Otis History: October's Past History
By Peter Cameron
October 2025
This history column will look at events that influenced our country’s history during the month of October, through the years. Many of these events directly or indirectly impacted America’s history.
October 1, 1908—Henry Ford’s Model T is rolled out for sale. In seven short years it will become financially available to most average Americans making rural America and Otis accessible to the masses.
October 7, 1765—The Stamp Act Congress meets. It consisted of 9 colonies that protested England’s first direct tax on the colonies.
October 8, 1871—The great Chicago Fire takes place. It started when Mrs. Oleary’s cow kicked over a lantern in her barn on DeKoven Street. It killed 300, left 90,000 homeless and leveled 3.5 square miles of the city.
October 11, 1521—King Henry XIII of England is named “Defender of the Faith” by the Pope. Ironically just four years later when the same Pope refuses to annul his marriage, he rejects the established Christian religion, establishing the Church of England. This in turn starts religious persecution that sends the Pilgrims and Puritans to the New World.
October 12, 1492—Christopher Columbus arrives in the Bahamas and the New World.
October 13, 1792—George Washington lays the cornerstone of the White House in Washington D.C.
October 16, 1701—Yale University is founded in Guilford, CT. It moved to New Haven in 1716.
October 17, 1777—British General Burgoyne surrenders 5,700 troops after Colonial Forces defeat him in the Battle of Saratoga in New York.
October 19, 1781—British General Lord Cornwallis surrenders to General George Washington in Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ending the American Revolution and establishing the United States of America.
October 20, 1818—Britain and the United States agree to the location of the U.S.-Canadian border.
October 22, 1962—President John Kennedy goes on national television to inform the American public of the existence of Russian Nuclear Missiles on Cuba, setting off a week of worry and panic. Six days later, Russians removed the missiles. Later, the U.S. removed their missiles from Turkey.
October 23, 1929—So called “Black Thursday” on the New York Stock Exchange when 13 million shares of stock were sold in a panicked sell-off causing economic uncertainty nationwide.
October 26, 1881—Shootout at the OK Corral occurs in Tombstone, Arizona between the Clayton and Earp families.
October 27, 1787—1st Federalist papers published, advocating replacing the Articles of Confederation with a Constitution.
October 28, 1636—Harvard University founded in Cambridge Massachusetts. The oldest college in the United States.
October 29, 1929—So called “Black Tuesday” at the New York Stock Exchange. 16 million more shares of stock were sold in panicked selling leading to the Great Depression.
October 30, 1938—The “War of the Worlds” broadcast on national radio, purporting to be a Martian invasion of New Jersey, causes a nationwide panic.
October 31, 1952—United States detonates first hydrogen nuclear bomb at Elugelab Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.
There are a few housekeeping items to take care of. In a past column I wrote about “Project Mishoon,” a Native American project. I received an email from the tribe requesting the following corrections. The leader’s name is Cheryl “Watching Crow” Stedtler. I had mistakenly referred to her as Cheryl “Walking Crow.” Additionally, the tribe is the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band not associated with the Nipmuc Nation. And the project began in 2001 not 2011, For more information visit https://nipmuc.gov/. I apologize for the oversights.
Hope to see you at my “History of Witches” presentation at the Otis Library, Tuesday, October 7th. Pre-registration required.
