Historical Events in 1902

A Crackdown on Lovers in New York

Jan 8 New York state assemblyman Francis G. Landon gets a bill passed to criminalize men turning around on a street and "looking at a woman in that way"

Mulberry Street, Lower East Side in the 1900s. In the jostling streets of New York, men had to be careful.

Jan 8 The United Irish League, a leading force for unification in all Ireland and independence from Britain, holds its convention in Dublin
Jan 10 Alphons Diepenbrock's "Te Deum" premieres in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jan 10 Although it has professed neutrality in the Boer War, German Chancellor von Bulow joins others in attacking British actions in South Africa
Jan 12 Uddevalla Suffrage Association is formally dissolved
Jan 13 Textile workers strike in Enschede, Netherlands (until 1st June)

Riyadh Falls

Jan 15 Abdulaziz Ibn Saud leads 40 men over the walls of Riyadh and takes the city, marking the beginning of the Third Saudi State

Jan 18 Despite reports that favor the US building a route through Nicaragua for a canal, a 'supplementary report' recommends the route through Panama
Jan 25 Aleksandr Skriabin's 2nd Symphony in C premieres in St Petersburg
Jan 27 5 workers killed on explosion during IRT subway construction (NYC)
Jan 28 Carnegie Institute founded in Washington, D.C.
Jan 30 Britain and Japan sign a treaty after months of negotiating which commits each country to supporting an independent China and Korea, although it acknowledges Japan's 'special interest' in Korea
Feb 1 China's empress Tzu-hsi forbids binding woman's feet
Feb 1 Hermann Sudermanns "Es lebe das Leben" premieres in Berlin
Feb 1 US Secretary of State John Hay protests granting Russia exclusive privileges in China, on ground that it runs contrary to the 'open door' policy granting all nations equal rights there
Feb 4 Stanley Cup, Winnipeg Auditorium, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Montreal HC beats Winnipeg Victorias, 2-1 for a 2-1 challenge series victory
Feb 6 Young Women's Hebrew Association organizes in NYC
Feb 11 Police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels
Feb 15 Berlin U-Bahn (Underground railway) opened
Feb 17 A general strike in Barcelona and nearby towns leads to government-troop reprisals that leave 40 dead

Le jongleur de Notre-Dame

Feb 18 Jules Massenet's opera "Le jongleur de Notre-Dame" ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame) premieres in Monte Carlo

Feb 20 Heavy surf breaks over Seal Rocks & damages Sutro Baths, San Francisco
Feb 21 Dr. Harvey Cushing, 1st US brain surgeon, performs his 1st brain operation
Feb 24 Battle at Yzer Spruit: Boer General De la Rey beats British
Mar 4 American Automobile Association (AAA) founded in Chicago
Mar 6 Permanent US Census office created by legislation passed by Congress
Mar 7 Boers beat British troops at Tweebosch, Transvaal

Sibelius' 2nd Symphony

Mar 8 1st performance of Jean Sibelius' 2nd Symphony, his most popular, by the Helsinki Philharmonic Society

Movie Camera not Invented by Edison

Mar 10 A United States court of appeals rules that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera

Mar 10 Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri

Verklärte Nacht

Mar 18 Arnold Schoenberg's "Verklärte Nacht" premieres in Vienna

Caruso Makes a Record

Mar 18 Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso becomes 1st well-known performer to make a record

Mar 18 Turkey grants Germany syndicate the first concession to construct a railroad through Turkish territory to Baghdad, to be linked to Berlin
Mar 20 France and Russia issue a joint declaration that approves the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, but stipulates that they have the right to protect interests in China and Korea
Mar 25 In Russia, 567 students are tried for rioting and 'political disaffection' are found guilty; 95 are banished to Siberia
Mar 25 Irving W. Colburn patents sheet glass drawing machine
Mar 28 27.9 cm precipitation at McMinnville, Tennessee (state record)
Apr 2 "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California
Apr 2 Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated by a terrorist in the Marie Palace, St Petersburg
Apr 2 Dutch football club Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging (MVV) is established in Maastricht, Netherlands

Rhodes Scholarship

Apr 4 Cecil Rhodes scholarship fund forms with $10 million

British Businessman and Imperialist Politician Cecil Rhodes

Apr 5 In Glasgow, Scotland the Ibrox disaster occurs after a section of a grandstand collapses killing 25 and injuring 517

