October 26 in Pop Culture History

October 26th History, Trivia, and Fun Facts

October 26th History Highlights

  • 1826 – The Erie Canal was completed
  • 1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona took place.
  • October 26, 2000 – Sony PlayStation 2 released, Video Game Console
  • 2001 – The United States passed the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
  • If you were born on October 26th,
    You were likely conceived the week of… February 2nd (same year)

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

The legendary O.K. Corral shooting, which took place in Tombstone, Arizona is perhaps the most famous and high-profile history of gun battle in the United States. The Clantons and McLaurys were cowboys living in ranch towns, sidelining ranchers, thieves and murderers. Earp, a former Kansas police officer who worked as a security guard for the bank, represented law and order to his brothers, but he also had a reputation for being greedy for power and ruthless.

Billy Claiborne, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury were on one side; and Town Marshal Virgil Earp, Special Policemen Morgan, and Wyatt Earp, and temporary policeman Doc Holliday on the other side. In what has become known as the “Shooting at the O.K. Corral” Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton made their way through the streets of Tombstone, pulling their guns as Earp’s brother Doc Holliday approached. Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers were killed.

The Erie Canal

The original Erie Canal, built between 1817 and 1825, crossed 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo. After completion in 1825, it was a visionary trade route known as the “eighth wonder of the world.” NY Governor Dewitt Clinton opened the Erie Canal in 1825 by taking a package boat, the Seneca Chief, down the canal from Buffalo to Albany. The Erie Canal was the first of its kind in the USA and is one of only three of its kind in North America, along with the Panama Canal and the Mississippi.

In 1724, the inhabitants of New York had proposed to build a canal through northern New York to connect the Hudson River with the Great Lakes. At the time, however, the so-called Great Rift was considered too dangerous to use the canals as a shipping route. The Erie Canal became so important that it influenced the development of many other waterways in the region, including the Niagara River and the Delaware River.

October 26th is…

Howl at the Moon Day and Night
Mincemeat Pie Day
Pumpkin Day

October 26th Birthday Quotes

“Blues are the songs of despair, but gospel songs are the songs of hope.”
– Mahalia Jackson

“What we do does not define who we are. What defines us is how well we rise after falling.”
– Bob Hoskins

“We’ve dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen.”
– Benjamin Guggenheim

“Giving every child a chance to reach their full potential is the best work anyone can do.”
– Hillary Clinton

“Just because something is three months away and seems far off, doesn’t mean you will want to be there when the time comes.”
– Jaclyn Smith

“Sometimes you ask God for something and you don’t know what you’re asking.”
– Mahalia Jackson

October 26th Birthdays

1854 – C.W. Post, American businessman, founded Post Foods (died in 1914)
1865 – Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (died in 1912)
1911 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (died in 1972)
1914 – Jackie Coogan, American actor (died in 1984)
1942 – Bob Hoskins, English actor (died in 2014)
1945 – Pat Conroy, American author (died in 2016)
1945 – Jaclyn Smith, American actress
1947 – Hillary Clinton, American politician, 44th First Lady of the United States
1961 – Dylan McDermott, American actor
1964 – Tom Cavanagh, Canadian actor
1967 – Keith Urban, New Zealand-American singer-songwriter
1971 – Anthony Rapp, American actor, and singer
1973 – Seth MacFarlane, American voice actor, singer, director, producer, and screenwriter

October 26th History

1774 – The First Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia.

1775 – King George III of Great Britain went before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorized a military response to stop the American Revolution.

1776 – Benjamin Franklin went to France to seek French support for the American Revolution.

1825 – From Albany, New York to Lake Erie, the Erie Canal opened.

1861 – The Pony Express officially closed.

1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place at Tombstone, Arizona. The “OK” probably referred to two families, Ormsby & Kimberly, who owned the nearby corral.

1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam went into operation.

1957 – #1 Hit October 26, 1957 – December 6, 1957: Elvis Presley – Jailhouse Rock / Treat Me Nice

1958 – Pan American Airways made the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707, from New York City to Paris, France.

1974 – #1 Hit October 26, 1974 – November 1, 1974: Dionne Warwick and The Spinners – Then Came You

October 26, 1980 – Pac-Man was released in the United States

1984 – V (the series) premiered on NBC

1984 – “Baby Fae” received a heart transplant from a baboon, and died three weeks later.

October 26, 1985 (fiction) Einstein, the dog, became the first time traveler, Back to the Future, Film

1985 – #1 Hit October 26, 1985 – November 1, 1985: Whitney Houston – Saving All My Love for You

October 26, 2000 – Sony PlayStation 2 released, Video Game Console

2001 – The United States passed the first Patriot Act.

October 26, 2012- Windows 8 was released

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

The Capital of Iceland is Reykjavik

Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues #8 – Justice.

Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

Farrah Fawcett voiced the character of ‘Faucet’ in The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars.

Pompitous – “the pompitous of love” lyric is often credited as coming from Steve Miller’s song, The Joker. Many people don’t know that it was first used by The Medallions’ 1954 R&B almost-hit, The Letter.

There are 255168 possible games of Tic-Tac-Toe.

Disney’s Aladdin on the Sega Genesis is the 3rd best selling Genesis game after Sonic 1 and 2.

The Capital of Hungary is Budapest

“A martini. Shaken, not stirred.” – James Bond (Sean Connery) in Goldfinger, 1964

Cancer cells collected from patient Henrietta Lacks months before her death in 1950 are still alive and being used today for research.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.” – Jim Henson

Vanity Fair magazine is named after a fictional place created by Satan where delights, and lusts are sold daily.

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