Oct. 2, 1975:

Bomb scare for Bruce

A phoned-in bomb threat stopped the show about 40 minutes into Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's concert at the Uptown Theatre at N. 49th St. and W. North Ave. After a three-hour delay — during which fans stood outside in the cold and Bruce and Company retreated to the bar at the Pfister Hotel — Springsteen and the band returned to the stage and played until 2 a.m.

Oct. 3, 1981:

Brewers, meet the postseason

Fan favorite Gorman Thomas hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to push the Milwaukee Brewers to a 2-1 win over the Detroit Tigers at County Stadium. The win, on the last day of a season split in two by the 58-day players strike, gave the Brewers the second-half championship of the American League East Division, setting up a best-of-five playoff against the New York Yankees — the Brewers' first postseason series ever. (P.S. They lost in five games.)

Oct. 4, 1855: 

First cops on the beat 

Nine years after the city was incorporated, the Milwaukee Common Council approved an ordinance creating Milwaukee's first police department. The first police chief, William Beck, started by hiring six police officers, with an annual salary of $480.

Oct. 7, 1966: 
Commandos, assemble

The Milwaukee Youth Council of the NAACP's newly formed Commandos unit took part in its first public action, picketing outside the Eagles Club on W. Wisconsin Ave. during a Marquette University dance to protest the club's whites-only membership policy. Formed to provide security at civil rights marches and other protests, the Commandos often worked in concert with activist Father James Groppi, the youth council's adviser.

Oct. 9, 1968: 

Bowling breakthrough 

The Milwaukee Journal's Billy Sixty reported that, for the first time, one all-African-American bowling team held membership in three sanctioned leagues in Milwaukee, two men's Masters leagues and a women's Queens league. According to Sixty, The Journal's longtime bowling reporter, it was the first time it had happened in league competition since the American Bowling Congress had put a halt to its whites-only membership rule in 1951.

Oct. 9, 1980:

Black and Blue at Arena  

Two songs into Black Sabbath's set at the Milwaukee Arena — as headliners of the "Black and Blue Concert" with fellow hard-rockers Blue Oyster Cult — bassist Geezer Butler was hit in the head by a glass bottle flying out of the crowd. Sabbath walked off the stage, and some of the 9,000 fans at the show responded by tearing apart the Arena. Milwaukee police reported that more than 160 people were arrested; Butler and a member of the band's crew were treated at a nearby hospital.

Oct. 10, 1957:

Bushville wins it all

The Milwaukee Braves defeated the New York Yankees, 5-0, behind pitcher Lew Burdette at Yankee Stadium. It was Burdette's second shutout of the series, and the Braves' first — and, as it turned out, only — world championship in Milwaukee, which had been dismissed by some in the Yankees camp as "Bushville."

Oct. 10, 1982: 

Brewers win the pennant

After losing the first two games of the American League Championship Series to the California Angels, the Milwaukee Brewers capped their improbable comeback at County Stadium with a 4-3 win, powered by Cecil Cooper's two-run single in the seventh inning. (Yes, they played in the World Series. No, they didn't win.)

Oct. 18, 1965: 

School's out, Round 2 

The Milwaukee United School Integration Committee, or MUSIC, led a 3½-day boycott at more than 20 schools in predominantly African-American neighborhoods in the city, in a bid to get the School Board to agree to the coalition's demands for reduced segregation in the city's schools. In the boycott, the sequel to a one-day walkout in May 1964, schools whose students were predominantly African-American had more than 4,000 more absences than on an average school day.

Oct. 28, 1892:

The Great Third Ward fire 

A blaze started by an oil barrel exploding in an oil and paint warehouse destroyed 16 square blocks of the city's Third Ward district, especially along N. Broadway and N. Water St. Four people were killed and more than 1,900 were left homeless. Property damage was estimated at $5 million (more than $131 million today).

Sources: Journal Sentinel archives; wisconsinhistory.org; historicthirdward.org, baseball-almanac.com, city.milwaukee.gov 

ABOUT THIS FEATURE

Every month, history is made and passes through Milwaukee. On the first Monday of each month, the Green Sheet takes a look at 10 moments from our past — not an exhaustive or complete list, but a mix of incidents, happenings and events that have helped make Milwaukee Milwaukee.

To read about an additional 10 moments from Milwaukee's past, read the October 2015 edition of this feature at ow.ly/R4tM304FgQK.