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

Historical Events in February 1909

  • Feb 1 US Assay Office in Salt Lake City, Utah, opens
  • Feb 1 US forces withdraw from Cuba after liberal Jose Miguel Gomez becomes president; ensuing political instability will bring a threat of US intervention in 1912
  • Feb 2 Italian writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti publishes "Manifest o of Futurism" in Paris, France
  • Feb 8 France & Germany sign treaty about Morocco
  • Feb 9 1st US federal legislation on narcotics prohibits importation, possession, and use of "smoking opium"
  • Feb 12 American James Clark runs world record marathon (2:46:52.6) in NYC
  • Feb 12 Netherlands' SDAP suspends Marxist Tribune group (Gorter & Wijnkoop)

Polonia

Feb 12 Symphony in B minor "Polonia", by Polish composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski has its public premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra

  • Feb 16 1st subway car with side doors goes into service (NYC)
  • Feb 16 Serbia mobilizes against Austria-Hungary

Baseball Trade

Feb 18 Boston Red Sox trade Cy Young, at 41, to Cleveland Naps

  • Feb 20 Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal "Le Figaro"
  • Feb 20 The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded in Detroit, Michigan by retail titan Joseph L. Hudson and other investors [1]
  • Feb 21 John Galsworthy's "Strife" premieres in London

February Manifesto

Feb 23 Russian Tsar Nicholas II dissolves Finnish Diet

  • Feb 26 Austria and Turkey conclude an agreement in which Turkey recognizes Austria's 1908 annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is to receive compensation
  • Feb 28 1st National Woman's Day is observed in the United States. Organized by the Socialist Party of America in honor of the 1908 garment workers' strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions.