Let's go to Topeka, Kansas today.
The photos are: 1) the Kansas state capital building in Topeka, 2) downtown Topeka viewed from the capital building, 3) the Topeka skyline reflected in the Kansas River, 4) Ensley Garden, 5) An old stone gazebo at Lake Shawnee, and 6) the Topeka (and Shawnee County) library.
Topeka is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat and most populous city of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. The population was 122,377 at the 2000 census, and it was estimated to be 122,113 in the year 2006. The Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, and Wabaunsee counties, had an estimated population of 226,268 in the year 2003. Three ships of the US Navy have been named USS Topeka in honor of the city.
The name "Topeka" is widely believed to mean "a good place to grow potatoes" in "a tribal language" or in "Indian words". This is nearly correct. More precisely, the languages in question are Kansa and Ioway, and the name in both languages means either "to dig good potatoes" or "a place in which to dig good potatoes": the second variant is the one with the extra syllable, Tó Ppí Okˀé. With only three syllables, Topeka or Tó Ppí Kˀé means "dig good potatoes", and does not refer to a location or to growing potatoes. The name "potato" in this case refers to the prairie potato, a perennial herb which is an important food for many Native Americans.
Although there is considerable disagreement about the precise etymology of "Topeka" among historians, laypersons and various academics, it is worthwhile to note that both of the aforementioned tribes have the same name for the city, and the same meaning. Other claims have proliferated regarding the etymology of "Topeka", including the notion that an association with potatoes is implausible in an area with no potatoes. In fact, the Kansa "tó" refers to prairie potatoes or turnips which are widespread in central North America, and not to Solanum tuberosum. Another claim, made by Kansas State Historical Society Secretary William Connelley (1927), is that the word "Topeka" is derived from the French word tapage, meaning "noise" or "furor", possibly by way of the Tapage band of Pawnees. However, the French word is pronounced [tæˈpæʒ, tæˈpædʒ] (the latter pronunciation exhibiting palatal affrication common to some North American French varieties), and is similar to the word "Topeka" only in orthography.
The city, laid out in 1854, was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern antislavery men immediately after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. In 1857, Topeka was chartered as a city.
The name "Topeka" is widely believed to mean "a good place to grow potatoes" in "a tribal language" or in "Indian words". This is nearly correct. More precisely, the languages in question are Kansa and Ioway, and the name in both languages means either "to dig good potatoes" or "a place in which to dig good potatoes": the second variant is the one with the extra syllable, Tó Ppí Okˀé. With only three syllables, Topeka or Tó Ppí Kˀé means "dig good potatoes", and does not refer to a location or to growing potatoes. The name "potato" in this case refers to the prairie potato, a perennial herb which is an important food for many Native Americans.
Although there is considerable disagreement about the precise etymology of "Topeka" among historians, laypersons and various academics, it is worthwhile to note that both of the aforementioned tribes have the same name for the city, and the same meaning. Other claims have proliferated regarding the etymology of "Topeka", including the notion that an association with potatoes is implausible in an area with no potatoes. In fact, the Kansa "tó" refers to prairie potatoes or turnips which are widespread in central North America, and not to Solanum tuberosum. Another claim, made by Kansas State Historical Society Secretary William Connelley (1927), is that the word "Topeka" is derived from the French word tapage, meaning "noise" or "furor", possibly by way of the Tapage band of Pawnees. However, the French word is pronounced [tæˈpæʒ, tæˈpædʒ] (the latter pronunciation exhibiting palatal affrication common to some North American French varieties), and is similar to the word "Topeka" only in orthography.
The city, laid out in 1854, was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern antislavery men immediately after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. In 1857, Topeka was chartered as a city.
In the 1840s, wagon trains made their way west from Independence, Missouri, on a 2,000 miles (3,000 km) journey following what would come to be known as the Oregon Trail. About 60 miles (97 km) west of Kansas City, Missouri, three half Kansas Indian sisters married to the French-Canadian Pappan brothers established a ferry service allowing travelers to cross the Kansas River at what is now Topeka. During the 1840s and into the 1850s, travelers could reliably find a way across the river (and plenty of moonshine) but little else was in the area.
