October 12: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached India.
2. 1773 - America's first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia.
3. 1823 - Charles Macintosh of Scotland sells the first raincoat.
4. 1892 - The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools, as part of a celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage.
5. 1901 - President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.
6. 1928 - An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston
7. 1964 - The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits
8. 1979 - The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip.
9. 1994 - NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere).
10. 1999 - Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
11. Famous Birthdays: Richard Meier (American architect), Thomas Dudley (English-born American colonial magistrate), William Shippen (American physician and statesman), King Edward VI of England, Art Clokey (American animator- Gumby)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: October 11

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: October 13

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.