October 4

A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1641 – The first Christian religious service in Michigan was led by two French Jesuit missionaries in Sault Ste. Marie, MI.

1881 – Edward Leveaux received a patent for his player piano.

1895 – The first U.S. Open golf tournament took place in Newport, RI.

1909 – The first airship race in the U.S. took place in St. Louis, MO.

1915 – The Dinosaur National Monument was established. The area covered part of Utah and Colorado.

1927 – Gutzon Borglum began carving on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

1931 – The Chester Gould comic strip “Dick Tracy” made its debut in the Detroit Daily Mirror.

1933 – “Esquire” magazine was published for the first time.

1957 – The television show “Leave it to Beaver”, starring Jerry Mathers, debuted on CBS.

1957 – The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I into orbit around the Earth. It was the first manmade satellite to enter space. The satellite fell out of orbit on January 4, 1958.

1958 – The first trans-Atlantic passenger service begins with flights between London, England and New York, NY operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation.

1965 – Pope Paul VI arrived in New York, NY, the first Pope to visit the Americas.

1976 – Barbara Walters joined Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk of the TV’s “ABC Evening News” for the first time.

1983 – Richard Noble set a new land speed record of 633.468 miles per hour, driving Thrust2 at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

1986 – CBS news anchor Dan Rather was attacked by two men yelling “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”. The band REM used the phrase for a song title a decade later.

1987 – NFL owners used replacement personnel to play games despite the player’s strike.

1988 – Televangelist Jim Bakker was indicted for fraud.

1990 – The TV show “Beverly Hills 90210” debuted. It would remain on the air for 10 years.

1997 – Hundreds of thousands of men attended a Promise Keepers rally on the Mall in Washington, DC.

1997 – Farm Aid ’97 raised over $1 million for U.S. farmers.

1997 – The second largest cash robbery in the U.S. history occurred at the Charlotte, NC office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. An FBI investigation eventually resulted in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million in stolen cash.

1998 – In Washington, DC, the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit opened. It featured 70 paintings.

2001 – Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire’s record and moved past Reggie Jackson on the all-time list.

2001 – Rickey Henderson of the San Diego Padres scored his 2,246th career run to break Ty Cobb’s major league record.

2001 – Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC reopened for the first time since the September 11th attacks.

2004 – SpaceShipOne, the privately funded manned spacecraft, flew above the Earth’s atmosphere for the second time in a week, winning the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

2006 – Wikileaks was launched by Julian Assange.

2013 – The movie “Gravity” premiered in theaters. The film starred Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. It would win seven Academy Awards.

2021 – Facebook-owned platforms suffered a massive outage. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Oculus VR  disappeared from the internet around 11:40 am ET and stayed that way until about 6 pm ET, when the apps started to work again. The outage was caused during a routine update to the company’s Border Gateway Protocol records.

BIRTHDAYS:

Leroy Van Dyke – 96 years old (1929) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist

Felicia Farr – 93 years old (1932) – Actress and model

David Crocker – 88 years old (1937) – Philosopher and academic

Lloyd Green – 88 years old (1937) – Steel guitar player

Steve Swallow – 85 years old (1940) – Bass player and composer

Roy Blount Jr. – 84 years old (1941) – Humorist and journalist

Karen Cushman – 84 years old (1941) – Author

H. Rap Brown – 82 years old (1943) – Activist

Tony La Russa – 81 years old (1944) – Baseball player and manager

Clifton Davis – 80 years old (1945) – Singer-songwriter, actor, and minister

Chuck Hagel – 79 years old (1946) – Sergeant and politician, 24th United States Secretary of Defense

Michael Mullen – 79 years old (1946) – Admiral

Susan Sarandon – 79 years old (1946) – Actress and activist

Jim Fielder – 78 years old (1947) – Bass player

Linda McMahon – 77 years old (1948) – Businesswoman and politician

Duke Robillard – 77 years old (1948) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist

Armand Assante – 76 years old (1949) – Actor and producer

Stephen Gyllenhaal – 76 years old (1949) – Director, producer, and screenwriter

Alan Rosenberg – 75 years old (1950) – Actor

Truck Robinson – 74 years old (1951) – Basketball player and coach

Anita DeFrantz – 73 years old (1952) – Rower and sports administrator

Jody Stephens – 73 years old (1952) – Rock drummer

Charlie Leibrandt – 69 years old (1956) – Baseball player

Sherri Turner – 69 years old (1956) – Golfer

Bill Fagerbakke – 68 years old (1957) – Actor

Russell Simmons – 68 years old (1957) – Businessman, founded Def Jam Recordings and Phat Farm

Barbara Kooyman – 67 years old (1958) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist

Wendy Makkena – 67 years old (1958) – Actress

Joe Boever – 65 years old (1960) – Baseball player

Jon Secada – 64 years old (1961) – Cuban-American singer-songwriter

A.C. Green – 62 years old (1963) – Basketball player

Skip Heller – 60 years old (1965) – Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Micky Ward – 60 years old (1965) – Boxer

Vicky Bullett – 58 years old (1967) – Basketball player and coach

Liev Schreiber – 58 years old (1967) – Actor and director

Tim Wise – 57 years old (1968) – Activist and author

Abraham Benrubi – 56 years old (1969) – Actor

Kurt Thomas – 53 years old (1972) – Basketball player

M. Ward – 52 years old (1973) – Singer-songwriter

Alicia Silverstone – 49 years old (1976) – Actress, producer, and author

Dana Davis – 47 years old (1978) – Actress and author

Phillip Glasser – 47 years old (1978) – Actor and producer

Kyle Lohse – 47 years old (1978) – Baseball player

Rachael Leigh Cook – 46 years old (1979) – Actress

Sarah Fisher – 45 years old (1980) – Race car driver

James Jones – 45 years old (1980) – Basketball player

Justin Williams – 44 years old (1981) – Canadian-American ice hockey player

Tony Gwynn Jr. – 43 years old (1982) – Baseball player

Jered Weaver – 43 years old (1982) – Baseball player

Chansi Stuckey – 42 years old (1983) – Football player

Kurt Suzuki – 42 years old (1983) – Baseball player

Melissa Benoist – 37 years old (1988) – Actress and singer

Lonnie Chisenhall – 37 years old (1988) – Baseball player

Derrick Rose – 37 years old (1988) – Basketball player

Dakota Johnson – 36 years old (1989) – Actress

Mike Williams – 31 years old (1994) – Football player

Kenny Clark – 30 years old (1995) – Football player

TODAY IS:

For additional information check out websites like: www.on-this-day.com, www.born-today.com, www.famousbirthdays.com, www.daysoftheyear.com, and www.nationaldaycalendar.com.