Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Historical Events in 1907

  • Jan 1 Joe Gans lands a devastating right to the head of Canadian challenger Kid Herman to retain his world lightweight boxing title with an 8th round knockout in Tonopah, Nevada

Roosevelt's Record Handshakes

Jan 1 US President Theodore Roosevelt shakes a record 8,513 hands in 1 day

"Don Juan in Hell"

Jan 4 George Bernard Shaw's play "Don Juan in Hell" premieres in London

First Montessori School

Jan 6 Maria Montessori opens her 1st Montessori school, in Rome

"The Truth"

Jan 7 Clyde Fitch's play "The Truth" premieres in NYC

  • Jan 12 Britain grants responsible government to former colony of Transvaal
  • Jan 14 An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills more than 1,000
  • Jan 15 3-element vacuum tube patented by American inventor Lee De Forest
  • Jan 15 Gold dental inlays first described by William Taggart, who invented them
  • Jan 21 Stanley Cup Hockey, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Kenora Thistles (ON) beat Montreal Wanderers, 8-6 for 12-8 aggregate challenge series victory
  • Jan 25 Julia Ward Howe is first woman elected to National Institute of Arts & Letters (USA)
  • Jan 26 1st US federal corrupt election practices law passed
  • Jan 26 In Austria, universal and direct suffrage (limited to males over 24) is introduced, a reform long demanded by the socialists and others
  • Jan 26 John Millington Synge's "Playboy of Western World" opens in Dublin; play claimed as immoral and causes riots
  • Jan 26 The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III rifle officially introduced into British Military Service, 2nd oldest military rifle still in official use

First Native American Senator

Jan 29 Republican Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the 1st Native American US Senator

  • Jan 30 Korean National Debt Redemption Movement started by Seo Sang-dong of Daegu, attempt by the Korean public to repay debt to Japan to avoid further colonization [1]
  • Feb 3 Josek Suk's "Asreal Symphony", dedicated to his late wife and father-in-law Antonin Dvořák, premieres at the Prague National Theatre, conducted by Karel Kovařovic

Schoenberg's 1st String Quartet

Feb 5 Arnold Schoenberg's 1st string quartet premieres in Vienna

  • Feb 7 Conservative coalition take over Reichstag in Germany after rallying conservatives against the threat of a socialist government
  • Feb 7 The Mud March, first large procession organized by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS)
  • Feb 11 De Master's Dutch government resigns
  • Feb 11 Passenger ship Larchmont sinks by Block Island, off Rhode Island, 322 die
  • Feb 13 English suffragettes storm British Parliament & 60 women are arrested
  • Feb 14 1st US foxhound association forms in NYC
  • Feb 21 SS Berlin sinks off the Hook of Holland (142 dead)
  • Feb 22 Leonid Andreyev's "Zhizn Cheloveka" premieres in St Petersburg
  • Feb 22 London, England's first cabs with taxi meters begin operating
  • Feb 25 George Bernard Shaw's play "The Philanderer" premieres in London
  • Feb 25 US proclaims protectorate over Dominican Republic

Election of Interest

Feb 26 Louis Botha Het Volk Party wins a majority in the election in Transvaal, South Africa

  • Feb 26 Royal Oil & Shell merge to form British Petroleum (BP)
  • Feb 26 US Congress raise their own salaries to $7,500

Meeting of Interest

Feb 27 Psychiatrists Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud meet for the first time in Vienna

