OCTOBER 24, 1901 - Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. A school teacher by trade, Taylor desired fame and fortune to see her way through her later years. She used a custom-made barrel for her trip, constructed of oak and iron and padded with a mattress. Several delays occurred in the launching of the barrel, particularly because no one wanted to be part of a potential suicide. After Taylor was set adrift, the Niagara River currents carried the barrel toward the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Rescuers reached her barrel shortly after the plunge, and surprisingly the 63-year-old woman was discovered to be alive and relatively uninjured, save for a small gash on her head. The trip took less than 20 minutes.

OCTOBER 27, 1939 - The first nylon stockings went on sale in Wilmington, Delaware, and sold out in a few hours. Nylon, which was an invention of the DuPont Corporation, provided women with a cheaper and more durable alternative to silk stockings. The stockings became available nationwide in May 1940, and DuPont's nylon sales quickly topped $34 million, capturing 30 percent of the hosiery market. At the end of 1941 manufacture of nylon stockings came to a halt as virtually all nylon produced went to the United States military as the nation entered World War II.

OCTOBER 28, 1886 - The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland. A gift from the people of France, Lady Liberty was intended for the United States' centennial celebration in 1876, but cost and construction delays set the completion back 10 years. She was assembled in Paris first, then broken down into 350 pieces for shipment to the United States. The statue arrived in New York on June 17, 1885 and sat in storage for 11 months while the pedestal was completed. Once the reassembly started it took only four months to complete.