On October 27th...

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Independence Day (Turkmenistan)

1505 Tsar Ivan III of Russia died.

1662 England sold Dunkirk to France.

1682 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was founded.

1728 English explorer James Cook was born.

1775 The United States Navy was established.

1782 Violinist Niccolò Paganini was born.

1787 The Federalist papers began appearing in the New York Independent Journal.

1795 Spain and the United States concluded the Treaty of San Lorenzo, guaranteeing unimpeded navigation on the Mississippi River.

1810 The United States annexed West Florida from Spain.

1811 Isaac Singer, inventor of the first commercially successful sewing machine, was born.

1858 R. H. Macy & Co. opened its first store, on Sixth Avenue in New York City, New York.
1858 Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, was born.

1871 William Macy "Boss" Tweed, Democratic leader of Tammany Hall, was arrested after the New York Times exposed his corruption.

1872 Emily Post, etiquette expert and adviser, was born.

1873 Joseph Glidden patented improved barbed wire.

1880 Vere Brabazon Ponsonby, Earl of Bessborough, Governor General of Canada, was born.
1880 Theodore Roosevelt married Alice Hathaway Lee.

1889 Novelist Enid Bagnold was born.

1904 Interborough Rapid Transit service began in New York City, New York.

1914 Poet Dylan Thomas was born.

1916 The first published reference to "jazz" appeared, in Variety magazine.

1919 The U. S. Congress passed the Volstead Act to implement Prohibition.

1920 The League of Nations moved its headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland.
1920 Actress Nanette Fabray was born.

1925 Water skis were patented by Fred Waller.

1926 H. R. Haldeman, President Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff, was born.

1932 Poet Sylvia Plath was born.

1933 Pianist Floyd Cramer was born.

1938 DuPont announced that its new synthetic fiber would be called "nylon."

1939 Comedian John Cleese was born.

1940 The New York World's Fair ended its second and final season.
1940 Mafia boss John Gotti was born.

1941 Auto racer Dick Trickle was born.

1942 Singer Lee Greenwood was born.

1947 You Bet Your Life, starring Groucho Marx, premiered on ABC Radio.

1954 Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. became the first black General in the United States Air Force.

1958 Singer-musician Simon Le Bon was born.

1959 The first pictures of the "dark side" of the Moon were released by the Soviet Union.

1961 The first Saturn rocket was launched.

1963 Marla Mapes, wife of billionaire Donald Trump, was born.

1969 Ralph Nader established a consumer organization known as Nader's Raiders.

1972 Golden Gate National Recreation Area was created.

1975 Novelist Rex Stout died.

1979 St. Vincent & Grenadines became independent of the United Kingdom.

1924 Canadian politician Judy Verlyn LaMarsh died.

1982 China announced that its population had reached one billion plus.

1986 Great Basin National Park was established.

1990 Musician Xavier Cugat died.

1991 Turkmenistan gained independence from the Soviet Union.

1996 Actor Morey Amsterdam died.

2008 Bernard W. Rogers, U. S. Army Chief of Staff and NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, died.

2016 Prince Mikasa of Japan died.

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This page was last updated on October 27, 2018.