- Oct 1 South African College is founded in Cape Town, South Africa; later to separate into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools.
- Oct 16 Tremont Hotel, 1st US modern hotel opens (Boston)
- Oct 17 Delaware River & Chesapeake Bay Canal formally opens
- Oct 17 1st supposed attack on abandoned German teenager Kaspar Hauser
- Oct 25 Eastern State Penitentiary is opened in Pennsylvanian, the 1st prison in the United States to entirely use the solitary confinement system