1903 – The Wright brothers attempt to fly the Wright Flyer for the first time at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

1879 – 1st automatic telephone switching system patented

1806 – Approaching the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains during his second exploratory expedition, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike spots a distant mountain peak that looks “like a small blue cloud.” The mountain was later named Pike’s Peak in his honor.

1843 – Yellowstone photographer William Jackson is born.

1888 – Jack the Ripper’s infamous killing spree in the Whitechapel district of London’s East End came to an end.

1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected for a record fourth term as President of the United States of America.

1912 – Yippee-Ki=Yay!  On this day in 1912, singing cowgirl Dale Evans was born.

1915 – On October 29, 1915, Jane Addams, a leading American social activist, writes to United States President Woodrow Wilson, warning him of the potential dangers of readying the country to enter the First World War.

1901 – a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel.