1861 – West Virginia secedes from Virginia.
1901 – First woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel (Anna Taylor)
1908 – Billy Murray hits the charts with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
1911 – Orville Wright remained in the air 9 minutes and 45 seconds in a glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina setting a new world record that stood for 10 years.
1929 – “Black Thursday”, start of stock market crash, Dow Jones down 12.8%.
1931 – George Washington Bridge linking New York City and New Jersey dedicated, opens the next day.
1939 – Nylon stockings go on sale for first time (Wilmington, Delaware)
1940 – US Fair Labor Standards of 1938 comes into effect – minimum wage, 44 hour week.
1947 – Series of forest fires burn over $30 million of timber across the New England States.
1954 – Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States’ support to South Vietnam.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba.
1971 – Texas Stadium opens – Cowboys beat Patriots, 44-21.
1984 – Intelsat 5 re-enters Earth’s atmosphere 5 months after it failed.
1989 – American televangelist Jim Bakker is sentenced to 45 years in prison for fraud but the sentence is later reduced to eight years.
1996 – Last game at Atlanta County Fulton Stadium. Yanks win record 8th straight road post season win (with no losses)
2004 – 10 people including NASCAR driver Rick Hendrick and 4 family members are killed in a plane crash near Martinsville Speedway in Virginia; plane owned by NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports.
2012 – Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in Jamaica killing 1 person and causing over $50 million in damage.
2018 – Pipe bombs sent to prominent US Democrats including the Obamas, Clintons, John Brennan and CNN, but safely defused.
2018 – Largest jackpot in US history at $1.6 billion won by one person in South Carolina.
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