What Happened On This Day In Monmouth County History?

Poster for Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, public domain.

October 2, 1897

Bud Abbott, Straight Man Extraordinaire

Editor’s note: Monmouth Timeline is grateful to Nancy Bierbrauer for contributing to this Timeline story. William Alexander "Bud" Abbott was an American actor, best known for his film comedy double act, as straight man to Lou Costello. Born (perhaps -...

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Featured Monmouth County History Timelines & Stories

Keyport Weekly sketch of fugitive mayor B.B. Ogden. Published prior to 1926, public domain.

September 16, 1903

Whatever Happened to B.B. Ogden, the Fugitive Mayor of Keyport?

by John R. Barrows

CPL Horace Marvin Thorne. U.S. Army image courtesy Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Public Domain.

December 21, 1944

Medal of Honor: Horace Marvin “Buddy” Thorne

The removal of President Garfield, with his physicians and attendants, from the White House to the Francklyn Cottage, at Elberon by the sea, September 6th. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, September 24, 1881, Library of Congress. Public domain.

September 19, 1881

U.S. President James A. Garfield Dies in Elberon

John R. Barrows

Oil painting: Battle of the Virginia Capes, 5 September 1781 by V. Zveg, 1962. U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Public domain.

September 20, 1781

Battle of the Chesapeake

Official White House presidential portrait, Chester A. Arthur, public domain.

September 20, 1881

Chester A. Arthur Visits James Garfield’s Widow

Photo of Bruce Springsteen accepting Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. Official White House photograph, public domain.

September 23, 1949

Bruce Springsteen

John R. Barrows

Composite image of three Lovett's Nursery catalogs. Images courtesy Little Silver Historical Society.

September 24, 1912

John Thompson Lovett Sr., the Small Fruit Prince of Little Silver

by John R. Barrows

Photo of Marconi inset, and his first transmitter incorporating a monopole antenna. It consisted of an elevated copper sheet (top) connected to a Righi spark gap (left) powered by an induction coil (center) with a telegraph key (right) to switch it on and off to spell out text messages in Morse code. Image credit: Guglielmo Marconi, Looking back over thirty years of radio, Radio Broadcast magazine, Doubleday, Page, and Co., New York, Vol. 10, No. 1, November 1926, p. 31. Public domain.

September 30, 1899

Guglielmo Marconi Demonstrates Wireless Telegraph in the U.S.

Poster for Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, public domain.

October 2, 1897

Bud Abbott, Straight Man Extraordinaire

October 4, 1901

Lewis O. Summersett – The Man Who Brought T. Thomas Fortune to Monmouth County

by Randall Gabrielan

Photo of scale model of Revolutionary War whaleboat from the New Jersey Maritime Museum.

October 5, 1781

Privateer Adam Hyler, In Rowboats, Captures Five British Ships

A swivel gun mounted on the American topsail schooner Lynx. © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

August 5, 1780

Joshua Huddy, Privateer

Photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at Monmouth University. Photo from Monmouth Magazine, courtesy Monmouth University, used with permission.

October 8, 1966

Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1966 Speech at Monmouth College

Photo of Oscar Hammerstein mansion. Creator, date of creation, publisher and date of publication unknown. Image courtesy Ralph Bitter and Middletown Township Historical Society, used with permission.

October 16, 1929

Bootlegger Compound Raided in Former Middletown Home of Oscar Hammerstein Sr.

Photo of Holmdel horn antenna at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel. (1962). United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), public domain.

October 17, 1978

Bell Labs’ Arno Penzias & Robert Wilson Are Nobel Prize Laureates

Image: Pilot William D. Frayne endangering his own life by risking a side-to-side landing, while his plane was on fire over France, 1917. Frayne's bravery saved the life of his observer and won him Army Silver Star for heroism. Original illustration by Charlie Swerdlow, History Depicted, ©2024, commissioned by Monmouth Timeline.

October 17, 1918

The Silver Star: William D. Frayne of Sea Bright

by John R. Barrows