Events by Year
- 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 PresidentTheodore Roosevelt shakes a record 8,513 hands in 1 day
Don Juan in Hell
Jan 4George Bernard Shaw's play "Don Juan in Hell" premieres in London
First Montessori School
Jan 6Maria Montessori opens her 1st Montessori school, in Rome
The Truth
Jan 7Clyde 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 RepublicanCharles Curtis of Kansas becomes the 1st Native American US Senator
Asreal Symphony
Feb 3 Josek Suk's "Asreal Symphony", dedicated to his late wife and his father-in-law Antonin Dvořák, premieres at the Prague National Theatre, conducted by Karel Kovařovic
Schoenberg's 1st String Quartet
Feb 5Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 1 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's first cabs with taximeters begin operating
- Feb 25George Bernard Shaw's play "The Philanderer" premieres in London
- Feb 25 US proclaims protectorate over Dominican Republic
Election of Interest
Feb 26Louis 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 PsychiatristsCarl Jung andSigmund Freud meet for the first time in Vienna
- Mar 2 GeneralLouis 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 CanadianTommy Burns retains his world heavyweight boxing title after beatingPhiladelphia 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 Pact of Cartagena: 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.
- May 27 Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco
- May 28 Auto-Cycle Union Tourist Trophy, 1st held
- May 31 Taxis first begin operating in New York City
- 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 MLB New York Yankees commit 11 errors in 14-6 loss to Detroit 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 TsarNicolas 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
Senators' Record Steal
Jun 28 MLB Washington Senators steal a record 13 bases off of New York Highlanders catcherBranch Rickey
- Jul 1 The Orange River Colony, known as the Orange Free State, is granted self-government by the British
- Jul 3 Papal decree forbids the modernization of theology
- Jul 4 Canadian world heavyweight boxing championTommy 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 stages first 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 First helicopter ascent in Douai, France
Boy Scouts Formed
Jul 29 SirRobert Baden-Powell forms the Boy Scouts in England
- Jul 30 Filipinos elect their first legislature, which will meet on 16 October
- Jul 30 French forces start bombarding Casablanca and land troops to occupy the Atlantic coast region of Morocco following attacks on foreigners
- Jul 30 Russia and Japan sign an agreement guaranteeing freedom of China while recognizing each other's special interests
- Aug 1 First Scout camp opens on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset
- Aug 1 U.S. Army Signal Corps establishes a small aeronautical division
Walter Johnson's First Game
Aug 2 Legendary pitcherWalter Johnson, at 19, begins his 21-year Baseball Hall of Fame playing career with Washington with a 3-2 loss against Detroit
- Aug 3 Emperor Wilhelm of Germany meets with Tsar Nicholas of Russia to discuss Germany's plan to build a railroad to Baghdad; the discussion helps move Russia towards Britain and eventually the Triple Entente
- Aug 7 MLB Washington Senators' legendary pitcherWalter Johnson wins the first of his 417 career games in a 7-2 victory against Cleveland
- Aug 9 First Boy Scout camp concludes on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, southern England
- Aug 10 Prince Scipione Borghese wins the Beijing to Paris 7,500-mile auto rally
- Aug 11 St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ed Karger throws a perfect game against the Boston Doves, winning 4-0 in 7 innings at Robison Field, St. Louis
- Aug 13 First taxicabs, imported by Harry N. Allen, operate in New York City
- Aug 16 Mulay Hafid is proclaimed 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 the NY Giants, 1-0, in a 5-inning game at the Polo Grounds, NYC
Underwater Escape
Aug 26Harry Houdini escapes from chains underwater in 57 seconds at Aquatic Park in San Francisco, California
Edward VII Meets Izvolski
Sep 5 KingEdward VII of Great Britain meets Russia's Foreign Minister Alexander Izvolsky in an attempt to strengthen Russia's relationship with Britain
- Sep 7 Adolph Sutro's ornate Cliff House in San Francisco is 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 the encyclical Pascendi 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 a record 5-day crossing of the Atlantic
- Sep 20 Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Nick Maddox no-hits the Brooklyn Superbas, 2-1, at Exposition Park, Pittsburgh
- Sep 23 Proclamation sets the fineness and weight of silver and bronze coins of Canada
Symphony No. 3
Sep 25Jean Sibelius' 3rd Symphony premieres with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society, conducted by the composer
Panic of 1907
Oct 1 A downturn in the stock market leads to a run on the dollar; US PresidentTheodore Roosevelt calls on financierJ. P. Morgan to help manage the financial crisis
- Oct 1 Plaza Hotel at 5th Avenue and 59th Street opens in New York
- Oct 5 Canadian Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU) plays its first game; Montreal defeats Toronto 17-8 in Montreal
Farman's Biplane Takes Off
Oct 7Henri Farman of France flies 30 meters in a Voisin biplane
- Oct 16 Belasco Theatre opens at 111 W 44th St, New York City
- Oct 16 David Belasco's "Grand Army Man" premieres in New York City
Transatlantic Wireless
Oct 17Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland
- Oct 22 A run on Knickerbocker Trust Company stock leads to a nationwide run on US banks and the Panic of 1907
Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum & Bailey
Oct 22 Ringling Brothers Greatest Show on Earth buysBarnum & 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 defeats Strathcona Rugby Football Club 15-0 in Calgary in their first game
- Nov 2 Ottawa Mint Proclamation is published
- Nov 2 US bankerJ. 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 the first 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 and weighing 3,106 carats, is presented to KingEdward VII at Sandringham House on his 66th birthday
- Nov 13 French bicycle maker Paul Cornu flies the first twin-rotor helicopter, lifting 1.5 m (5 ft) off the ground for 20 seconds
- 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 TsarNicholas 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 25Jules Massenet's opera "Thaïs" has its first American performance in New York
Mayer's 1st Theater
Nov 28 Scrap-metal dealerLouis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater in Haverhill, Massachusetts
- 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 championTommy Burns retains his title; KOs Englishman Gunner Moir in 10th round at the National Sporting Club, Covent Garden, London
Talk of the Town
Dec 3George 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 the first referee inside the boxing ring
- Dec 7 The First Egyptian Nationalist Congress meets under the leadership of Mustafa Kamil Pasha
- Dec 8 Gustaf V of Sweden becomes King of Sweden (1907-50)
- Dec 9 First Christmas Seals sold (Wilmington, Delaware, post office)
Mahler Departs Vienna
Dec 9Gustav Mahler departs Vienna for America
Kipling's Nobel for Literature
Dec 10Rudyard 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 EmperorWilhelm 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, PresidentTheodore Roosevelt sends the 'Great White Fleet' on a round-the-world cruise, visiting ports internationally
- Dec 16 Swedish-American mezzo-soprano Eugenia Farrar sings the first songs over wireless radio - "I Love You Truly" and "Just A'Wearying For You"- from the Parker Building in New York City
- 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 31Gustav Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera, in New York City
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