Historical Events on October 24

  • 1590: The governor of the 2nd Roanoke Colony – John White – goes back to England after he was unable to locate the lost colonist of the 1st Roanoke Colony.
  • 1648: The Thirty Year’s War ends when the Peace of Westphalia is signed.
  • 1812: Near Moscow, the Battle of Maloyaroslavets occurs during the Napoleonic Wars.
  • 1851: Umbriel and Ariel – both moons of Uranus – are discovered by William Lassell.
  • 1861: The 1st transcontinental telegraph line across the U.S is completed on this day.
  • 1871: Approximately 20 Chinese immigrants are tortured and lynched during the Chinese Massacre of 1871, which took place in Los Angeles, California.
  • 1901: The first person to successfully go over Niagara Falls in a barrel is Annie Edson Taylor.
  • 1911: Orville Wright flies for 9 minutes & 45 seconds in a Wright Glider at Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina.
  • 1944: At the Battle of Leyte Gulf during World War II, American aircraft attack and sink the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku and the Japanese battleship Musashi.
  • 1945: The United Nations is founded on this day.
  • 1947: During testimony at the House Un-American Activities Committee, Walt Disney gives the names of Disney employees that he believes are communists.
  • 1954: United States support is pledged to South Vietnam by Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  • 1977: The holiday Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the last time. In 1978, it would be observed on November 11th.
  • 1998: Deep Space 1 is launched.

Famous Birthdays on October 24

  • Polish-American actress and singer, Gilda Gray is born in 1901.
  • American FBI agent, Melvin Purvis is born in 1903.
  • American playwright and director, Moss Hart is born in 1904.
  • French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes is born in 1932.
  • English journalist, author and poet Adrian Mitchell is born in 1932.
  • English gangsters, Reginald and Ronald Kray are born in 1933.
  • American actor F. Murray Abraham is born in 1939.
  • Irish author and journalist Frank Delaney is born in 1942.
  • American actor Kevin Kline is born in 1947.