This Week In KU History

October 1, 1906: The forerunner of the University of Kansas School of Nursing begins its first day of classes under the direction of Pearl Laptad (above), the first of three early and influential nursing education leaders at KU. Read the full story.

October 2, 2002: The University announces a $3.26 million Hall Family Foundation gift that will fund the transformation of KU’s 1887 powerhouse, the University’s oldest remaining structure, into a new home for the Hall Center for the Humanities. Read the full story.

October 3, 1937: The University Daily Kansan reports the death of KU sophomore Don Henry, a volunteer fighting for the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War, initiating investigations into radicalism and “communistic activity” at KU and sparking fears of a “Red Scare” on Mt. Oread. Read the full story.

October 6, 1911: Nearly 1,000 women attend a rally at the original Robinson Gymnasium to call for the construction of a women’s dormitory that ultimately will become Corbin Hall. Read the full story.

October 8, 1949: The University announces that a recently acquired Louisiana Street home will be called Oliver Hall, in honor of KU’s first chancellor, paving the way for it to become part of a two-house complex known as Sterling-Oliver that will join KU’s scholarship hall system. Read the full story.

October 12, 1983: Over 2,000 students and local residents pack KU’s Woodruff Auditorium for a special screening of The Day After, ABC’s controversial TV-movie filmed in Lawrence that depicts the effects of a nuclear holocaust on a typical American town. Read the full story.

October 15, 1968: Former Jayhawk Al Oerter uncorks a toss of 212 feet, 6½ inches in the discus finals at the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City, becoming the first person to win a gold medal for the same event at four consecutive Olympics. Read the full story.



October 16, 1940: 1,083 KU men register in the Kansas Room of the Kansas Union building for the first peacetime draft in American history. Read the full story.

October 17, 1984: More than 200 leading scientists from around the world descend on the Lawrence Holiday Inn Holidome for a symposium on “Directed Drug Delivery” held in honor of KU professor Takeru Higuchi, the “father of physical pharmacy.” Read the full story.

October 27, 1962: KU football player Gale Sayers rushes 283 yards, his greatest distance as an undergraduate. Read the full story.

October 31, 1891: KU and MU play their first-ever football game, with KU winning 22 to 8 at Exposition Park in Kansas City, Missouri. Read the full story.

Compiled by Henry Fortunato
University of Kansas

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