What Happened On
First Photo of Earth from Space
October 24, 1946
Taken from an altitude of 65 miles above Earth from a motion picture camera mounted on a V-2 rocket launched from White Sands Missile Range.
Photo Credit: Erik Liljeroth, Nordiska museet
Photo Credit: Erik Liljeroth, Nordiska museet
Nylon Stockings
October 24, 1939
The first nylon stockings go on sale in Wilmington, Delaware stores, but only to Wilmington residents. Stronger and cheaper than silk stockings, they were an instant hit. Wilmington was home of DuPont where they were manufactured. And you had to prove you were a Wilmington resident in order to buy them. They went on sale to the general public the following May.
Dillinger's Largest Robbery
October 24, 1933
The notorious criminal John Dillinger and his gang rob a Greencastle, Indiana bank of $74,802 ($1.7 million in today's money). It was their largest bank robbery. It is claimed that when Dillinger saw a farmer at a teller with cash, he asked the farmer if it was his or the bank's money. The farmer replied it was his life savings. Dillinger, a farm boy, replied, "Keep it. We only want the Bank's money."
First Person to Go Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel and Survive
October 24, 1901
Annie Edson Taylor makes the plunge on what was her 63rd birthday. She had tested the barrel by sending it over the falls with a cat inside. The cat survived. Taylor used a custom-made barrel, constructed of oak and iron and padded with a mattress. After the lid was screwed on, a bicycle tire pump was used to compress the air in the barrel. Except for a small gash on her head, she was unharmed in her adventure.
Construction of the first transcontinental telegraph, with a Pony Express rider passing below
Construction of the first transcontinental telegraph, with a Pony Express rider passing below
First U.S. Transcontinental Telegraph
October 24, 1861
The first U.S. Transcontinental Telegraph message is sent, from San Francisco to Washington D.C. It provided instant communication between the east and west coasts, which previously could take months. For example, it had taken 110 days in 1841 for the news of President William Henry Harrison's death to reach Los Angeles. The project consisted of 27,500 poles and 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of single-strand iron wire, cost $500,000, and took a little more than a year to complete. Keeping the telegraph line operational posed many challenges, as storms and wildlife damaged lines, along with native Americans destroying lines during the Indian wars.
This also marked the end of the Pony Express, which officially ceased operations two days later.
United Nations
October 24, 1945
The United Nations begins operations. Fifty countries had signed its charter.
40-Hour Work Week
October 24, 1940
The Fair Labor Standards Act goes into effect, establishing the 40-hour work week in the U.S.
View from Edgewater, New Jersey (1931)
View from Edgewater, New Jersey (1931)
George Washington Bridge
October 24, 1931
The George Washington Bridge is dedicated and opened to pedestrians, opening for automobile traffic the following day. It connected New York and New Jersey.
The opening ceremony was attended by 30,000 guests and included a show from military airplanes, and speeches from politicians, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York at the time.
Tolls were collected in both directions: 50¢ for passenger cars and 10¢ for pedestrians.
Black Thursday
October 24, 1929
Stock Market panic due to declining stock prices. The stock market crash was just around the corner, marking the end of the Roaring '20s and the start of the great depression.
Fleischmann Hour
October 24, 1929
The Fleischmann Hour debuts on NBC radio featuring Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees.
Western Virginia Votes to Secede from Virginia
October 24, 1861
A convention in western Virginia votes to secede from Virginia and form the state of West Virginia.
Birthdays
Photo Credit: Jim Summaria
Photo Credit: Jim Summaria
Bill Wyman (William George Perks Jr.)
Born October 24, 1936
English musician. Bass guitarist for the Rolling Stones from (1962-93). In 1989, 52-year-old Wyman married 18-year-old Mandy Smith, whom he had been dating since she was 13. They divorced two years later.
J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson
Born October 24, 1930 d. 1959
American singer. Music: Chantilly Lace (1958) and Little Red Riding Hood (1958). He died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly on The Day the Music Died. Richardson was supposed to ride the bus, but was suffering from the flu and didn't want to ride the cold bus, so Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat on the plane for him.
Richardson is credited for creating the first music video in 1958. He recorded music videos for his songs Chantilly Lace, Big Bopper's Wedding, and Little Red Riding Hood. In a 1959 music magazine interview, he predicted songs would be recorded visually and coined the term "rock video".
Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The first appearance of Batman
Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The first appearance of Batman
Creator of Batman
Bob Kane
Born October 24, 1915 d. 1998
American Hall of Fame cartoonist. Creator of Batman (1939).
Gilda Gray
Born October 24, 1901 d. 1959
Polish-born American dancer, singer. She popularized the Shimmy dance of the Roaring Twenties.
James Schoolcraft Sherman
Born October 24, 1855 d. 1912
American politician. 27th U.S. Vice-President (1909-12, under William Howard Taft), U.S. House of Representatives (1887-91, 1893-1909, New York). He was the first U.S. Vice President to fly in a plane (1911) and the first to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game. He died of Bright's disease while in office.
Author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
Sarah Josepha Hale
Born October 24, 1788 d. 1879
American author. Writings: the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb (1830). Reportedly, the poem was inspired by an actual event. Hale was teaching children at a small school when a student named Mary entered the classroom followed by her pet lamb. After the lamb disrupted the class, Hale put the lamb outside where it waited for Mary till class was dismissed later that day.
The very first voice recording was that of Thomas Edison's recitation of Mary Had a Little Lamb (1877).
Hale is known as "The Mother of Thanksgiving", as it was largely due to her 17-year campaign that in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday.
When construction of the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston stalled, Hale raised $30,000 for its completion.
Hale also founded the Seaman's Aid Society (1833) to assist the families of Boston sailors who died at sea.
"Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And every where that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go;
He followed her to school one day—
That was against the rule,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school."
Discovered Bacteria (Animalcules)
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Born October 24, 1632 d. 1723
Dutch biologist, Father of Microscopy. Using a single lens microscope of his own design, he became the first person to see microorganisms in detail (1683). He wrote a letter to Britain's Royal Society describing the "animalcules" he observed under his microscope, creating the first known description of bacteria.
Kevin Kline
Born October 24, 1947
American actor. TV: Search For Tomorrow (Woody Reed).
Jerry Edmonton (Gerald McCrohan)
Born October 24, 1946 d. 1993
Canadian drummer, with Steppenwolf. Edmonton died in a car accident at age 47, when he crashed into a tree after failing to maneuver a turn.
Music: Born To Be Wild (1968) and Magic Carpet Ride (1968).
F. Murray Abraham
Born October 24, 1939
American Oscar-winning actor. Film: Amadeus (1984, Oscar, Mozart's rival Salieri).
David Nelson
Born October 24, 1936 d. 2011
American actor. TV: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (as himself).
Melvin Purvis
Born October 24, 1903 d. 1960
American FBI agent, was the FBI agent in charge during the killings of John Dillinger and "Pretty Boy" Floyd.
First Person to Go Over Niagara Falls In a Barrel and Survive
Annie Edson Taylor
Born October 24, 1838 d. 1921
American daredevil. She was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive (1901). She did it on her 63rd birthday.
Domitian
Born October 24, A.D. 51 d. A.D. 96
Roman Emperor (81-96 AD). Known for his cruelty, he was assassinated by a man hired by his wife and court officers after they discovered the emperor's plans to execute them.
Deaths
Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her arrest during the bus boycotts
Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her arrest during the bus boycotts
Rosa Parks
Died October 24, 2005 b. 1913
American civil-rights leader. She helped start the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man (1955).
Parks had initially seated herself in the black section of the bus. However, when the whites-only section became filled, the bus driver declared the section she was sitting in was now whites-only and asked her and several other blacks to move. The other blacks moved, but Parks refused prompting her arrest. Her arrest led to a year-long city bus boycott which then led to ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional.
