Today in History for Year 1897

Months in Year 1897: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 118

Jan 1st - 1st football game between black colleges-Atlanta U 10, Tuskegee 0
Jan 8th - Michael Eagan wins 1st US national amateur handball championship
Jan 10th - Henrik Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman," premieres in Helsingfors
Jan 10th - Vincent d'Indy's "Istar" premieres in Amsterdam & Brussels
Jan 11th - M H Cannon becomes 1st woman state senator in US (Utah)
Jan 14th - 6,960-m (22,834') Cerro Aconcagua (Argentina) 1st climbed
Jan 16th - John Dewey's essay "My Pedagogic Creed" appears in School Journal
Jan 23rd - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Abbey Grange" (BG)
Jan 23rd - Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.
Jan 26th - Battle at Bida Gold Coast: British troops beat Nupe's army
Jan 27th - British troops occupy Bida Gold Coast (Ghana)
Feb 1st - Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.
Feb 5th - Marcel Proust meets Jean Lorrain in a pistol duel
Feb 10th - NY Times begins using slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print"
Feb 11th - White Rose Mission opens on East 97th Street, NYC
Feb 17th - National Organization of Mothers forms (Parent Teacher Association)
Mar 4th - William McKinley inaugurated as 25th president of US
Mar 5th - American Negro Academy forms
Mar 9th - Premiere of (parts of) Gustav Mahler's 3rd Symphony (Berlin)
25th US President William McKinley Mar 9th - Cleveland Spiders sign Louis Sockalexis, full-blooded Penobscot
Mar 9th - Indian, fans start calling the team Indians (in 1915 becomes official)
Mar 11th - A meteorite enters the earth's atmosphere and explodes over New Martinsville, West Virginia. The debris causes damage but no human injuries are reported.
Mar 12th - Vincent d'Indy's opera "Fervaal," premieres in Brussel
Mar 13th - San Diego State University is founded.
Mar 15th - 1st indoor fly casting tournament opens, at Madison Square Garden
Mar 16th - Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of The Devil's Foot" (BG)
Mar 17th - Bob Fitzsimmons KOs James J Corbett in 14 for heavyweight boxing title
Mar 19th - Yale defeated Penn, 30-10 in 1st major college basketball game
Mar 20th - 1st US orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary (RIETS) incorporates in NY
Mar 20th - 1st known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10
Mar 20th - France signs treaty with emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
Mar 29th - Japan adopts Gold Standard
Apr 5th - The Greco-Turkish War, also called "Thirty Days' War", is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
Apr 19th - 1st American marathon ran, John J McDermott wins in 2:55:10 (Boston)
Apr 19th - 1st performance of Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande"
Apr 22nd - NYC Jewish newspaper "Forward" begins publishing (still active)
Apr 24th - 1st reporter, William Price (Wash Star), assigned to White House
Apr 27th - Grant's Tomb (famed of song & legend) dedicated
May 4th - 23rd Kentucky Derby: Buttons Garner aboard Typhoon II wins in 2:12.5
May 4th - Fire in Paris bazaar at Rue Jean Goujon kills 200
May 8th - 22nd Preakness: T Thorpe aboard Paul Kauvar wins in 1:51¼
May 11th - Wash Senator catcher Charlie Farrell throws out 8 attempted stealers
May 12th - 1800-1900 year old fossil of "girl of Yde" found in Drente Neth
May 12th - Battle at Thessalie: Turkish army beats Greece
May 14th - Great-Britain signs treaty with Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
May 15th - The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in the Greco-Turkish War.
May 18th - Irish Music Festival 1st held (Dublin)
May 18th - American baseball NY Giant William (Bill) Joyce sets record of 4 triples in 1 game
May 18th - Paul Dukas "L'Apprenti Sorcier Pruimtabak on the Market," premieres
May 18th - Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.
Writer/Poet Oscar Wilde May 19th - Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.
