On October 24, 1861 the first transcontinental telegraph line was completed. The very next day California Justice Stephen J. Field sent the first message over the new communication line that connected America’s West Coast to its East Coast to President Abraham Lincoln. Images via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On October 24, 1926 at Detroit’s Garrick Theatre Harry Houdini gave his final performance. Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

General Sherman and his staff in 1865 On October 24, 1863 William Tecumseh Sherman took command of the Union Army’s Department of the Tennessee. Image via National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, no known restrictions

Born October 24, 1788 Sarah Josepha Hale was a most accomplished woman. In her lifetime she edited the popular magazine “Godey’s Lady’s Book,” popularized the idea of a Thanksgiving holiday, urged that a monument be constructed on Bunker Hill, and wrote the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US.

Partial eclipse of the Moon observed on October 24, 1874 via Library of Congress, no known restrictions

Kevin Kline who starred in films such as The Big Chill , Dave and A Fish Called Wanda was born on October 24, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri. Image c. 1983 via Alamy

J.P. Richardson, born October 24, 1930, gained fame as a disc jockey calling himself The Big Bopper. As a songwriter he penned “White Lightning” and “Running Bear” and had a hit with his “Chantilly Lace.” At age 28 Richardson died in the same airplane crash that took the lives of musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. Image via Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright, public domain in the US.