Historical Events on October 11

  • 1727: George II is crowned King of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansback is crowned Queen.
  • 1767: An initial survey of the Mason Dixon Line – seperating Maryland from Pennsylvania is finished by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.
  • 1809: Explorer Meriwether Lewis dies mysteriously at an inn called Grinder’s Stand along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee.
  • 1865: The Morant Bay Rebellion begins when hundreds of black men and women led by Paul Bogle march in Jamaica.
  • 1910: United States President Theordore Roosevelt flies on a plane built by the Wright brothers. This makes him the first U.S. President to fly in a plane. The flight occurred at Kinlock Field—which would later become Lambert St.Louis International Airport in St.Louis, Missouri.
  • 1942:S Naval ships intercept and defeat Japanese naval forces on their way to reinforce the island of Guadalcanal at the Battle of Cape Esperance during World War II.
  • 1954: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam during the First Indochina War.
  • 1984: Astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk; She did so from the Space Shuttle Challenger.
  • 1986: United States President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavik, Iceland to continue discussions on how each country can scale back their intermediate nuclear missile arsenals in Europe.
  • 1987: The AIDS Memorial Quilt is displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C during the 2nd National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. This was the first public display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Famous Birthdays on October 11

  • American conductor and founder of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is born in 1835.
  • American businessman and founder of the H.J. Heinz Company, Henry J. Heinz is born in 1844.
  • German-Argentinian chemist and Nobel Prize laureate, Freidrick Bergius is born in 1884.
  • American humanitarian and 39th First Lady of the U.S., Eleanor Roosevelt is born in 1884.
  • American actor Luke Perry is born in 1966.
  • American comedian and actor Artie Lange is born in 1967.