October 16 in History

Historical Events on October 16

1834 Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London burns to the ground.

1859 John Brown leads a raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

1916 In Brooklyn, New York, Margaret Sanger opens the first family planning clinic in the United States.

1934 Chinese Communists begin the Long March; it ended a year and four days later, by which time Mao Zedong had regained his title as party chairman.

1939 World War II: No. 603 Squadron RAF intercepts the first Luftwaffe raid on Britain.

1940 The Holocaust in Poland: The Warsaw Ghetto is established.

1973 Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1978 Karol Wojtyla is elected Pope John Paul II after the October 1978 Papal conclave, the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523.

1998 Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on murder charges.

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Famous Birthdays on October 16

1854 Oscar Wilde

1974 Paul Kariya

1977 John Mayer

1983 Kenny Omega

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Famous Deaths on October 16

1793 Marie Antoinette

1946 Joachim von Ribbentrop

1959 George Marshall

2011 Dan Wheldon

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