On This Day, Oct. 24: Concorde makes final flight

The last British Air Concorde flight takes off on October 24, 2003, from New York's JKF Airport to return to London's Heathrow Airport. File Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI
The last British Air Concorde flight takes off on October 24, 2003, from New York's JKF Airport to return to London's Heathrow Airport. File Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI
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Oct. 24 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe.

In 1861, the first telegram was transmitted across the United States from California Chief Justice Stephen Field to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in Washington.

In 1901, daredevil Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

In 1929, $5 billion in market values were swept away in the greatest selling wave in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 would mark the beginning of a 10-year Depression which would affect the entire Western world.

Law enforcement officials search the scene of a shooting in Aspen Hill, Md., on October 22, 2002, where 35 year-old Conrad Johnson, a bus driver who was getting ready to start his route, was shot and killed. On October 24, 2002, police arrested two suspects in a three-week series of Washington-area sniper attacks that killed 10 people and wounded three others. File Photo by Chris Corder/UPI

In 1931, New York City's George Washington Bridge opened to public traffic.

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Rosa Parks sits up front of a Montgomery, Ala., bus with UPI reporter Nicholas Chriss in on December 21,1956, one year after she refused to give up her seat to a white man and was arrested. Parks died October 24, 2005. File Photo by UPI
Rosa Parks sits up front of a Montgomery, Ala., bus with UPI reporter Nicholas Chriss in on December 21,1956, one year after she refused to give up her seat to a white man and was arrested. Parks died October 24, 2005. File Photo by UPI

In 1962, the blockade of Cuba was in effect, with a ring of U.S. warships and planes under orders to block by whatever means, further aggressive arm deliveries to Fidel Castro.

In 1992, the Toronto Blue Jays become the first Major League Baseball team based outside the United States to win the World Series.

A young boy receives an inhaled H1N1 flu vaccine dose from a nurse at Carlin Springs Elementary School in Arlington, Va., on January 7, 2010. On October 24, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama declared a national emergency related to the outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus, also known as swine flu. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI
A young boy receives an inhaled H1N1 flu vaccine dose from a nurse at Carlin Springs Elementary School in Arlington, Va., on January 7, 2010. On October 24, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama declared a national emergency related to the outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus, also known as swine flu. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI

In 2002, police arrested two suspects in a three-week series of Washington-area sniper attacks that killed 10 people and wounded three others. John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, were found sleeping in a car at a rest stop near Frederick, Md. Both were convicted. Muhammad was executed and Malvo sentenced to life in prison.

In 2003, an era in aviation history ended when the supersonic Concorde took off from New York to London on its final flight.

Annie Edson Taylor, Queen of the Mist, was the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel following her joy ride on October 24, 1901. File Photo by Library of Congress/UPI
Annie Edson Taylor, Queen of the Mist, was the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel following her joy ride on October 24, 1901. File Photo by Library of Congress/UPI
File Photo by Jeff Christensen/Pool
File Photo by Jeff Christensen/Pool

In 2005, civil rights icon Rosa Parks died at age 92. Parks gave new impetus to the rights movement in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus.

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama declared a national emergency related to the outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus, also known as swine flu, to aid local authorities in dealing with the pandemic. Medical officials put the American death toll at 530 with thousands hospitalized.

In 2012, a 41-mile final stretch of Texas Highway 130, a toll road from Mustang Ridge, south of Austin, to Seguin, opened with the highest speed limit in the United States -- 85 mph.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall for the first time, in Jamaica, killing two people there. The storm would go on to cause tens of billions of dollars in the northeast United States and kill more than 200 people along its path.

In 2021, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady made his record 600th touchdown pass during a game against the Chicago Bears. During the game, the ball was given to a fan, who returned it to the team in exchange for a replacement game ball and a $1,000 gift certificate to the team store. Experts told UPI the original ball was likely worth $500,000 to $1 million. Brady retired in 2022 with 649 touchdown passes.

In 2022, silent movie actor Anna May Wong became the first Asian American to be featured on U.S. currency as part of the U.S. mint's American Women Quarters Program.

Image courtesy of U.S. Mint
Image courtesy of U.S. Mint