  • Mar 2 General Louis Botha named premier of Transvaal
  • Mar 2 Georges Feydeaus' "La Puce à l'Oreille" premieres in Paris
  • Mar 5 1st radio broadcast of a musical composition aired
  • Mar 5 The second Duma opens in St. Petersburg, Russia and 40,000 demonstrators have to be dispersed by Russian troops
  • Mar 9 1st involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana
  • Mar 9 Lady Gregory's "Rising of the Moon" premieres in Dublin
  • Mar 14 By Presidential order, Japanese laborers are excluded from entering the USA
  • Mar 15 Finland is 1st European country to give women the right to vote
  • Mar 16 First 1st-class cricket game between NSW & Western Australia
  • Mar 19 18.8 cm precipitation at Lewer's Ranch, Nevada (state record)
  • Mar 21 US sends troops to Honduras to halt the Nicaraguan army takeover
  • Mar 22 The new Boer government in the Transvaal passes an Asiatic Registration Bill, that restricts immigration from India
  • Mar 24 The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published
  • Mar 25 Stanley Cup, Winnipeg Auditorium, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Montreal Wanderers lose to Kenora Thistles, 6-5 but win on 2 game aggregate, 12-8
  • Mar 31 Romanian Army puts down Moldavian farmers' revolt
  • Apr 11 New York Giants future Baseball Hall of Fame backstop Roger Bresnahan becomes first catcher to wear shin guards
  • Apr 12 Belgium government of Paul Smet de Naeyer resigns
  • Apr 12 In Switzerland, parliament passes a new army bill reorganizing the nation's forces into a standing militia, with training required for all males
  • Apr 17 Ellis Island, New York records 11,745 immigrants
  • Apr 18 Augustus Thomas' "Witching Hour" premieres in NYC
  • Apr 18 Fairmont Hotel opens in San Francisco
  • Apr 26 Jamestown, Virginia Tercentenary Exposition opens
  • Apr 30 Honolulu, Hawaii, becomes an independent city.
  • May 1 Belgium government of De Trooz forms
  • May 2 Jules baron de Trooz forms Belgian government
  • May 7 Central American Court of Justice inaugurated in San Jose, Costa Rica - first standing tribunal for International Law in the world [1]
  • May 7 Charles Collier wins 1st Isle of Man TT Race: (38.22 mph)
  • May 8 Boston Doves pitcher "Big Jeff" Pfeffer no-hits Cincinnati Reds, 6-0 at South End Grounds, Boston

Burns vs O'Brien

May 8 Canadian Tommy Burns retains his world heavyweight boxing title after beating 'Philadelphia' Jack O'Brien on points in 20 rounds in Los Angeles, California

  • May 10 Paul Dukas' opera "Ariane et Barbe Bleue" premieres in Paris
  • May 11 A derailment outside Lompoc, California, kills 32 Shriners when their chartered train jumps off the tracks at a switch near Surf Depot
  • May 11 Bank of San Francisco incorporated
  • May 14 Sweden adopts universal suffrage for elections to its lower house and proportional representation for both houses
  • May 16 In the Pact of Cartagena, Great Britain, France, and Spain agree to maintain the status quo in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast of Europe and Africa
  • May 22 Albert Trott takes two hat-tricks in an innings, Middlesex v Somerset
  • May 22 Plaza Cinema opens in Ottawa, Kansas, the world's oldest purpose-built movie theatre [1]
  • May 23 The single chamber Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.

Walsh No-Hits Highlanders

May 26 Chicago White Sox pitcher Ed Walsh no-hits NY Highlanders, 8-1 in 5 inning game

  • May 27 Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco
  • May 28 Auto-Cycle Union Tourist Trophy, 1st held
  • May 31 Taxis 1st began running in NYC
  • Jun 1 -27°F (-33°C), Sarmiento, Argentina (South American record)
  • Jun 3 Centro Escolar University is established by Librada Avelino and Carmen de Luna in Manila, Philippines
  • Jun 10 France and Japan sign an agreement to maintain the independence and integrity of China, equality for all nations in trading with China, and the status quo in the Far East
  • Jun 11 George Dennett, aided by Gilbert Jessop, dismisses Northamptonshire for 12 runs, the lowest total in first-class cricket
  • Jun 11 Northants all out for 12 v Gloucestershire
  • Jun 12 Yanks commit 11 errors & lose 14-6 to Tigers
  • Jun 13 Lowest temperature ever in 48 US states for June, 2°F in Tamarack, California
  • Jun 14 Government of Transvaal sends home 50,000 Chinese day workers
  • Jun 14 Norway adopts female suffrage for middle class women only in parliamentary elections

