This Day in History – October 7, 2011

1765 The Stamp Act Congress convenes in NY 1777 Americans beat Brits in 2nd Battle of Saratoga & Battle of Bemis Hts 1780 British defeated by American militia near Kings Mountain, SC 1816 1st double decker steamboat, the Washington, arrived in New Orleans 1826 Granite Railway (1st chartered railway in US) begins operations 1868 Cornell University (Ithaca NY) opens 1871 16-hour fire injures 30 of Chicago’s 185 firefighters 1900 The term “orienteering” is 1st used for an event 1916 Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland University 222-0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history. 1919 KLM, the flag carrier of the Netherlands, is founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name. 1931 1st infra-red photograph, Rochester, NY 1938 Germany demands all Jewish passports stamped with the letter J 1940 World War II: the McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States. 1949 The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) is formed. 1957 “American Bandstand” premieres 1958 Potter Stewart appointed to US Supreme Court 1958 US manned space-flight project renamed Project Mercury 1959 Far side of Moon seen for 1st time, compliments of USSR’s Luna 3 1960 “Route 66” premieres 1960 Nigeria joins the United Nations. 1963 John F. Kennedy signs the ratification of the Partial Test Ban Treaty. 1965 50 mph gust carries 165 lb Robert Mitera’s tee shot 447 yards to score the world’s longest straight hole-in-one in Omaha 1968 Motion Picture Association of America adopts film rating system 1971 Oman joins the United Nations. 1982 Cats opens on Broadway and runs for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000. 1984 Walter Payton passes Jim Brown as NFL’s career rushing leader 1985 Lynette Woodard, chosen as 1st woman on the Harlem Globetrotters 1985 The Mameyes landslide kills close to 300 in the worst landslide in North American history. 1990 Israel begins handing out gas masks to its citizens 1993 The Great Flood of 1993 ends at St. Louis, Missouri, 103 days after it began, as the Mississippi River falls below flood stage. 1998 Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten by two young adults in Laramie, Wyoming. 2001 The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan begins with an air assault and covert operations on the ground.]]]]> ]]>