Pavane for A Dead Princess

Apr 5 Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante defunte (Pavane for A Dead Princess)" premieres in Paris, performed by Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes

Apr 7 Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms
Apr 8 Demonstration organised by socialists in Belgium as people demand better education, living conditions, the right to strike and universal male suffrage result in a riot and some deaths
Apr 8 Russia and China sign the Convention of Evacuation under which Russia agrees to evacuate Manchuria within 18 months
Apr 11 Second Boer War: British forces defeat Boer commandos in Battle of Rooiwal, South Africa

The Golden Rule Store

Apr 14 James Cash Penney opens his first store, The Golden Rule Store, in Kemmerer, Wyoming

Department Store Founder James Cash Penney

On Church in US

Apr 15 Pope Leo XIII encyclical "On Church in US"

Apr 15 Rioting and arson continue in Russia with peasants plundering estates to find food.
Apr 15 Russian minister of interior and head of secret police, Sipyengin, is assassinated by the 'Terror Brigade' of the Socialist Revolutionaries

Radium Chloride Isolated

Apr 20 Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride

Apr 25 Erwin Harvey becomes 1st Cleveland ballplayer (Cleveland Bronchos) to have six hits in one game
Apr 28 Using the ISO 8601 standard Year Zero definition for the Gregorian calendar preceded by the Julian calendar, the one billionth minute since the start of January 1 Year Zero occurs at 10:40 AM on this date
Apr 29 Congress extends the Chinese Exclusion Act (of 1882) prohibiting immigration of Chinese laborers from territories to the mainland, a rule clearly aimed at Chinese in the Philippines

Pelléas et Mélisande

Apr 30 Claude Debussy's only completed opera "Pelléas et Mélisande" premieres at the Salle Favart in Paris by the Opéra-Comique, conducted by André Messager

May 6 British SS Camorta sinks in a cyclone in the Gulf of Martaban near Rangoon with the loss of about 739 lives
May 6 Zulu assault at Holkrantz, South Africa
May 7 La Soufrière volcano on St Vincent kills 1,680 people
May 8 Mount Pelée on the French overseas island of Martinique erupts, wiping out the city of Saint-Pierre, killing 30,000 and leaving only two survivors
May 10 Dutch soccer club FC Blauw-Wit (Blue-White) is formed in the Kinkerbuurt area of Amsterdam; merge with VV De Beursbengels in 2015
May 10 Portugal goes bankrupt, but its parliament passes a bill converting its external debt. Contributing to Portugal's troubles is recent revolt in its colony of Angola, put down 6 September
May 12 140,000 miners of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania go out on a strike called by the United Mine Workers after the owners have refused to recognize the UMW, negotiate or submit to arbitration
May 14 Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his Covent Garden debut opposite Nellie Melba in Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" in London
May 15 "Bailundo Revolt" begins after Ovimbundu kingdom & allies revolt against Portuguese Empire in Benguela Highlands, central Portuguese Angola
May 15 Lyman Gilmore is 1st person to fly a powered craft
May 16 2 deaf-mutes face each other for 1st time as Dummy Hoy leads off for the Reds against Dummy Taylor of the Giants, Reds win 5-3
May 17 Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer
May 19 Great Britain and Boers resume peace talks in Pretoria
May 20 United States withdraws its troops from Cuba as the first Cuban president, Tomas Estrada Palma takes power

US, Mexico Agree Arbitration

May 22 US President Theodore Roosevelt signs a treaty with Mexico under which both countries agree to submit a long-standing dispute over interest payments to the Court of Arbitration at The Hague

May 24 Cleve's Bill Bradley is 1st ALer to hit a HR run in 4 consecutive games, not duplicated until Babe Ruth does it June 25, 1918
May 24 Empire Day 1st celebrated in Britain
May 29 Dutch State Mine law forms
May 30 Spanish King Alfonso XII, who was elected as a constitutional monarch, suspends the Cortes, Spain's parliament
May 31 Australia Cricket all out 36 v England, Edgbaston, their lowest ever
May 31 Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal
May 31 Labor trouble and riots lead Spanish King Alfonso XII to impose martial law
Jun 2 2nd statewide initiative & referendum law adopted, in Oregon

