On October 21, 1879, Thomas Edison invented the first practical electric incandescent lamp.

On this day in 1803, the United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase. 'There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy,' Thomas Jefferson wrote. 'It Is New Orleans…'

At 2:00pm on October 19, 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrenders his British army at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.

On this day in 1867, the United States takes possession of Alaska from Russia and it was William Seward, Andrew Johnson's secretary of state that inked the deal.

On October 17, 1933, Physicist Albert Einstein fled Nazi Germany and arrived in the United States. The German physicist, born to a Jewish family, was undoubtedly a target of hostility.

On October 16, 1962, President John F. Kennedy learned that an American U-2 spy plane had detected missile bases on the remote island of Cuba. This terrifying intel triggered the now infamous Cuban Missile Crisis. 

On October 15, 1951, comedic history was made when the hit television sitcom 'I Love Lucy' premiered for the first time on CBS.

On this day in 1947, Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound in level flight.

On this date in 1903, the Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 in Game 8 to win what was then known as the World's Championship Series. Today it's known as the World Series.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus makes landfall at an island he calls San Salvador, a part of today's Bahamas.

On October 11, 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev open two days of arms-control talks in Reykjavik, Iceland.

On October 10, 1962, the president's aircraft, commonly called Air Force One, goes into service. It was a Boeing 707.

On this day in 1936, the Boulder, now called the Hoover Dam, begins sending electricity across 266 miles of mountains and deserts to Los Angeles.

In 1918, Alvin York almost single-handedly kills two dozen German soldiers and captured 132 prisoners in France's Argonne Forest. The most famous American warrior of World War I was a reluctant hero.

This day in 1780 brought the Battle of Kings Mountain, a fight Thomas Jefferson called the 'turn of the tide of success' in the Revolutionary War. Patriot militia forces annihilate a Loyalist army at Kings Mountain in South Carolina.

October 31st is Halloween. Halloween is a holiday with ancient origins that has been gradually Americanized.

On this day in 1735, John Adams, the second U.S. president, is born in Braintree, Massachusetts.

On this day in 2012, Hurricane Sandy makes landfall near Atlantic City, causing devastation in New Jersey, New York, and other states.

On October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty on an island in New York Harbor, declaring, 'We Will Not Forget That Liberty Has Here Made Her Home; Nor Shall Her Chosen Altar Be Neglected.'

October 27, 1787 saw the publication of the first in a series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay urging ratification of the Constitution. 

On October 26, 1825, the Erie Canal opens its entire 363 miles from Buffalo to Albany, New York.