This Day in History

Good morning my fellow Rotarians.  This morning we will look back in history to report on some notable events that happened on this day October 28^th…

1775…  British proclaimed that no residents could leave Boston and held the city hostage for nearly six months.  A group of Bostonians formed the original Tea Party who eventually drove the Brits from their city with the help of Virginian George Washington and his Continental Army.

1886… Grover Cleveland dedicates Statue of Liberty.  Lady Liberty was a gift from the French citizens because of the US’s commitment to liberty and democracy during the American Revolutionary War.  The 151-foot tall copper statue was built in France and shipped to New York in 350 separate parts.  It took 6 months to reassemble before being dedicated on this day 1886 by President Cleveland.

1962…  The Cuban Missile Crisis comes to an end after a two-week intense stare down between Russia and the United States.  Russia had place missiles in Cuba (in support of Castro’s new ‘revolution’).  President Kennedy stood firm that the US would not tolerate missiles that close and once he ordered a naval blockade around Cuba Russia’s Nikita Khruschev withdrew the missiles and the crisis subsided.

1965… Workers complete the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO.   Construction of the nation's tallest memorial (at 603 feet high) took four years of round the clock work.  The arch symbolizes the gateway from east to west in the United States and commemorates the US western expansion.  The arch has become one of the most famous landmarks around the world.  (And YES, the Cardinals won last night in an amazing comeback!)

1992…  The Leif Erickson Tunnel was completed in Duluth, MN.  This half mile tunnel is unique in that is runs under a part of downtown Duluth along Lake Superior.  The tunnel was the final leg to complete the building of Interstate-35.  The I-35 project took nearly 30 years to complete and runs nearly 1600 miles from the borders of Mexico to Canada.

And that is ‘this day in history’ as the bottom of our news on this Friday, October 28, 2011. 
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