1917 - First Americans to see action on front lines of WWI: US troops enter front lines at Sommervillier under French command
1942 - Film musical "For Me and My Gal," starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in his screen debut, and directed by Busby Berkeley, premieres in New York City
1979 - Bill Rodgers wins his fourth consecutive men's title in the New York City Marathon with a time of 2:11:42; defending champion Grete Waitz of Norway wins the women's event in 2:27:33
1984 - Welsh runner Steve Jones runs the Chicago Marathon in a world record time of 2:08:05, in his first race at this distance
2024 - The "Great Cheese Robbery": A scam is reported to police involving the theft of rare English Cheddar worth about 300,000 pounds from Neal’s Yard Dairy in London
1762 - Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch military leader (Brigadier-General) and Governor-General (Dutch-East Indies, 1808-11; Dutch Gold Coast, 1811-15), born in Hattem, Gelderland, Dutch Republic (d. 1818)
1790 - Alphonse de Lamartine, French writer (Poetical Mediations) and politician (briefly led the Second Republic 1848), born in Mâcon, France (d. 1869)
1942 - Christopher A. Sims, American economist known for his work on macroeconomics and Nobel Prize recipient (2011), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 2026)
1944 - Tommy Wright, English soccer right-back (12 caps; Everton 308 games), born in Liverpool, England (d. 2026)
1971 - Jade Jagger, English jewelry designer and daughter of Mick and Bianca Jagger, born in Paris, France
1773 - Johann Conrad Schlaun, German baroque architect, dies at 78
1953 - Muirhead Bone, Scottish etcher and painter (WWI and WWII war artist), dies at 77
1961 - Nils Johan Einar Ferlin, Swedish poet (Barfotabarn), dies at 62
1980 - Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician and eponym of Asperger syndrome, dies at 74
1998 - Alan Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury, British business executive, dies at 96
The Guggenheim, a contemporary art museum in New York City that Frank Lloyd Wright designed, drew thousands to its opening day on October 21, 1959.