- 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 opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the world's 1st prison to entirely use solitary confinement system intended for rehabilitation; designed by Robert Strickland, it closed in 1971, and is now a museum [1]