May 21st - Yerkes Observatory 40" (1m) refractor used for 1st time
May 22nd - The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames was officially opened
May 29th - 31st Belmont: J Scherrer aboard Scottish Cheiftain wins in 2:23.25
Jun 12th - Possibly most severe quake in history strikes Assam India, shock waves felt over an area size of Europe (low mortality rate given size of earthquake, 1500 casualties)
Jun 15th - Liberals/social-democrats win Dutch 2nd Parliamentary election
Jun 16th - A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later.
Jun 17th - William Frank Powell, NJ educator, named minister to Haiti
Jun 19th - Wee Willie Keeler's 44 game hitting streak ends
Jun 24th - Hail injures 26 in Topeka Kansas
Jun 28th - Marquis C de Bonchamps' expedition reaches Gore Ethiopia
Jun 29th - Chicago beats Louisville 36-7 (baseball)
Jul 1st - Bronx acquires Hutton Square
Jul 8th - Harbor Hospital formally opens
Jul 11th - Solomon Andree leaves Spitsbergen by balloon towards North Pole
Jul 17th - 1st ship arrives in Seattle carrying gold from Yukon
Jul 18th - Cap Anson, is 1st to get 3,000 hits
Jul 21st - Tate Gallery opens in England
Jul 25th - Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories.
Jul 26th - 37.5 cm rainfall at Jewell, Maryland (state record)
Jul 27th - 14.75" (37.5 cm) of rainfall, Jewell, Maryland (state 24-hr record)
Jul 27th - Dutch government of Pierson/Goeman Borgesius resigns
Aug 3rd - John McNally's musical "Good Mr Best," premieres in NYC
Aug 4th - Henry A Rucker appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for Georgia
Aug 10th - Automobile Club of Great Britain established (now: Royal Auto Club)
Aug 14th - The town of Anosimena is captured by French troops from Menabe defenders in Madagascar.
Aug 17th - W B Purvis patents electric railway switch
Aug 19th - 1st electric taxi's drive in London
Aug 21st - Oldsmobile begins operation as a General Motors Corp division
Aug 27th - Roger Bresnahan debuts as Wash Senator pitcher (later HOF catcher)
Aug 30th - The town of Ambiky is captured by France from Menabe in Madagascar.
Aug 31st - General Kitchener occupies Berber, North of Khartoum
Inventor Thomas Edison Aug 31st - Thomas Edison patented his movie camera (Kinetograph)
Sep 1st - The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.
Sep 2nd - "McCall-magazine 1st published
Sep 7th - George Davis (Giants) HR off Sport McAllister (Spiders) in DH
Sep 10th - Police shoot at striking mine workers in Penns, kills 20
Sep 10th - Lattimer Massacre - a sheriff's posse kills twenty unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania, United States.
Sep 11th - After months of pursuit, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom.
Sep 12th - Tirah Campaign: Battle of Saragarhi
Sep 17th - 3rd US Golf Open: Joe Lloyd shoots a 162 at Chicago GC in Wheaton Ill
Sep 18th - Gustave Kecker/Hugh Martin's musical "Belle of NYC," premieres in NYC
Sep 21st - NY Sun runs famous "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus," editorial
Sep 23rd - 1st frontier days rodeo celebration (Cheyene Wyoming)
Sep 25th - 1st British bus service opens
Oct 4th - George Bernard Shaw's "Devil's Disciple," premieres in NYC
Oct 5th - Solomon Andrees baloon/polar expedition reaches White Island
Playwright George Bernard Shaw Oct 8th - Emperor Karl Joseph I named Gustav Mahler director of Opera
Oct 15th - Aaron/Samuel Bloch carry 1st Mail Pouch
Oct 15th - King Leopold II takes Belgian crown

1 2 ▶

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 307

Jan 1st - Walter Greaza, St Paul Minn, actor (Martin Kane Private Eye)
Jan 2nd - Jim Londos, Greek wrestler (d. 1975)
Jan 3rd - Marion Davies, [Marion Cecelia Douras], Bkln, actress (Operator 13)
Jan 3rd - Pola Negri, [Barbara A Chalupec], Polish/US actress (Madame Bovary)
Jan 5th - Jack Wagner, OH, actor (Jive Junction)
Jan 5th - Theo Mackeben, German pianist/composer (Lady Fanny, Bel Ami)
Jan 6th - Billy Greene, actor (Burton-One Man's Family)
Jan 8th - Dennis Wheatley, British author (d. 1977)
Jan 9th - Luis Gianneo, composer
Jan 9th - Karl Löwith, German philosopher (d. 1973)
Jan 10th - Albert Moeschinger, composer
Jan 11th - August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (d. 1979)
Jan 12th - Hendrik J Valk, painter/cartoonist/graphic artist
Jan 14th - Hasso von Manteuffel, German general and politician (d. 1978)
Jan 15th - Xu Zhimo, Chinese poet (d. 1931)
Jan 16th - Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d. 1977)
Jan 17th - Nils Asther, Malmö Sweden, actor (Bluebeard, Night Monster)
Jan 17th - Marcel Petiot, French mass murderer (d. 1946)
Jan 19th - Natacha Rambova, Salt Lake City UT, costume designer
Jan 19th - René Victor, Flemish lawyer/knight (Rechtskundig Weekblad)
Jan 20th - Mae Busch, Australian/US actress (Cowboy Socialist)
Jan 21st - J Carrol Naish, NYC, actor (Charlie Chan-Adv of Charlie Chan)
Jan 21st - René Iché, French sculptor (d. 1954)
Jan 22nd - Josef Stanislav, composer
Jan 22nd - Rosa Ponselle, opera diva (Casta Diva, La Forza del Destino)
Jan 22nd - Blind Willie Johnson American blues/spiritual singer and guitarist
Jan 23rd - Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian politician
Jan 23rd - Sir William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian soldier, W.W.II codename, Intrepid. Inspiration for James Bond. (d. 1989)
Jan 23rd - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (d. 2000)
Jan 28th - Valentin Kataev, Odessa Ukraine, novelist/playwright (Embezzled) Died 1986
Feb 1st - Denise Robins, London, romantic novelist (1st Long Kiss)
Feb 2nd - Howard Johnson, American hotelier (d. 1972)
Feb 2nd - Aimé Avignon, France's former oldest living man (d. 2007)
Feb 4th - Ludwig Erhard, chancellor of Germany (CDU)
Feb 5th - Dirk U Stikker, director (Heineken)/Dutch foreign minister/NATO
Feb 6th - Alberto [de Almeida] Cavalcanti, Brazil, director (Nicholas Nickleby)
Feb 6th - Louis Buchalter, Jewish American mobster (d. 1944)
Feb 7th - Quincy Porter, New Haven Ct, composer
Feb 9th - Charles Edward Kingsford-Smith, pioneer Australian aviator
Feb 10th - John Franklin Enders, Conn, microbiologist (polio-Nobel 1954)
Feb 11th - Yves de La Casiniere, composer
Feb 12th - Vola Vale, American actress (d. 1970)
Feb 14th - Jorgen Bentzon, composer
Feb 15th - Earl H Blaik, Det, college football hall of fame coach (elected 1965)
Feb 17th - Johan[nes A] Kaart, Dutch actor/stage manager (My Fair Lady)
Feb 18th - Charles Kuentz, WW1 veteran, changed nationality 4 times (d.2005)
Feb 19th - Alma Rubens, American actress (d. 1931)
Feb 20th - Ivan Albright, Illinois, painter (Door, Window)
Feb 21st - Celia Lovsky, Vienna Aus, actress (Airport, Harlow, T'Pau-Star Trek)
Feb 22nd - Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
Feb 27th - Bernard F Lyot, French astronomer (Lyot filter)
Feb 27th - G Paul H Schuitema, graphic designer/photographer (System-O-Color)
Feb 27th - Marian Anderson, American contralto (d. 1993)
Mar 3rd - Jose Moreno Gans, composer
Mar 4th - Francis "Lefty" O'Doul, baseball player/organized Japanese baseball
Mar 5th - Mei-ling Soong, Madame Chiang Kai-shek
Mar 5th - Set Persson, Swedish communist politician (d. 1960)
Mar 11th - Henry Dixon Cowell, Menlo Park California, composer (New Musical Resources)
Mar 13th - Marcel Thiry, Belgian poet (Statue of Fatigue)
Mar 13th - William Herald, Australia, swimmer (Olympic-1920)
Mar 15th - Jackson Scholz, American runner (d. 1986)
Mar 17th - Jozef C. Mazur, American stained glass artist and painter (d. 1970)
Mar 18th - Betty Compson, actress (Big City, Docks Of New York)
Mar 19th - Betty Compson, Beaver UT, actress (Millionaire Kid, Mad Youth)
Mar 19th - L O'Flaherty, writer
Mar 24th - Charles Eyck, Dutch painter/sculptor
Mar 24th - Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-US psycho analysist (character analysis)
Mar 25th - John Laurie, Dumfries Scotland, actor (Jericho, Island of Desire)
Mar 27th - Douglas Hartree, English mathematician and physicist
Mar 27th - Carlo Mierendorff, German politician/anti-fascist
Mar 28th - Sepp Herberger, German football coach (d. 1977)
Apr 1st - Willem H van de Pol, Dutch theologist (Christian Dilemma)
Apr 4th - Pierre Fresnay, Paris France, actor (Grand Illusion)
Apr 7th - Harald Sigurd Johan Saeverud, composer [OS]
Apr 7th - Walter Winchell, Harlem NYC, newscaster/columnist (Untouchables)
Apr 7th - Erich Loewenhardt, German flying ace of World War I (d. 1918)
Apr 8th - Herbert Eimert, German composer/musicologist (Glockenspiel)
Apr 10th - Ross Youngs, American baseball player (d. 1927)
Apr 11th - Caspar Neher, German set designer/librettist
Apr 13th - Werner Voss, German World War I pilot (d. 1917)
Apr 14th - Barbara baroness Wootton of Abinger, English Lower house leader
Apr 14th - Claire Windsor, American actress (d. 1972)
Apr 16th - Arthur Charles Ernest Hoeree, composer
Apr 16th - Jaap Vranken, Dutch organist/composer (Stabat Mater)
Apr 16th - John B Glubb, British commandant/writer (A soldier with the Arabs)
Apr 17th - Antonius F "Anton" Coolen, Dutch author (Village by the River)
Apr 17th - Harald Saeverud, Bergen Norway, composer (Saline) [NS]
Apr 17th - Thornton N Wilder, US, novelist/playwright (Our Town)
Apr 18th - Pedro Regas, actor (Pat Paulsen's Half a Comedy Hour) [or Apr 12]
Apr 18th - Ardito Desio, Italian topographer (d. 2001)
Apr 19th - Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, sculptor/art benefactor
Apr 19th - Vivienne Segal, Phila, Broadway actress (Pal Joey)
Apr 19th - Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1970)
Apr 20th - Bernard Verhoeven, poet/literature (About the Laugh)
Apr 20th - Gregory Ratoff, Petrograd Russia, actor/director (Corsican Brothers)
Apr 23rd - Harold French, director (Encore)/actor
Apr 23rd - John Wengraf, Vienna Austria, actor (12 to Moon, Pride & Passion)
Apr 23rd - Lester Bowles Pearson, (L) 14th Canadian PM (1963-68) (Nobel 1957)
Apr 23rd - Lucius du Bignon Clay, US, general (WW II)/gov (West Germany)
Apr 24th - Benjamin Lee Whorf, linguist (or 1797)

1 2 3 4 ▶

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 56 of 56

Jan 12th - Isaac Pitman, British inventor (Pitman Shorthand) (b. 1813)
Jan 30th - John Cottam, cricket (Test for Aust 1897, no Sheffield matches), dies
Feb 1st - Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist (b. 1826)