In the early 1850s, traffic along the Oregon Trail was supplemented by trade on a new military road stretching from Fort Leavenworth through "Topeka" to the newly-established Fort Riley. In 1854, after completion of the first cabin, nine men established the "Topeka Town Association." Included among them was Cyrus K. Holliday, an "idea man" who would become mayor of Topeka and founder of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. Soon, steamboats were regularly docking at the Topeka landing, depositing meat, lumber, and flour and returning eastward with potatoes, corn, and wheat. By the late 1860s, Topeka had become a commercial hub providing access to many of the Victorian era's comforts.
After a decade of Bleeding Kansas abolitionist and pro-slavery conflict, the Kansas territory was admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state. Topeka was finally chosen as the capital, with Dr. Charles Robinson as the first governor. In 1862, Cyrus K. Holliday donated a tract of land to the state for the construction of a state capitol. Construction of the Kansas State Capitol began in 1866. It would take 37 years to build the capitol, first the east wing, and then the west wing, and finally the central building, using Kansas limestone.
State officers first used the state capitol in 1869, moving from Constitution Hall - Topeka, what is now 427-429 S. Kansas Avenue. Besides being used as the Kansas statehouse from 1863 to 1869, Constitution Hall is the site where anti-slavery settlers convened in 1855 to write the first of four state constitutions, making it the "Free State Capitol." The National Park Service recognizes Constitution Hall - Topeka as headquarters in the operation of the Lane Trail to Freedom on the National Underground Railroad, the chief slave escape passage and free trade road.
Although the drought of 1860 and the ensuing period of the Civil War slowed the growth of Topeka and the state, Topeka kept pace with the revival and period of growth that Kansas enjoyed from the close of the war in 1865 until 1870. Lincoln College, now Washburn University, was established in 1865 in Topeka by a charter issued by the State of Kansas and the General Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches of Kansas. In 1869, the railway started moving westward from Topeka. General offices and machine shops of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad system were established in Topeka in 1878.
During the late 1880s, Topeka passed through a boom period that ended in disaster. There was vast speculation on town lots. The 1889 bubble burst and many investors were ruined. Topeka, however, doubled in population during the period and was able to weather the depressions of the 1890s.
Early in the 20th Century, another kind of boom, this time the automobile industry, took off, and numerous pioneering companies appeared and disappeared. Topeka was not left out. The Smith Automobile Company was founded there in 1902, lasting until 1912.
In the early 1850s, traffic along the Oregon Trail was supplemented by trade on a new military road stretching from Fort Leavenworth through "Topeka" to the newly-established Fort Riley. In 1854, after completion of the first cabin, nine men established the "Topeka Town Association." Included among them was Cyrus K. Holliday, an "idea man" who would become mayor of Topeka and founder of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. Soon, steamboats were regularly docking at the Topeka landing, depositing meat, lumber, and flour and returning eastward with potatoes, corn, and wheat. By the late 1860s, Topeka had become a commercial hub providing access to many of the Victorian era's comforts.
After a decade of Bleeding Kansas abolitionist and pro-slavery conflict, the Kansas territory was admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state. Topeka was finally chosen as the capital, with Dr. Charles Robinson as the first governor. In 1862, Cyrus K. Holliday donated a tract of land to the state for the construction of a state capitol. Construction of the Kansas State Capitol began in 1866. It would take 37 years to build the capitol, first the east wing, and then the west wing, and finally the central building, using Kansas limestone.
State officers first used the state capitol in 1869, moving from Constitution Hall - Topeka, what is now 427-429 S. Kansas Avenue. Besides being used as the Kansas statehouse from 1863 to 1869, Constitution Hall is the site where anti-slavery settlers convened in 1855 to write the first of four state constitutions, making it the "Free State Capitol." The National Park Service recognizes Constitution Hall - Topeka as headquarters in the operation of the Lane Trail to Freedom on the National Underground Railroad, the chief slave escape passage and free trade road.