Typhoid Mary Identified

Jun 15 Researcher George Soper publishes the results of his investigation into recent typhoid outbreaks in the New York area and announces that Mary Mallon [Typhoid Mary] is the likely source of the outbreak

  • Jun 15 The 2nd Hague Peace Conference meets in an attempt to stop the arms race; Germany resists, but conference does make important rules around the rights of neutral powers

Nicolas II Dissolves Second Duma

Jun 16 Tsar Nicolas II of Russia dissolves the Second Duma (parliament) and issues an edict that will increase representation of propertied classes while reducing that of peasants, workers and national minorities

  • Jun 20 1st Portland Rose festival held in Portland, Oregon
  • Jun 21 E. W. Scripps founds United Press Associations in the US
  • Jun 26 Bolsheviks overthrows transport in Tiflis

Senators' Record Steal

Jun 28 MLB Washington Senators steal a record 13 bases off of New York Highlanders catcher Branch Rickey

  • Jul 1 The Orange River Colony, known as the Orange Free State, is granted self-government by the British
  • Jul 3 Pope decree forbids modernization of theology
  • Jul 4 Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns KOs Bill Squires of Australia in round 1 in Colma, California, his 6th title defense
  • Jul 6 Tom Reece takes 5 weeks to compile the highest recorded billiards break in a match (499,135) in London, his 'cradle' cannon method is soon banned
  • Jul 8 Florenz Ziegfeld staged 1st `Follies' on NY Theater roof
  • Jul 18 Florenz Ziegfeld's "Follies of 1907" premieres in NYC
  • Jul 18 French troops occupy Casablanca
  • Jul 19 Under pressure from the Japanese, the Emperor of Korea abdicates in favor of his son, a figurehead
  • Jul 20 A train wreck on the Pere Marquette Railroad near Salem, Michigan kills thirty and injures seventy more
  • Jul 25 Korea becomes a protectorate of Japan
  • Jul 29 1st helicopter ascent in Douai, France

Boy Scouts Formed

Jul 29 Sir Robert Baden-Powell forms Boy Scouts in England

  • Jul 30 Russia and Japan sign an agreement guaranteeing freedom of China while recognizing each other's special interests
  • Jul 30 Starting today, the French bombard Casablanca and land troops to occupy the Atlantic-coast region of Morocco after attacks on foreigners
  • Jul 30 The Filipinos elect their first legislature; it will meet on 16 October
  • Aug 1 First Scout camp opens on Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbour, Dorset
  • Aug 1 U.S. Army Signal Corps establish a small Aeronautical Division

Walter Johnson's First Game

Aug 2 Legendary pitcher Walter Johnson at 19 begins his 21 year Baseball Hall of Fame playing career with Washington with 3-2 loss v Detroit

  • Aug 3 Emperor Wilhelm (Germany) meets with Tsar Nicholas (Russia) to discuss Germany's plan to build a railroad to Baghdad; the discussion helps move Russia towards Britain and eventually the Triple Alliance
  • Aug 7 MLB Washington Senators legendary pitcher Walter Johnson wins first of his 416 career wins, 7-2 v Cleveland
  • Aug 9 1st Boy Scout camp concludes at Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Southern England
  • Aug 10 Prince Scipone Borchesi wins Beijing to Paris, 7,500 mile auto rally
  • Aug 11 St Louis Cardinals pitcher Ed Karger throws a perfect game vs Boston Doves; wins 4-0 in 7 innings at Robison Field, St. Louis
  • Aug 13 1st taxicabs operate in New York City, imported by Harry N. Allen
  • Aug 16 Mulay Hafid is proclaimed the Sultan of Morocco by supporters leading to civil war; Mulay is supported by Germany while France supports the existing Sultan
  • Aug 17 Bishop forbids Christian membership of Dutch Textile Union
  • Aug 23 Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Howie Camnitz no-hits NY Giants, 1-0 in 5 inning game at the Polo Grounds, NYC

