1139 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the Caucasus mountains in the Seljuk Empire which caused mass destruction and killed up to 300,000 people.
1399 – Henry IV was proclaimed king of England.
1541 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his forces entered Tula territory in present-day western Arkansas and encountered fierce resistance.
1791 – The first performance of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute took place two months before his death.
1882 – Thomas Edison’s first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) began operation.
1888 – Jack the Ripper killed his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.
1907 – The McKinley National Memorial, the final resting place of assassinated U.S. President William McKinley and his family, was dedicated in Canton, Ohio.
1909 – The Cunard Line’s RMS Mauretania made a record-breaking westbound crossing of the Atlantic, that would not be bettered for 20 years.
1915 – World War I: Radoje Ljutovac became the first soldier in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft with ground-to-air fire.
1933 – The half-hour country music and comedy show National Barn Dance debuted on WLS in Chicago, IL.
1935 – The Hoover Dam, astride the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, was dedicated.
1935 – The show Porgy and Bess premiered in Boston, MA. It opened on Broadway on October 10.
1938 – The League of Nations unanimously outlawed the “intentional bombings of civilian populations”.
1939 – NBC broadcast the first televised American football game.
1943 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy was dedicated by President Roosevelt.
1947 – The 1947 World Series began. It was the first to be televised; to include an African-American player; to exceed $2 million in receipts; to see a pinch-hit home run; and to have six umpires on the field.
1954 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus was commissioned as the world’s first nuclear-powered vessel.
1954 – Julie Andrews made her first Broadway appearance in The Boy Friend.
1961 – Bob Dylan played harmonica for the recording of Carolyn Hester’s first Columbia album.
1962 – James Meredith entered the University of Mississippi, defying racial segregation rules.
1965 – Donovan made his U.S. television debut on the show Shindig!
1966 – “I Love My Dog” was released by Cat Stevens. It was his first single.
1968 – The Boeing 747 was rolled out and shown to the public for the first time.
1969 – David Crosby’s girlfriend Christine Gail Hinton was killed in a car accident.
1972 – Columbia Records announced that they were closing down four Hollywood studios.
1980 – Ethernet specifications were published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
1987 – Roy Orbison recorded “A Black And White Night Live” at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, CA.
1988 – John Lennon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2016 – Two paintings with a combined value of $100 million were recovered after having been stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in 2002.