This Day in History – October 4, 2011

1636 1st code of law for Plymouth Colony 1648 Peter Stuyvesant establishes Americas 1st volunteer firemen 1824 Mexico becomes a republic 1862 Battle of Corinth ends 1876 Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, becoming the first public institution of higher education in Texas. 1883 Orient Express’ 1st run, linking Turkey to Europe by rail 1916 Market Street’s “Path of Gold” lit for 1st time 1924 NY Giants become 1st team to appear in 4 consecutive World Series (World Series #21) 1926 Dahlia is officially designated as SF city flower 1927 Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore. 1931 The comic strip Dick Tracy by Chester Gould debuts 1940 Wrestling returns to Madison Sq Garden after 12 year lay off 1941 Norman Rockwell’s Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. 1943 World War II: U.S. captures Solomon Islands. 1957 “Leave It to Beaver,” debuts on CBS 1957 USSR launches Sputnik I, the 1st artificial Earth satellite 1959 USSR Luna 3 sent back 1st photos of Moon’s far side 1964 Patriots’ Gino Cappelletti kicks 6-of-6 field goals against Broncos 1965 Becoming the first Pope to ever visit the United States of America and the Western hemisphere, Pope Paul VI arrives in New York. 1965 USSR launches Luna 7; crash lands on Moon 1966 Lesotho (Basutoland) gains independence from Britain (National Day) 1967 1st World Series since 1948 not to feature Yanks, Giants or Dodgers (World Series #64) 1969 UN starts issuing postage stamps at Geneva headquarters 1969 Baseball’s 1st divisional playoff games, Mets beat Braves 9-5 & Orioles beat Twins 4-3 in 12 innings 1970 Herbert Schmidtz makes highest parachute jump from a tower by leaping from a 1,984 ft TV mast in Tulsa, Oklahoma 1971 Borden’s opens a turn-of-century ice cream parlor at Disney World 1978 Funeral services held for Pope John Paul I 1983 Richard Noble reaches record 1019 kph in jet-powered car 1984 US govt closes down due to budget problems 1985 Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, United States. 1985 Henry G Perry completes 157 day, 14,021 mile bicycle tour of Australia 1985 Shite Muslims claim to have killed hostage William Buckley 1987 1st “Scrub Sunday” of NFL football with replacement players 1987 James Jefferson of Winnipeg scores 2 TDs on interception returns without making an interception. (He scored on laterals) 1988 Pillsbury stock soars $18.37 to $57.37 on takeover bid 1988 U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted for fraud. 1997 The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. An FBI investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million in cash which had been taken. 2001 NATO confirms invocation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. 2001 Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: a Sibir Airlines Tupolev TU-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. 78 people are killed. 2004 SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.]]]]> ]]>