Houdini's Underwater Escape

Aug 26 Harry Houdini escapes from chains underwater in 57 seconds, at Aquatic Park in San Francisco, California

  • Aug 28 United Parcel Service is founded by James E. Casey in Seattle, Washington.
  • Aug 29 The Quebec Bridge over St Lawrence River collapses during construction, killing 75 workers
  • Aug 31 Britain & Russia sign treaty with Afghanistan, Persia & Tibet
  • Aug 31 Britain, Russia & France form Triple Entente

Edward VII Meets Izvolski

Sep 5 King Edward VII of Great Britain meets Russia's Foreign Minister Alexander Izvolski in an attempt to strengthen Russia's relationship with Britain

  • Sep 7 Adolph Sutro's ornate Cliff House in San Francisco destroyed by fire
  • Sep 7 Ocean liner RMS Lusitania begins her maiden voyage sailing from Liverpool to New York City
  • Sep 8 Pope Pius X publishes encyclical Pasceni dominici gregis (anti-modernism)
  • Sep 13 Canadian Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU) forms with merge of Hamilton Tigers, Toronto Argonauts (ORFU) and Ottawa Rough Riders, Montreal FC (QRFU)
  • Sep 13 Lusitania arrives in New York City after record 5 day crossing of Atlantic
  • Sep 20 Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Nick Maddox no-hits Brooklyn Superbas, 2-1 at Exposition Park, Pittsburgh
  • Sep 23 Proclamation sets fineness & weight of silver & bronze coins of Canada

Symphony No. 3

Sep 25 Jean Sibelius' 3rd Symphony premiere given by the Helsinki Philharmonic Society, conducted by the composer

  • Sep 26 New Zealand and Newfoundland each become dominions within the British Empire
  • Sep 29 Construction begins on Washington National Cathedral
  • Sep 30 Cards Ed Konetchy steals home twice & Joe Delahanty also steals home for record 3 steals of home (vs Boston)

Panic of 1907

Oct 1 A downturn in the stock market leads to a run on the dollar; US President Theodore Roosevelt later calls on financier J. P. Morgan to help manage the financial crisis

  • Oct 1 Plaza Hotel at 5th Avenue & 59th Street opens in New York
  • Oct 5 Canadian Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU) plays first game; Montreal beats Toronto, 17-8 in Montreal
  • Oct 16 Belasco Theater opens at 111 W 44th St NYC
  • Oct 16 David Belasco's "Grand Army Man," premieres in NYC

Transatlantic Wireless

Oct 17 Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland

  • Oct 19 1st printing of Dutch Tribune (Wijnkoop/Van Ravesteyn/Ceton)
  • Oct 22 Panic of 1907: A run on Knickerbocker Trust Company stock leads to US wide run on banks

Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum & Bailey

Oct 22 Ringling Brothers Greatest Show on Earth buys Barnum & Bailey circus

  • Oct 25 Frederik of Oaths disbands mental home colony Walden
  • Oct 27 The first trial of the so called Eulenberg Affair, which will rock the highest circles of Germany, ends
  • Oct 31 Calgary City Rugby Football Club's 1st game defeating Strathcona Rugby Foot-ball Club 15-0 at Calgary
  • Nov 2 Ottawa Mint Proclamation is published
  • Nov 2 US banker J. P. Morgan locks over 40 bankers in his library to force them to find ways to avert New York banking crisis

Foundation of Delta Sigma Pi

Nov 7 Delta Sigma Pi, a professional fraternity organized to foster the study of business in universities is founded at New York University.

