Today in History for Oct. 24: In 1260, under Pope Alexander IV, Chartres Cathedral in France was consecrated. Completed in less than 30 years, the structure represents high Gothic architecture at its purest.
In 1537, Jane Seymour, the third wife of England's King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward. The prince later became King Edward VI. In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War and effectively destroyed the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1788, Sarah Hale was born near Newport, N.H. She worked as an editor and writer as well as a women's rights activist.
But she is best known for composing the children's poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb," published in 1830. In 1852, the Toronto Stock Exchange, the largest stock market in Canada, opened for business. It was formed by a group of Toronto businessmen who created an association of brokers to set up a market in industrial securities.
They first met informally but eventually established a common meeting place and formal rules and regulations. In 1858, Canadian pianist and lecturer W. Waugh Lauder was born in Oshawa, Ont.
In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent as California Judge Stephen J. Field transmitted a telegram to U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln in Washington. In 1901, Anna Edson Taylor became the first person known to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive. The 50-year-old widow performed the stunt to raise money to repay a loan due on her Texas ranch.
But her drea.