Although the drought of 1860 and the ensuing period of the Civil War slowed the growth of Topeka and the state, Topeka kept pace with the revival and period of growth that Kansas enjoyed from the close of the war in 1865 until 1870. Lincoln College, now Washburn University, was established in 1865 in Topeka by a charter issued by the State of Kansas and the General Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches of Kansas. In 1869, the railway started moving westward from Topeka. General offices and machine shops of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad system were established in Topeka in 1878.
During the late 1880s, Topeka passed through a boom period that ended in disaster. There was vast speculation on town lots. The 1889 bubble burst and many investors were ruined. Topeka, however, doubled in population during the period and was able to weather the depressions of the 1890s.
Early in the 20th Century, another kind of boom, this time the automobile industry, took off, and numerous pioneering companies appeared and disappeared. Topeka was not left out. The Smith Automobile Company was founded there in 1902, lasting until 1912.
Home to the first African-American kindergarten west of the Mississippi River, Topeka became the home of Linda Brown, the named plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education which was the case responsible for eliminating the standard of "separate but equal", and requiring racial integration in American public schools.
It is interesting to note that, at the time the suit was filed, only the elementary schools were segregated in Topeka, and that Topeka High School had been fully integrated since its inception in 1871. It is also interesting to note that Topeka High School was the only public high school in Topeka. Highland Park High School became part of the Topeka school system in 1959 along with the opening of Topeka West High School in 1961. A Catholic high school—Assumption High School, later renamed Capitol Catholic High School, then Hayden High School after its founder, Father Francis Hayden in 1939—also served the city beginning in 1911.[8]
Monroe Elementary, a segregated school that figured in the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, is now Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site with interpretive exhibits. The national historic site was opened by President George W. Bush on May 17, 2004.
Topeka has struggled with the burden of racial discrimination even after Brown. New lawsuits attempted unsuccessfully to force suburban school districts that ring the city to participate in racial integration with the inner city district. In the late 1980s a group of citizens calling themselves the Task Force to Overcome Racism in Topeka formed to address the problem in a more organized way.
On June 8, 1966, Topeka was struck by an F5 rated tornado, according to the Fujita scale. It started on the southwest side of town, moving northeast, passing over a local landmark named Burnett's Mound. According to a local Indian legend, this mound was thought to protect the city from tornadoes. It went on to rip through the city, hitting the downtown area and Washburn University. Total dollar cost was put at $100 million making it, at the time, one of the costliest tornadoes in American history. Even to this day, with inflation factored in, the Topeka tornado stands as one of the costliest on record. It also helped bring to prominence future CBS and A&E broadcaster Bill Kurtis, who became well known for his televised admonition to "take cover, for God's sake, take cover" on WIBW-TV during the tornado. (The city is, by the way, home of a National Weather Service Forecast Office that serves 23 counties in north-central, northeast, and east-central Kansas).
Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Topeka recovered from the 1966 tornado and has sustained steady economic growth. For example, Washburn University, which lost several historic buildings from the tornado, received financial support from the community and alumni to make possible the rebuilding of many school facilities during the coming years. Today, university facilities offer more than one million square feet of modern academic and support space.
In 1974, Forbes Air base closed and more than 10,000 people left Topeka, impacting the city’s growth patterns for years to come. During the 1980’s, Topeka citizens voted to build a new airport and convention center and to change the form of city government. West Ridge Mall opened in 1988 and in 1989 Topeka became a motorsports mecca with the opening of Heartland Park Topeka. The Topeka Performing Arts Center opened in 1991. In the early 1990’s the city experienced business growth with Reser’s Fine Foods locating in Topeka and expansions for Santa Fe and Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
During the 1990’s voters approved bond issues for public school improvements including magnet schools, technology, air conditioning, classrooms, and a sports complex. Voters also approved a quarter-cent sales tax for a new Law Enforcement Center, and then in 1996 approved an extension of the sales tax for the East Topeka Interchange connecting the Oakland Expressway, K-4, I-70, and the Kansas Turnpike. During the 1990’s Shawnee Countians voted to extend tax support to the County for the expansion of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. The Kansas Legislature and Governor also approved legislation to replace the majority of the property tax supporting Washburn University with a countywide sales tax.
