This Day in History – October 10, 2011

1780 The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000-30,000 in the Caribbean. 1802 1st non indian settlement in Oklahoma 1845 In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opens with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors. 1846 Neptune’s moon Triton discovered by William Lassell 1854 US Assay Office in New York City, NY opens 1860 The original cornerstone of the University of the South is laid in Sewanee, Tennessee. 1865 John Hyatts patents the billiard ball 1874 Fiji becomes a British possession 1886 1st dinner jacket worn to autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, NY (the tuxedo) 1913 President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal. 1920 Indian’s Bill Wambsganns makes 1st unassisted world series triple play (World Series #17) 1920 Indian’s Elmer Smith hits the 1st world series grand slam (World Series #17) 1921 NFL Decatur Staleys become Chicago Staleys, win 14-10 1923 NY Giants & NY Yankees become 1st teams to play each other for 3 consecutive World Series, also 1st played at Yankee Stadium (World Series #20) 1933 1st synthetic detergent for home use marketed 1933 United Airlines Chesterton Crash: A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage, the first such proven case in the history of commercial aviation. 1944 Holocaust: 800 Gypsy children are murdered at Auschwitz concentration camp. 1945 The Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang signed a principle agreement in Chongqing about the future of post-war China. Later, the pact is commonly referred to as the Double-Ten Agreement. 1951 Yanks beat Giants 4 games to 2 in world series, DiMaggio’s final game (World Series #48) 1957 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant. 1957 The Windscale fire in Cumbria, U.K. is the world’s first major nuclear accident. 1963 Treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests signed by US, UK, USSR 1964 The opening ceremony at The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is broadcast live in the first Olympic telecast relayed by geostationary communication satellite. 1967 The Outer Space Treaty, signed on January 27 by more than sixty nations, comes into force. 1970 Fiji becomes independent. 1970 In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group. 1971 Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. 1972 The 1972 Chicago commuter rail crash, killing 48, occurs due to foggy conditions, the accident push for changes in Chicago commuter rail, such as brightly colored ends on the cars. 1973 Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with federal income tax evasion. 1975 Papua New Guinea joins the United Nations. 1976 Greece’s 98 year-old Dimitrion Yordanidis, is oldest man to compete in a marathon; he finishes in 7:33 1978 Pres Carter signs a bill authorizing the Susan B Anthony dollar 1982 Pope John Paul II canonizes Rev M Kolbe, who volunteered to die in place of another inmate at Auschwitz concentration camp, a saint 1991 Ex-postal worker Joseph Harris kills 4 postal workers 1997 An Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74. 1998 A Lignes Aériennes Congolaises Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 41 people. 2008 The 10 October 2008 Orakzai bombing kills 110 and injures 200 more. 2009 After having closed borders for about two hundred years, Armenia and Turkey sign protocols in Zurich, Switzerland to open their borders. 2010 The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved.]]]]> ]]>