While some claim she wouldn't give up her seat because she was tired, Parks said, "I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day … No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
Parks was the first African American woman to have her likeness depicted in the National Statuary Hall (2013).
Don Messick
Died October 24, 1997 b. 1926
American voice actor. Voice of Astro in The Jetsons, Scooby in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Bamm Bamm in The Flintstones, Boo-Boo Bear and Ranger Smith in The Yogi Bear Show, and Papa Smurf and Azrael in The Smurfs.
László Biró (László József Schweiger)
Died October 24, 1985 b. 1899
Hungarian-Argentine inventor. He patented the first successful ballpoint pen (1943). He noticed that printer's ink dried quickly, but was too thick to use in a fountain pen. He developed a ball tip that was free to turn in a socket, and would pick up ink from a cartridge as it turned and then deposit it on the paper. He originally patented his pen in Paris in 1938, but had to flee to Argentina due to the Nazis. See U.S. Patent 2390636A
Jackie Robinson (Jack Roosevelt Robinson)
Died October 24, 1972 b. 1919
American Hall of Fame baseball player, 1949 MVP. He was the first black to play major league baseball in the modern era (1947, Brooklyn Dodgers), the first black major league MVP, and was the first black inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (1962).
In 1944, Robinson was court-martialed by the U.S. Army for insubordination after he refused to move to the back of a military bus. He was eventually acquitted of all charges.
Note: The last African-American to play major league baseball before Robinson was Moses Fleetwood Walker, who played for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884.
Tycho Brahe
Died October 24, 1601 b. 1546
Danish nobleman, astronomer. Known for accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations, his observations were some five times more accurate than the best available observations at the time. Brahe observed a very bright star (SN 1572), which suddenly appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia. Brahe found the object did not change its position relative to the fixed stars over several months, as all planets did in their periodic orbital motions, and deduced that it was a fixed star in the stellar sphere beyond all the planets. Up to that time, it was believed the stars were unchanging. The following year he published De nova stella, thereby coining the term nova for a "new" star.
In 1566, Brahe lost part of his nose in a sword duel against his third cousin, a fellow nobleman, and wore a metal prosthetic nose the rest of his life. The argument started over who was the best mathematician.
Richard Roundtree
Died October 24, 2023 b. 1942
American actor. Film: Shaft (1971, title role) and Earthquake (1974, Miles Quade). TV: Shaft (1973-74, title role).
Robert Guillaume (Robert Peter Williams)
Died October 24, 2017 b. 1927
American Emmy-Grammy-winning actor. TV: Soap (1977-80, Emmy, Benson DuBois) Benson (1979-86, Emmy, Benson DuBois). Audio book: The Lion King (1995, Grammy).
Fats Domino (Antoine Domino Jr.)
Died October 24, 2017 b. 1928
American singer. Music: Blueberry Hill (1956). He recorded The Fat Man (1949), which is considered the first million-selling rock & roll record.
O'Hara as Esmeralda
O'Hara as Esmeralda
Maureen O'Hara (Maureen FitzSimons)
Died October 24, 2015 b. 1920
Irish actress. Film: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939, Esmeralda).
Marcia Strassman
Died October 24, 2014 b. 1948
American actress. TV: Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-79, Gabe's wife Julie) and M*A*S*H (1972-73, Nurse Margie Cutler). Film: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989, the mom).
She died at age 66 from breast cancer that had spread to her bones.
Raul Julia
Died October 24, 1994 b. 1940
Puerto Rican actor. Film: Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) and The Addams Family (1991, Gomez).
Gene Roddenberry
Died October 24, 1991 b. 1921
American television writer, producer. TV: Star Trek (1966-69).
César Ritz
Died October 24, 1918 b. 1850
Swiss hotelkeeper. "Hotelier to Kings." He founded the world famous Ritz hotels in London, Paris, New York, etc.
Daniel Webster
Died October 24, 1852 b. 1782
American statesman.
Elias Boudinot
Died October 24, 1821 b. 1740
10th president of the Continental Congress (1782-83), and missionary to the Indians.