  • Nov 7 Dynamite explodes on locomotive kills engineer Jesus Garcia in Mexico
  • Nov 7 Test tokens are struck in 1st production of Canadian coins
  • Nov 8 In a landmark decision for Australia, the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration rules that the Sunshine Harvester Work must pay 'fair and reasonable wages'
  • Nov 9 Edmonton Rugby Foot-ball Club 1st game, loses to Calgary City Rugby Foot-ball Club 26-5 at Edmonton Exhibition Grounds

Cullinan Diamond

Nov 9 The Cullinan Diamond, the largest ever discovered, is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday

  • Nov 13 French cyclist Paul Cornu flies 1st helicopter (twin rotor)
  • Nov 13 The Conference of Central American States, convoked in response to the war between Honduras and Nicaragua, meets in Washington, D.C. to promote unification
  • Nov 14 The Third Duma (Parliament) meets in Russia; following Tsar Nicholas II's limiting of the franchise, a conservative majority holds sway and suppresses the radical elements
  • Nov 16 Oklahoma becomes the United States 46th state

Thaïs

Nov 25 Jules Massenet's opera "Thaïs" has its first American performance in New York

Mayer's 1st Theater

Nov 28 In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater

  • Nov 30 Pike Place Market dedicated in Seattle
  • Dec 2 Association of Football Players' and Trainers' Union (English Professional Football Players' Association) is formed by Charlie Roberts and Billy Meredith in Manchester, England
  • Dec 2 Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns retains his title; KOs Englishman Gunner Moir in 10th round at the National Sporting Club, Covent Garden, London

Talk of the Town

Dec 3 George M. Cohan's musical "Talk of the Town" premieres in NYC

  • Dec 6 Coal mine explosions in Monongah, West Virginia kills 361
  • Dec 7 Eugene Corri becomes 1st referee in a boxing ring
  • Dec 7 The First Egyptian Nationalist Congress meets under the leadership of Mustafa Kamil Pasha
  • Dec 8 King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.
  • Dec 9 First Christmas Seals sold (Wilmington, Delaware, post office)

Mahler Departs Vienna

Dec 9 Gustav Mahler departs Vienna for America

Kipling's Nobel for Literature

Dec 10 Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so

  • Dec 10 The worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1,000 medical students clash with 400 police officers over the existence of a memorial for animals who have been vivisected.
  • Dec 11 New Zealand Parliament Buildings almost completely destroyed by fire
  • Dec 13 George Gunn scores 119 on Test debut v Australia SCG

German Emperor Visits Amsterdam

Dec 13 German Emperor Wilhelm II visits Amsterdam

  • Dec 14 The schooner Thomas W. Lawson runs aground and founders near the Hellweather's Reef within the Scilly Isles in a gale. The pilot and 15 seamen die.
  • Dec 15 In Persia, the Shah leads a coup de'etat against the liberal Prime Minister Nasir ul-Mulk and imprisons him, but a popular uprising forces the Shah to restore Nasir ul-Mulk soon after

Great White Fleet Sails

Dec 16 As a gesture of the US's new presence as a world power, President Theodore Roosevelt sends the 'Great White Fleet' on a round-the-world cruise, visiting ports internationally

  • Dec 16 Eugenia Farrar is the 1st to sing over a wireless radio broadcast, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York
  • Dec 17 Ugyen Wangchuck became 1st hereditary king of Bhutan
  • Dec 19 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania
  • Dec 20 Explosion at Yolande Alabama, coal mine kills 91
  • Dec 21 Dutch government of De Master falls due to war budget
  • Dec 22 Saint-Saëns'/Fokine's ballet "Le Cygne" premieres in St Petersburg
  • Dec 23 1st all-steel passengar railroad coach completed, Altoona, Pennsylvania
  • Dec 30 Abraham Mills' Mills Committee declares baseball was invented in 1839 by future American Civil War general Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York; widely disproven, now known as 'the Doubleday myth'
  • Dec 31 For 1st time, a ball drops at Times Square to signal the New Year
  • Dec 31 Gustav Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera, in New York City