In 2000 the citizens again voted to extend the quarter-cent sales tax, this time for the economic development of Topeka and Shawnee County. In August, 2004, Shawnee County citizens voted to repeal the 2000 quarter-cent sales tax and replace it with a 12- year half-cent sales tax designated for economic development, roads, and bridges. Each year the sales tax funds provide $5 million designated for business development job creation incentives, and $9 million for roads and bridges.
Planning is under way to continue to redevelop areas along the Kansas River, which runs west to east through Topeka. In the Kansas River Corridor through the center of town, Downtown Topeka has experienced apartment and condominium loft development, and façade and streetscape improvements. On the other side of the river, Historic North Topeka has benefited from a major streetscape project and the renovated Great Overland Station, regarded as the finest representation of classic railroad architecture in Kansas. The Great Overland Station is directly across the river from the State Capitol, which is undergoing an eight-year, $283 million renovation.
In 2006, construction began to redevelop the historic College Hill district. The district, just north of Washburn University, has been transformed into a vibrant area of retail shops, apartments, and townhomes.
It is interesting to note that, at the time the suit was filed, only the elementary schools were segregated in Topeka, and that Topeka High School had been fully integrated since its inception in 1871. It is also interesting to note that Topeka High School was the only public high school in Topeka. Highland Park High School became part of the Topeka school system in 1959 along with the opening of Topeka West High School in 1961. A Catholic high school—Assumption High School, later renamed Capitol Catholic High School, then Hayden High School after its founder, Father Francis Hayden in 1939—also served the city beginning in 1911.[8]
Monroe Elementary, a segregated school that figured in the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, is now Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site with interpretive exhibits. The national historic site was opened by President George W. Bush on May 17, 2004.
Topeka has struggled with the burden of racial discrimination even after Brown. New lawsuits attempted unsuccessfully to force suburban school districts that ring the city to participate in racial integration with the inner city district. In the late 1980s a group of citizens calling themselves the Task Force to Overcome Racism in Topeka formed to address the problem in a more organized way.
On June 8, 1966, Topeka was struck by an F5 rated tornado, according to the Fujita scale. It started on the southwest side of town, moving northeast, passing over a local landmark named Burnett's Mound. According to a local Indian legend, this mound was thought to protect the city from tornadoes. It went on to rip through the city, hitting the downtown area and Washburn University. Total dollar cost was put at $100 million making it, at the time, one of the costliest tornadoes in American history. Even to this day, with inflation factored in, the Topeka tornado stands as one of the costliest on record. It also helped bring to prominence future CBS and A&E broadcaster Bill Kurtis, who became well known for his televised admonition to "take cover, for God's sake, take cover" on WIBW-TV during the tornado. (The city is, by the way, home of a National Weather Service Forecast Office that serves 23 counties in north-central, northeast, and east-central Kansas).
Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Topeka recovered from the 1966 tornado and has sustained steady economic growth. For example, Washburn University, which lost several historic buildings from the tornado, received financial support from the community and alumni to make possible the rebuilding of many school facilities during the coming years. Today, university facilities offer more than one million square feet of modern academic and support space.
