October 6

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:

1723 – Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia at the age of 17.

1848 – The steamboat SS California left the New York Harbor to set sail for San Francisco, CA via Cape Horn. The trip took 4 months and 21 days. The steamboat arrived in San Francisco on February 28, 1849.

1866 – The Reno Brothers pulled the first train robbery in America near Seymour, IN. The got away with $10,000.

1872 – Fredrick Wurzburg opened Wurzburg Dry Goods, which later became Wurzburg’s Department Store in downtown Grand Rapids, MI.

1880 – The National League kicked the Cincinnati Reds out for selling beer.

1889 – Thomas Edison showed his first motion picture.

1927 – The first prominent “talkie” movie, “The Jazz Singer”, premiered.

1945 – Billy Sianis and his pet billy goat were ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series.

1960 – The movie “Spartacus”, starring Kirk Douglas in the title role, premiered in theaters.

1961 – President John F. Kennedy urged American families to build or buy bomb shelters to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.

1972 – Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was officially dedicated.

1975 – The Detroit Lions played their first Football game in their new home — the Pontiac Silverdome. (They would play their final game there on January 6, 2002.) The Silverdome was demolished in the Winter of 2017.

1979 – Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit the White House.

1991 – Elizabeth Taylor married Larry Fortensky. The ceremony was held at Michael Jackson’s estate near Los Angeles, CA. It was Taylor’s 8th marriage and Fortensky’s 3rd.

1992 – Ross Perot appeared in his first paid broadcast on CBS-TV after entering the U.S. Presidential race.

1995 – 51 Pegasi was discovered to be the second major star, apart from the Sun, to have a planet orbiting around it.

1998 – Matthew Shepard, a college student in Wyoming, was beaten to death for being gay.

1998 – The band Alabama received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2004 – The Syfy network TV series “Ghost Hunters” premiered. It ran until October 26, 2016.

2007 – Jason Lewis completed the first human-powered circumnavigation of the globe.

2010 – Instagram was officially launched. Two years later it was purchased by Facebook for $1 billion.

2015 – Rock Band 4 was released for Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

2018 – The United States Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Associate Justice.

BIRTHDAYS:

Jack Cullen – 86 years old (1939) – Baseball player

Richard Delgado – 86 years old (1939) – Lawyer and academic

Sheila Greibach – 86 years old (1939) – Computer scientist and academic

John J. LaFalce – 86 years old (1939) – Captain, lawyer, and politician

Lloyd Doggett – 79 years old (1946) – Lawyer and politician

Lonnie Johnson – 76 years old (1949) – Inventor

Thomas McClary – 76 years old (1949) – R&B singer-songwriter and guitarist

Leslie Moonves – 76 years old (1949) – Businessman

David Brin – 75 years old (1950) – Physicist and author

Kevin Cronin – 74 years old (1951) – Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Bill Buford – 71 years old (1954) – Author and journalist

David Hidalgo – 71 years old (1954) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist

Tony Dungy – 70 years old (1955) – Football player and coach

Kathleen Webb – 69 years old (1956) – Author and illustrator

Oil Can Boyd – 66 years old (1959) – Baseball player

Brian Higgins – 66 years old (1959) – Politician

Walter Ray Williams – 66 years old (1959) – Jr. , American bowler

David Baker – 63 years old (1962) – Biologist and academic

Rich Yett – 63 years old (1962) – Baseball player

Elisabeth Shue – 62 years old (1963) – Actress

Tom Jager – 61 years old (1964) – Swimmer and coach

Matthew Sweet – 61 years old (1964) – Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Peg O'Connor – 60 years old (1965) – Philosopher and academic

Steve Scalise – 60 years old (1965) – Lawyer and politician

Rubén Sierra – 60 years old (1965) – Puerto Rican-American baseball player

John McWhorter – 60 years old (1965) – Academic and linguist

Jacqueline Obradors – 59 years old (1966) – Actress

Tommy Stinson – 59 years old (1966) – Singer-songwriter and bass player

Bob May – 57 years old (1968) – Golfer

Amy Jo Johnson – 55 years old (1970) – Actress

Darren Oliver – 55 years old (1970) – Baseball player

Jeff B. Davis – 52 years old (1973) – Comedian, actor, and singer

Rebecca Lobo – 52 years old (1973) – Basketball player and sportscaster

Jeremy Sisto – 51 years old (1974) – Actor, producer, and screenwriter

Brett Gelman – 49 years old (1976) – Actor and comedian

Melinda Doolittle – 48 years old (1977) – Singer-songwriter

Jamie Laurie – 48 years old (1977) – Singer-songwriter

Wes Ramsey – 48 years old (1977) – Actor

Richard Seymour – 46 years old (1979) – Football player

Will Butler – 43 years old (1982) – Musician and composer

Joanna Pacitti – 41 years old (1984) – Singer-songwriter

Sylvia Fowles – 40 years old (1985) – Basketball player

Meg Myers – 39 years old (1986) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist

Olivia Thirlby – 39 years old (1986) – Actress

Trey Edward Shults – 37 years old (1988) – Film director

Quincy Acy – 35 years old (1990) – Basketball player and coach

Jordan Hamilton – 35 years old (1990) – Basketball player

Roshon Fegan – 34 years old (1991) – Actor, rapper, and dancer

Josh Archibald – 33 years old (1992) – Canadian-American ice hockey player

Jourdan Miller – 32 years old (1993) – Fashion model

Jake Guentzel – 31 years old (1994) – Ice hockey player

Trevor Lawrence – 26 years old (1999) – Football player

Jazz Jennings – 25 years old (2000) – Internet personality

Kyle Pitts – 25 years old (2000) – Football player

Addison Rae – 25 years old (2000) – Social media personality, dancer, and singer

Bronny James – 21 years old (2004) – Basketball player

TODAY IS:

Today's special observances are temporarily unavailable. Please check back soon.

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.