Feb 5th - Hoss Radbourn, pitcher won 60 games in 1884, dies at 42
Feb 6th - Ebenezer C Brewer, British writer (Dictionary of Phrase & Fable), dies
Feb 7th - Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist (Ferrari), dies at 49
Feb 19th - Karl T Weierstrass, German mathematician, dies at 81
Feb 23rd - Woldemar Bargiel, composer, dies at 68
Mar 9th - Sondre Norheim, Norwegian skier (b. 1825)
Mar 10th - Teodulo Mabellini, composer, dies at 79
Mar 11th - Berthold Tours, composer, dies at 58
Mar 11th - Henry Drummond, Scottish geologist/evangelist, dies at 45
Mar 19th - Antoine T d'Abbadie, French explorer (Ethiopia), dies at 87
Mar 20th - Apollon Maykov, Russian poet (b. 1821)
Mar 27th - Andreas Anagnostakis, Greek physician (b. 1826)
Apr 3rd - Johannes Brahms, German composer/conductor (Hung Dances), dies at 63
Apr 8th - George Garrett, composer, dies at 62
Apr 8th - Heinrich von Stephan, UK politician, dies
Apr 23rd - Clement Harris, composer, dies at 25
May 2nd - William Cleaver Francis Robinson, composer, dies at 63
May 10th - William Thomas Best, composer, dies at 70
May 10th - Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino revolutionary leader (b. 1863)
May 12th - Ulrika "Minna" Cant-Johnstown, Finnish playwright, dies at 53
May 12th - Willem Roelofs, painter/lithographer, dies
May 21st - Karol Mikuli, composer, dies at 77
May 23rd - Aleko Konstantinov, Bulgarian writer (To Chicago & Back), dies at 34
Jun 9th - Alvin Graham Clark, dies 3 weeks after 1st use of Yerkes 40" lens
Jun 22nd - Ralph Abercromby, British meteorologist, dies at about 54
Jul 12th - Felix Godefroid, composer, dies at 78
Jul 16th - Levin Goldschmidt, German business law expert, dies
Jul 20th - Jean Ingelow, English poet (b. 1820)
Jul 29th - Joost G Kist, lawyer/president of High Council (1885-97), dies at 74
Aug 8th - Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss cultural historian, dies at 79
Aug 13th - Antonius von der Linde, Neth/German librarian, dies at 63
Sep 20th - Karel Bendl, composer, dies at 59
Sep 21st - Wilhelm Wattenbach, German historian (b. 1819)
Sep 30th - St Therese of Lisieux, Roman Catholic saint and mystic (b. 1873)
Oct 8th - Martin Pluddemann, composer, dies at 43
Oct 8th - Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter (b. 1830)
Oct 9th - John Heemskerk Azn, Dutch Internal minister (1866..88), dies at 79
Oct 11th - Leon Boelmann, French organist/composer (Suite Gothique), dies at 35
Oct 17th - Isidor Dannstrom, composer, dies at 84
Oct 19th - George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)
Oct 21st - Paul Kuczynski, composer, dies at 50
Oct 24th - Francis Turner Palgrave, poet/editor (Golden Treasury), dies at 73
Oct 28th - Hercules Robinson, South Africa Commissioner (1880-89,1895-97), dies at 72
Nov 6th - Edouard Deldevez, composer, dies at 80
Nov 9th - Moritz Heuzenroeder, composer, dies at 48
Nov 15th - John Mercer Langston, US black jurist, dies at 67
Nov 17th - George Hendric Houghton, American Protestant Episcopal clergyman (b. 1820)
Nov 19th - William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian (b. 1810).
Nov 30th - Abraham C Wertheim, Dutch banker/MP (Lib), dies at 64
Dec 16th - Alphonse Daudet, French writer (Tartarin sur les Alpes), dies at 57
Dec 18th - Carlo A Alfieri, Italian Member of parliament, dies at 70
Dec 28th - Rev. William Corby, American Catholic priest (b. 1833)
Dec 29th - William James Linton, American wood engraver and political reformer. (b. 1812)