1919: Congress passed the Volstead Act providing for enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified nine months earlier. Known as the Prohibition Amendment, it prohibited the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" in the United States.  (Source: Library of Congress)

1914: Jonas Salk, medical doctor and virologist who developed the first polio vaccine, was born in New York City.

1886: The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France proposed by Edouard de Laboulaye in 1865 to celebrate America's centennial, was officially dedicated. More than one million New Yorkers came to the dedication. Lady Liberty was renovated in 1976 for America's Bicentennial. Just hours after the October 28 anniversary in 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall close to New York Harbor and while the statue itself was not damaged, Liberty Island and the statue were closed to the public until July 4, 2013 due to extensive damage to the island.