#Middlebury
On Oct. 6, 1847, “Jane Eyre,” the book about the struggles of an orphan girl who grows up to become a governess, is published. Author Charlotte Bronte wrote of her experiences at being sent to a boarding school at the age of 5.- On Oct. 8, 1869, future auto inventor and mechanic Frank Duryea is born. In 1893, his Duryea Motor Wagon made its first successful trip, 600 yards down his street in Springfield, Massachusetts, before the transmission blew.
- On Oct. 9, 1936, harnessing the power of the Colorado River, the Hoover Dam begins sending electricity over transmission lines spanning 266 miles to Los Angeles. The dam was built for the collection, preservation and distribution of that most precious of all Western commodities, water.
- On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union inaugurates the “Space Age” with its launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. The 22-inch sphere weighed 184 pounds. In January 1958, Sputnik burned up in the atmosphere when its orbit deteriorated.
- On Oct. 7, 1960, the television drama “Route 66” first airs on CBS. It followed two young men as they drove across the country in a Corvette. “Route 66” was shot on location all over the U.S. instead of in a studio.
- On Oct. 10, 1973, Spiro Agnew becomes the first U.S. vice president to resign in disgrace. He pleaded no contest to a charge of income-tax evasion in exchange for dropping charges of political corruption, which included accepting bribes even while vice president.
- On Oct. 5, 1986, after his plane crashes in Nicaragua, ex-Marine Eugene Hasenfus confesses to shipping military supplies into Nicaragua for use by the Contras, an anti-Sandinista force created and funded by the U.S. and run by the Central Intelligence Agency. The resulting Iran-Contra scandal would rock the Reagan administration.
© 2021 Hearst Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
You must be logged in to post a comment.