In 1974, Forbes Air base closed and more than 10,000 people left Topeka, impacting the city’s growth patterns for years to come. During the 1980’s, Topeka citizens voted to build a new airport and convention center and to change the form of city government. West Ridge Mall opened in 1988 and in 1989 Topeka became a motorsports mecca with the opening of Heartland Park Topeka. The Topeka Performing Arts Center opened in 1991. In the early 1990’s the city experienced business growth with Reser’s Fine Foods locating in Topeka and expansions for Santa Fe and Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
During the 1990’s voters approved bond issues for public school improvements including magnet schools, technology, air conditioning, classrooms, and a sports complex. Voters also approved a quarter-cent sales tax for a new Law Enforcement Center, and then in 1996 approved an extension of the sales tax for the East Topeka Interchange connecting the Oakland Expressway, K-4, I-70, and the Kansas Turnpike. During the 1990’s Shawnee Countians voted to extend tax support to the County for the expansion of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. The Kansas Legislature and Governor also approved legislation to replace the majority of the property tax supporting Washburn University with a countywide sales tax.
In 2000 the citizens again voted to extend the quarter-cent sales tax, this time for the economic development of Topeka and Shawnee County. In August, 2004, Shawnee County citizens voted to repeal the 2000 quarter-cent sales tax and replace it with a 12- year half-cent sales tax designated for economic development, roads, and bridges. Each year the sales tax funds provide $5 million designated for business development job creation incentives, and $9 million for roads and bridges.
Planning is under way to continue to redevelop areas along the Kansas River, which runs west to east through Topeka. In the Kansas River Corridor through the center of town, Downtown Topeka has experienced apartment and condominium loft development, and façade and streetscape improvements. On the other side of the river, Historic North Topeka has benefited from a major streetscape project and the renovated Great Overland Station, regarded as the finest representation of classic railroad architecture in Kansas. The Great Overland Station is directly across the river from the State Capitol, which is undergoing an eight-year, $283 million renovation.
In 2006, construction began to redevelop the historic College Hill district. The district, just north of Washburn University, has been transformed into a vibrant area of retail shops, apartments, and townhomes.
Today's Jumble (10/12/08):
NYWIRT = WINTRY; THROYP = TROPHY; QUAPLE = PLAQUE; REGLED = LEDGER; GYNHID = DINGHY; VONCLE = CLOVEN
CIRCLED LETTERS = WNTOLUEGRNHON
What the novice marathoner did unexpectedly.
"WON (IN) THE LONG RUN"
Today is the official Columbus Day (as measured by the Julian calendar) even though it is observed tomorrow in the U.S. Incidentally, by the Gregorian calendar it occurs on October 21st. The observance in the U.S. is officially the second Monday in October.
It is also Clergy Appreciation Day and National Children's Day.
Other things on this day in history:
539 BC - The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon.
1216 - King John of England loses his crown jewels in The Wash, probably near Fosdyke, perhaps near Sutton Bridge
1279 - Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon
1398 - the Treaty of Salynas is signed between Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and the Teutonic Knights, who received Samogitia.
1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia
1582 - Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1654 - The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100.
1692 - The Salem Witch Trials were ended by a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips.
1773 - America's first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia
1792 - First celebration of Columbus Day in the USA held in New York
1793 - The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina
1810 - First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
1822 - Peter I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor of the Brazilian Empire.
1823 - Charles Macintosh, of Scotland, sells the first raincoat.
1892 - The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited in unison by students in US public schools.
1898 - Establishment of the first town council in Mateur.
1899 - Boer republic of South Africa declares war with England.
1901 - President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.
1915 - World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium
1917 - The First Battle of Passchendaele, now Passendale
1918 - A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota.
1928 - An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston
1933 - The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island, is acquired by the United States Department of Justice
1941 - This and the next day, German Nazis kill 11,000 Jews in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. Einsatzkommando 6 massacres most of the remaining Jews of the city, marching them to a ravine where they were killed.[citation needed]
1942 - World War II: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance with the Japanese commander, Aritomo Gotō dying from wounds suffered in the battle and two Japanese destroyers sunk by Allied air attack.
1945 - World War II: Desmond Doss and others receive the Medal Of Honor on the White Houselawn from Harry S. Truman.
1953 - "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York
1959 - At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde.
1960 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonialist policy being conducted in Eastern Europe
1960 - Inejiro Asanuma is assassinated in Japan by Otoya Yamaguchi, a 17-year-old. The camera was rolling at that time.
