On October 1, 1880 John Philip Sousa became conductor of the United States Marine Corps Band.

Image of John Philip Sousa c. 1880s
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On October 1, 1957 the first U.S. paper currency with the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” entered circulation.
The motto appeared on U.S. coins years earlier.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Mary Anna Custis Lee, the wife of General Robert E. Lee and their son Robert E. Lee Jr.
c. 1845

Mary Anna Custis Lee was also the step-great-granddaughter of George Washington. She was born on October 1, 1807 in Boyce, Virginia.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

About seven & 1/2 months after President Benjamin Harrison signed the bill that created Yosemite National Park on October 1, 1890,
Captain Abram Epperson Wood (shown) and his 4th cavalry marched from San Francisco to Yosemite to establish a camp there. Wood became the first Acting Superintendent of Yosemite National Park in 1891.


Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

WWII Veteran and actor Walter Matthau was born on October 1, 1920 in Manhattan, New York.

Image of Walter Matthau and Art Carney in the stage production The Odd Couple
The New York Public Library Digital Collections. No known restrictions

On October 1, 1961, New York Yankee Roger Maris hit his 61st home run of the season and breaks Babe Ruth’s home run record.

Image: Roger Maris hitting an earlier home run in September of 1961 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Robert Stanley became the first American to fly a jet aircraft when he flew the Bell XP-59A at Edwards AFB, on October 1, 1942.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

“Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy Carter and Admiral Hyman Rickover aboard the submarine USS Los Angeles” in 1977

Jimmy Carter was born on October 1, 1924 in Plains, Georgia.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Children meeting Mickey Mouse at Walt Disney World in 1971

On October 1, 1971 Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida was opened.

Image via Florida Memory, public domain

On October 1, 1940 the Pennsylvania Turnpike was opened to traffic between Irwin and Carlisle. It’s considered the nation’s first superhighway.

Image of the PA Turnpike in 1942 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Advertisement for the Ford Model T (for $850) that appeared in LIFE Magazine on October 1, 1908.

The equivalent value of $850 from 1908 is just over $29,000 today.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, from Flickr: The Henry Ford – CC BY SA and 2.0

On October 1, 1962 “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” debuted on network television. The program was originally taped in New York but it moved to Burbank, California ten years later in 1972.

Image of Johnny Carson for the Tonight Show c. 1965 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Spine-Tingling History
“In the depths of every heart, there is a tomb and a dungeon, though the lights, the music, and revelry above may cause us to forget their existence, and the ​buried ones, or prisoners whom they hide. But sometimes, and oftenest at midnight, those dark receptacles are flung wide open. In an hour like this, when the mind has a passive sensibility, but no active strength; when the imagination is a mirror, imparting vividness to all ideas, without the power of selecting or controlling them; then pray that your griefs may slumber, and the brotherhood of remorse not break their chain. It is too late! A funeral train comes gliding by your bed, in which Passion and Feeling assume bodily shape, and things of the mind become dim spectres to the eye…”

Nathaniel Hawthorne from his work “The Haunted Mind”