuts exports to China because of reported arms sales to Iran by the Chinese@
October 23
1910 Blanche Scott is the first woman to make a public air flight by herself in Ft. Wayne, Indiana
1947 The first husband and wife to win joint Nobel Prizes are Dr. Carl Cori and Dr. Gerty Cori of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri
1983 241 U.S. troops are killed in Beirut by a terrorist suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Marine Headquarters@
October 24
1901 Anna Edson Taylor is the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel
1940 The 40-hour work week goes into effect
1954 A U.S. Cabinet meeting is shown on television for the first time@
October 25
1960 The first electric watch is produced in New York
1951 Color television is introduced in the U.S.
1983 U.S. troops and forces from six Caribbean countries invade Grenada@
October 26
1749 The Georgia Colony revokes its prohibition of slavery
1774 The Minute Men are organized in America
1982 The Reagan Administration shows a record budget deficit of more than $110,000,000,000 for fiscal year 1982@
October 27
Navy Day
1682 William Penn comes to the Delaware River to formally accept the territory from the Duke of York's deputy
1804 Lewis and Clark set camp for the first winter of their expedition near Bismarck, North Dakota
1829 The first patent for a baby carriage is issued in the U.S.@
October 28
1886 The Statue of Liberty is dedicated in the New York harbor
1929 The first child is born in an airplane over Miami, Florida
1946 The Atomic Energy Commission is created@
October 29
1652 The Massachusetts Bay Colony proclaims itself an independent commonwealth
1929 The N.Y. Stock Exchange collapses in New York City -- Black Tuesday -- setting off the Great Depression
1978 The largest slot machine payoff is for $275,000 to James Schelich of Washington, Missouri@
October 30
1888 The ball point pen is patented by John Loud of Weymouth, Massachusetts
1938 Orson Wells broadcasts his radio program, "The War of the Worlds," on CBS and causes a national panic
1945 Shoe rationing in the U.S. ends@
October 31
Halloween
1864 Nevada is admitted to the Union as the 36th state
1956 The first naval expedition to the South Pole, led by G. J. Dufek, lands
1968 President Lyndon Johnson orders a total halt to U.S. bombing of North Vietnam@