1962 - Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages
1964 - The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits
1967 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives were futile because of North Vietnam's opposition
1968 - Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain
1970 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas
1972 - En route to the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk
1976 - The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to the late Mao Zedong as chairman of Communist Party of China.
1979 - The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip.
1983 - Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and is sentenced to 4 years in jail.
1984 - Brighton hotel bombing: Margaret Thatcher survives an IRA bomb, which shredded her bathroom barely two minutes after she had left it.
1986 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China
1988 - Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
1991 - Askar Akayev, previously chosen President of Kyrgyzstan by republic's Supreme Soviet, is confirmed president in an uncontested poll.
1994 - NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere either October 13 or October 14).
1997 - Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock.
1999 - Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
1999 - The Day of Six Billion: The proclaimed 6 billionth living human in the world is born.
2000 - The USS Cole is badly damaged in Aden, Yemen, by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39
2002 - Terrorists detonate bombs in Paddy's Pub and the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.
2005 - The second Chinese human spaceflight Shenzhou 6 launched carrying Fèi Jùnlóng and Niè Hǎishèng for five days in orbit.
1216 - King John of England loses his crown jewels in The Wash, probably near Fosdyke, perhaps near Sutton Bridge
1279 - Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon
1398 - the Treaty of Salynas is signed between Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and the Teutonic Knights, who received Samogitia.
1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia
1582 - Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1654 - The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100.
1692 - The Salem Witch Trials were ended by a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips.
1773 - America's first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia
1792 - First celebration of Columbus Day in the USA held in New York
1793 - The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina
1810 - First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
1822 - Peter I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor of the Brazilian Empire.
1823 - Charles Macintosh, of Scotland, sells the first raincoat.
1892 - The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited in unison by students in US public schools.
1898 - Establishment of the first town council in Mateur.
1899 - Boer republic of South Africa declares war with England.
1901 - President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.
1915 - World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium
1917 - The First Battle of Passchendaele, now Passendale
1918 - A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota.
1928 - An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston
1933 - The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island, is acquired by the United States Department of Justice
1941 - This and the next day, German Nazis kill 11,000 Jews in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. Einsatzkommando 6 massacres most of the remaining Jews of the city, marching them to a ravine where they were killed.[citation needed]
1942 - World War II: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance with the Japanese commander, Aritomo Gotō dying from wounds suffered in the battle and two Japanese destroyers sunk by Allied air attack.
1945 - World War II: Desmond Doss and others receive the Medal Of Honor on the White Houselawn from Harry S. Truman.
1953 - "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York
1959 - At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde.
1960 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonialist policy being conducted in Eastern Europe
1960 - Inejiro Asanuma is assassinated in Japan by Otoya Yamaguchi, a 17-year-old. The camera was rolling at that time.
1962 - Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages
1964 - The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits
1967 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives were futile because of North Vietnam's opposition
1968 - Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain
1970 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas
1972 - En route to the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk
1976 - The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to the late Mao Zedong as chairman of Communist Party of China.
1979 - The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip.
1983 - Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and is sentenced to 4 years in jail.
1984 - Brighton hotel bombing: Margaret Thatcher survives an IRA bomb, which shredded her bathroom barely two minutes after she had left it.
1986 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China
1988 - Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
1991 - Askar Akayev, previously chosen President of Kyrgyzstan by republic's Supreme Soviet, is confirmed president in an uncontested poll.
1994 - NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere either October 13 or October 14).
1997 - Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock.
1999 - Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
1999 - The Day of Six Billion: The proclaimed 6 billionth living human in the world is born.
2000 - The USS Cole is badly damaged in Aden, Yemen, by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39
2002 - Terrorists detonate bombs in Paddy's Pub and the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.
2005 - The second Chinese human spaceflight Shenzhou 6 launched carrying Fèi Jùnlóng and Niè Hǎishèng for five days in orbit.
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