THIS
WEEK IN HISTORY
October 22 - 28
The
world's first recorded parachute jump was made on
October 22, 1797 by Andre Jacques Garnerin. The jump happened from a
hot air balloon 2,300 feet above Paris, France. Mr. Garnerin first thought
of the idea of using air resistance to slow a person's fall from a height
when he was a prisoner during the French Revolution. Mr. Garnerin's
first parachute was a canopy thirty-five feet across. When he jumped
from the hot air balloon, he had a wild free fall, but successful landing.
He landed unhurt on the ground after falling 2,300 feet. He landed a
half-mile from the place where he took off in the balloon. Mr. Garnerin
died in 1823 in a balloon accident while preparing to test a new parachute.
On
October 22, 1883, the first National Horse Show took place in New York
City. At the time, the National Horse Show Association of America was
a brand new organization and they organized the four-day event. There
were over 300 horses of all types - show horses, work horses, and racing
horses. The horse show was very popular and became a yearly event.
On
October 24, 1901 a daredevil named Anna Edson Taylor did a very 
daring
stunt. She went over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel. Ms. Taylor went
over Niagara Falls and dropped 175 feet! The barrel was four and a half
feet high and three feet across. She also wore a leather harness and
soft cushions were on the inside of the barrel to protect her during
her fall. After the fall, Ms. Edson was shaken up but not badly hurt.
Kids, do not try this at home!
On
October 25, 1955, the microwave oven was first shown to Americans. A
company called The Tappan Company from Mansfield, Ohio introduced the
machine. At the time the microwave cost $1200 and would cook an egg
in just 22 seconds.
On
October 25, 1975, the Russian Venera 10 spacecraft landed on the 
planet
Venus. This spacecraft survived for 65 minutes once landing on the surface
of Venus despite the extremely high temperatures on that planet.
On
October 26, 1825, the Erie Canal opened providing water transportation
between the East Coast and the Great Lakes region. The Erie Canal was
350 miles long and ran between Lake Erie and New York City. Therefore,
this canal connected the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. The project
to build this canal took eight years and over seven million dollars!
This canal was the idea of New York Governor De Witt Clinton.
The
first fast underground train system, known as a subway, opened on October
27, 1904 in New York City. The subway started at New York's City Hall
and went under Lafayette Square and Park Avenue to Grand Central Station.
Then it traveled west along 42nd Street to Times Square and then north
on Broadway to 145th Street. At 7:00pm the subway officially opened
to the public and over 100,000 people paid five cents to ride underneath
New York City.
On
October 28, 1636 the first college was opened in the New World. This
college would later be called Harvard University which is located in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
On
October 28, 1886, France presented the Statue of Liberty to the 
United
States of America.
