Week of October 24 in History

I fell in love with history in the ninth grade in a World History class when the teacher taught Egyptian history (thank you, Miss Fischer!), and made it come alive. I have been collecting historical bits of information for years. A year ago, I began tweeting historical facts every day. This blog entry is like the “best of” the events, births, and deaths that occurred during this week. If you want to read even more of these events on a daily basis. Follow me on Twitter at @kay_bigelow

October 24

October 24 is the 297th day of the year. There are 68 days remaining until the end of the year.

October 24 is United Nations Day (International). 

October 24 is World Development Information Day (International).

• 1260 – The Cathedral of Chartres was dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France. The cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. 
• 1851 – The moons Umbriel and Ariel were discovered orbiting Uranus by William Lassell.
• 1861 – The first transcontinental telegraph line across the US was completed, effectively ending the 18-month-old Pony Express.
• 1901 - Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
• 1911 – Orville Wright remained in the air 9 minutes and 45 seconds in a Wright Glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
• 1929 – The New York Stock Exchange crashed on what is now called Black Thursday.
• 1945 – The United Nations was founded.
• 1947 – Walt Disney testified to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), naming employees he believed to be communists.
• 1949 – The cornerstone of the UN Headquarters was laid in New York City.
• 1954 – President Eisenhower pledged US support to South Vietnam.
• 1991 – Gene Roddenberry.  American creator of“Star Trek, died. He was born in 1921.
• 2005 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist, died. She was born in 1913.
• 2006 – Enolia McMillan, American civil rights activist and first woman president of the NAACP, died. She was born in 1904.
• 2008 – Stock exchanges around the world saw the worst declines in their history, losing 10% of their values in most indices. The day is called “Black Friday.”

October 25

October 25 is the 298th day of the year. There are 67 days remaining until the end of the year. 

• 1400 – Geoffrey Chaucer, English poet, was born. 
• 1838 – Georges Bizet, French composer, was born. He died in 1875.
• 1861 – The Toronto Stock Exchange opened.
• 1941 – Anne Tyler, American author of 21 books, was born. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for Breathing Lesson.

October 26

October 26 is the 299th day of the year. There are 66 days remaining until the end of the year.

• 1774 – The first Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1825 – The Erie Canal opened, providing a passage from Albany, New York to Lake Erie.
• 1854– C.W. Post, American breakfast cereal (Grape Nuts) magnate, was born. He died in 1914.
• 1861 – The Pony Express officially ceased operations.
• 1861 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place at Tombstone, Arizona.
• 1902 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American feminist and suffragette. She was born in 1815.
• 1947 – Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of State, was born.
• 1957 - Gerty Theresa Cori died. She was an American biochemist who became the third woman—and first American woman—to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She was born in 1896.
• 1959 – The world saw the far side of the Moon for the first time.
• 1977 – The last natural case of smallpox was discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccinations.
• 1999 – Britain’s House of Lords voted to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.
• 2001 – The United States passed the USA Patriot Act into law.

October 27

October 27 is the 300th day of the year. There are 65 days remaining until the end of the year.

• 1682 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was founded. 
• 1858 – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was born. He died in 1919.
• 1904 – The first underground New York City subway line opened.
• 1994 – The US prison population topped 1 million for the first time.

October 28

October 28 is the 301st day of the year. There are 64 days remaining until the end of the year.

• 1538 – The first university in the New World was established in the Dominican Republic.
• 1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony established the first college in America, later known as Harvard University. 
• 1886 – The Statue of Liberty was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland.
• 1955 – Bill Gates, American software executive, was born.
• 1965 - Pope Paul VI issued the “Nostra Aetate,” which absolved the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus, reversing Pope Innocent III’s 760 year-old declaration.

October 29

October 29 is the 302nd day of the year. There are 63 days remaining until the end of the year.

• 1863 – The International Red Cross is formed by 18 countries meeting in Geneva.
• 1886 – The first ticker-tape parade took place in New York City when office workers threw ticker tapes into the streets as the Statue of Liberty was dedicated.
• 1938 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia & first woman head of state in Africa, was born.
• 1964 – A collection of gems, including the 565 carat Star of India, was stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City
• 1966 – The National Organization for Women was founded.
• 1969 – The US Supreme Court ruled that school districts had to end segregation “now and hereafter.”
• 1969 – The first computer-to-computer link was established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.
• 2008 – Delta Air Lines merged with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline.

October 30

• October 30 is the 303rd day of the year. There are 62 days remaining until the end of the year.

• 1945 – Jackie Robinson signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first Black player in major league baseball.