1. OTD Tuesday, October 20 1861: The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent from California to President Abraham Lincoln. 1940: The 40 hour work week went into effect in the U.S. 2005: Civil Rights activist, Rosa Parks, died at the age of 92.

2. OTD Wednesday, October 21, 1867: The Medicine Lodge Treaty (Kansas) was signed by Great Plains Indian leaders and the government, relocating the Plains Indians to Western Oklahoma, away from European settlements. 1879: Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light at his laboratory in New Jersey. 1917: American soldiers first saw action in World War I on the front lines in France.

3. OTD Thursday, October 22 1836: Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas. (1845 became a state) 1962: President Kennedy announces American spy planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba. 1968: Apollo 7 safely splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean after orbiting Earth 163 times.

4. OTD Friday, October 23 1869: John William Heisman was born. The Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the most outstanding college football player, is named after him. 1915: Over 25,00 women march in New York City advocating the right to vote. 2001: Apple Computer Inc. introduces the iPod portable digital music player 1