1. In 1945, the Brooklyn Dodgers won their first and only World Series in franchise history. They defeated the New York Yankees in seven games, with a score of 2-0 in Game 7 on October 4.

2. On October 4, 1824, the visionary artist Thomas Cole arrived in New York City for the first time. Cole would go on to establish the Hudson River School, a group of landscape painters known for their depictions of the American wilderness.

3. One of the deadliest train wrecks in New York history occurred on October 4, 1918, when two trains collided head-on in the town of Nashville, killing at least 38 people and injuring many more.

4. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit around the Earth. The event marked the beginning of the Space Age and ignited the space race between the United States and Soviet Union.

5. The New York Giants football team played their first game at the newly constructed Polo Grounds on October 4, 1890. The team would play at the Polo Grounds for the next 67 years before moving to Yankee Stadium in 1957.