Today is Tuesday, Oct. 18, the 292nd day of 2016. There are 74 days left in the year.
On this date:
In 1767, the Mason-Dixon line, the boundary between colonial Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware, was set as astronomers Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon completed their survey.
In 1867, the United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia.
In 1892, the first long-distance telephone line between New York and Chicago was officially opened (it could only handle one call at a time).
In 1922, the British Broadcasting Co. Ltd. (later the British Broadcasting Corp.) was founded.
In 1982, former first lady Bess Truman died at her home in Independence, Missouri, at age 97.
In 1997, a monument honoring American servicewomen, past and present, was dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery.
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