October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in Leap years). There are 81 days remaining.

Events

1600-1899

• 1614 - Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.
• 1776 - American Revolution: Battle of Valcour Island - On Lake Champlain 15 American gunboats are defeated but give Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.
• 1809 - Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.
• 1811 - Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).
• 1862 - American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.
• 1890 - In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
• 1899 - Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.

1900-1999

• 1906 - San Francisco public school board sparks United States diplomatic crisis with Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.
• 1929 - JC Penney open Store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states.
• 1939 - Manhattan Project: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt is presented with a letter signed by Albert Einstein urging the United States to rapidly develop an atomic bomb program.
• 1942 - World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance - On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
• 1950 - The television in color, to CBS (RCA will successfully dispute and block the license from taking effect, however).
• 1954 - Vietnam War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam.
• 1958 - Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).
• 1962 - Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
• 1967 - Afghan Prime Minister Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal resigns for health reasons
• 1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.
• 1975 - Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the guest host.
• 1984 - Aboard the American women to perform a space walk.
• 1986 - Cold War: US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.
• 1987 - March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights attracts between 500,000 and 600,000 people to protest the Bowers v. Hardwick decision and the U.S. government's handling of the AIDS epidemic; first public display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.
• 1998 - A Congo Air Lines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo killing 40
• 1999 - The Lord Of The Rings movie begins principal photography.

2000-2099

• 2001 - Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection
• 2001 - USA PATRIOT Act, passes the U.S. Senate.
• 2002 - Bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland. See Myyrmanni bombing.

Births

1500-1899

• 1582 - Johannes Fleischer, botanist
• 1788 - Simon Sechter, Austrian music teacher (d. 1867)
• 1815 - Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte (d.1881)
• 1821 - George Williams, English founder of the YMCA (d. 1905)
• 1844 - Henry Heinz, American food manufacturer (d. 1916)
• 1872 - Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)
• 1881 - Hans Kelsen, Austrian legal theorist
• 1884 - Eleanor Roosevelt, American human rights activist, First Lady (d. 1962)
• 1885 - François Mauriac, French writer (d. 1970)
• 1895 - Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer (d. 1982)

1900-1999

• 1918 - Jerome Robbins, choreographer (d. 1998)
• 1919 - Art Blakey, jazz drummer (d. 1990)
• 1919 - Jean Vander Pyl, (d. 1999) voice of Wilma Flintstone in The Flintstones cartoon.
• 1924 - Mal Whitfield, American athlete
• 1925 - Elmore Leonard, novelist
• 1928 - Marquis Alfonso de Portago, Grand Prix driver (d. 1957)
• 1930 - Sam Johnson, American politician
• 1932 - Dottie West, country music singer (d. 1991)
• 1939 - Maria Bueno, tennis star
• 1942 - Amitabh Bachchan, actor
• 1949 - Daryl Hall, musician
• 1951 - Jean-Jacques Goldman, French pop singer, songwriter
• 1956 - Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
• 1957 - Dawn French, comedienne
• 1961 - Steve Young, American football star
• 1966 - Luke Perry, actor
• 1969 - Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
• 1969 - Ty Murray, rodeo star
• 1974 - Paul C. Kovacs, Software Engineer
• 1977 - Ty Wigginton, Baseball player
• 1982 - Jermaine V. Mitchell, Rap musician
• 1985 - Michelle Trachtenberg, actress
• 1989 - Michelle Wie, golf prodigy

Deaths

1300-1899

• 1303 - Pope Boniface VIII
• 1531 - Huldreich Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader (b. 1484
• 1779 - Casimir Pulaski, Polish fighter for American independence (b. 1745)
• 1809 - Meriwether Lewis, American explorer (b. 1774)
• 1896 - Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (b. 1824)
• 1896 - Edward White Benson, British archbishop (b. 1829)

1900-1999

• 1940 - Lluís Companys, Spanish President of Generalitat of Catalonia, (shot) (b. 1882)
• 1961 - Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)
• 1963 - Edith Piaf, French singer (b. 1915)
• 1963 - Jean Cocteau, French writer (b. 1889)
• 1965 - Dorothea Lange, American photographer (b. 1895)
• 1976 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (b. 1897)
• 1977 - MacKinlay Kantor, American author (b. 1904)
• 1989 - M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (b. 1904)
• 1991 - Redd Foxx, American comedian, actor (b. 1902)
• 1991 - Steven Jesse Bernstein, poet (suicide)
• 1993 - Jess Thomas, American tenor (b. 1927)
• 1996 - Lars Ahlfors, Finnish mathematician (b. 1907)

2000-2099

• 2000 - Donald Dewar, main author of the Scotland Act and initial First Minister of the Scottish Parliament (b. 1937)
• 2004 - Keith Miller, Australian sportsman (b. 1919)

Holidays

• Roman Empire - Meditrinalia is held in honor of Meditrina
• USA - National Coming Out Day (not a federal holiday)

October 10 - October 12 - September 11 - November 11 - more historical anniversaries