TODAY IN HISTORY - OCTOBER 8TH

1860 – Telegraph line between Los Angeles and San Francisco opens.

1869 – Franklin Pierce, American general, lawyer, and politician, 14th President of the United States (b. 1804) dies.

1871 – Four major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Holland, Michigan, and Manistee, Michigan including the Great Chicago Fire, and the much deadlier Peshtigo Fire.

1873 – Alexey Shchusev, Russian architect and academic, designed Lenin's Mausoleum (d. 1949) is born.

1889 – Collett E. Woolman, American businessman, co-founded Delta Air Lines (d. 1966) is born.

1904 – Edmonton, Alberta is incorporated as a city.

1918 – World War I: In action near Pittem, Belgium, USMC 2nd Lieutenant aviator Ralph Talbot of Weymouth, Massachusetts becomes the first-ever USMC aviator to earn the Medal of Honor.

1918 – World War I: In the Argonne Forest in France, United States Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132, for which he is awarded the Medal of Honor.

1921 – KDKA in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field conducts the first live broadcast of a football game.

1941 – Jesse Jackson, American minister and activist is born.

1943 – Chevy Chase, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter is born.

1956 – New York Yankees's Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series.

1960 – Reed Hastings, American businessman, co-founded Netflix is born.

1969 – The opening rally of the Days of Rage occurs, organized by the Weather Underground in Chicago.

1970 – Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a manoeuvre to deceive world opinion".

1974 – Franklin National Bank collapses due to fraud and mismanagement; at the time it is the largest bank failure in the history of the United States.

1982 – Cats opens on Broadway and runs for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000.

1985 – Bruno Mars, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor is born.

1997 – Bertrand Goldberg, American architect, designed the Marina City Building (b. 1913) dies.

2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.