What Happened in October 1858

Historical Events

  • Oct 21 Jacques Offenbach's operetta " Orpheus in the Underworld" (Orphée aux Enfers) premieres in Paris, includes "Infernal Galop" (can-can tune)
  • Oct 26 Hamilton Smith patents rotary washing machine in Pittsburgh
  • Oct 28 R. H. Macy & Co opens 1st store, (6th Ave-NYC) Gross receipts $11.06

Famous Birthdays

  • Oct 5 Henry von Battenberg, German son-in-law of Queen Victoria, born in Milan, Lombardy–Venetia (d. 1896)
  • Oct 9 Gerard Philips, Dutch industrialist and manufacturer (Philips), born in Zaltbommel, Netherlands (d. 1942)
  • Oct 9 Mihajlo "Micheal" Pupin, Serbian-American physicist and telephone pioneer, born in Idvor, Military Frontier of Austria (now Kovačica, Serbia) (d. 1935)
  • Oct 15 Frank Valentine der Stucken, American-Belgian composer, born in Fredericksburg, Texas (d. 1929)

John L. Sullivan (1858-1918)

Oct 15 American boxer (first heavyweight gloved champion, de facto 1882-92; last heavyweight bare-knuckle champion), born in Roxbury, Massachusetts

  • Oct 19 George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (d. 1937)
  • Oct 20 John Burns, English politician and trade Unionist, born in London, England (d. 1943)
  • Oct 21 Ramabai Dongre' Medhavi, India Christian social reformer (Mukti Orphanage), born in Kanara, British India (d. 1922)

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Oct 27 26th US President (R: 1901-09; Nobel 1906), born in New York City


Famous Deaths

  • Oct 10 Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, German biographer, diplomat and soldier (Die Sterner), dies at 73
  • Oct 12 Ando Hiroshige, Japanese painter, dies at 61
  • Oct 26 Isac Baker Woodbury, American composer, and musicologist (The Dulcimer: Or the New York Collection of Sacred Music), dies at 39
  • Oct 27 Ida Laura Pfeiffer, Austrian explorer and travel writer who made two round the world trips, dies at 61