Beatty Appointed Captain

Jun 2 British naval officer David Beatty is appointed captain of the cruiser HMS Juno

British Admiral of the Fleet David Beatty

'Germanization' of the Slavs

Jun 5 Emperor Wilhelm II responds to growing demands from Polish and other Slavic peoples living within German territory by calling for more 'Germanization' of the Slavs

German Emperor and King of Prussia Wilhelm II

Jun 9 1st Automat restaurant opens at 818 Chestnut St, Philadelphia
Jun 10 Patent for window envelope granted to H. F. Callahan
Jun 12 Australian parliament agrees to Commonwealth Franchise Act, granting female suffrage
Jun 12 Horn & Hardart opens 1st "automat" (self-service restaurant) in the US on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jun 13 Prussian Upper house gives 350 million marks to Poland
Jun 15 Canada's Maritime Provinces switch from Eastern to Atlantic time
Jun 15 Minor League's most lopsided baseball game: Corsicana 51; Texarkana 3 Justin Clark of Corsicana, Texas minors hits 8 home runs in 1 game
Jun 16 "The Wizard of Oz" musical first opens in Chicago, Illinois
Jun 17 US Congress pass the New Lands Reclamation Act, which establishes a fund from sale of public lands to build irrigation dams for arid Western lands

Order of Merit Founded

Jun 23 British Order of Merit instituted by King Edward VII [1]

Monument to Rossini

Jun 23 Monument to composer Gioachino Rossini unveiled in Santa Croce, Florence, Italy

Jun 24 British King Edward VII develops appendicitis, delaying his coronation

Target Corporation Founded

Jun 24 Target Corporation is founded by American businessman George Dayton as Goodfellow Dry Goods in Minneapolis

Businessman and Founder of Target George Dayton

Aga Khan III Honored

Jun 26 Aga Khan III is appointed Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire

Jun 28 Germany, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire renew their Triple Alliance for six more years
Jun 28 US buys concession to build Panama canal from French for $40 million
Jun 28 US Congress authorizes Louisiana Purchase Expo $1 gold coin
Jun 30 Cleveland is 1st AL team to hit 3 consecutive HRs in same inning
Jul 1 Ranji (230) & Newham (153) add 344 for 7th wkt, Sussex v Essex
Jul 1 US Congress passes the Philippines Government Act, providing that the Philippines be governed by a commission appointed by the President, with consent from the senate; Filipinos are to be treated as citizens of their land, no the USA
Jul 4 Civil government is established in the Philippines by a proclamation from US President Theodore Roosevelt, who offers a general amnesty to insurgents
Jul 5 All-rounder Monty Noble takes 6 for 52 as Australia wins the one and only cricket Test played at Sheffield's Bramall Lane, England

Sports History

Jul 8 Baltimore manager John McGraw is accused by AL President Ban Johnson of trying to wreck the Orioles & Washington Senators; negotiates his release from the Orioles, having already signed with NY Giants

Founder of Baseball's American League Ban Johnson

British History

Jul 11 British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury resigns

British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil

Event of Interest

Jul 12 Arthur Balfour succeeds Lord Salisbury, who retired as British Prime Minister on 11 July

Jul 14 The Campanile in St Mark's Square, Venice collapses, also demolishing the loggetta (reconstructed 1912)
Jul 16 John McGraw officially becomes manager of MLB New York Giants; 30 year tenure begins (1902-32)
Jul 17 Lord Tennyson, son of the poet, is named to succeed Lord Hopetown, first governor general of Australia
Jul 17 Orioles forfeit to St Louis having only 5 players available to play they then forfeit their franchise back to the AL
Jul 23 Dutch Excelsior soccer club is established in Rotterdam (Eerste Divisie winners 1973-4, 78-79, 2005-06)
Jul 24 In Turkey, the Sultan Abdul-Hamid, under pressure from within the Ottoman Empire, appoints a commission to consider reforms that might pacify Macedonian revolutionaries

Cricket History

Jul 24 Victor Trumper scores a century for Australia before lunch 4th Test Cricket v England

Jeffries KOs Fitzsimmons

Jul 25 3 years after winning the title from English boxer Bob Fitzsimmons, American champion James J. Jeffries repeats the dose with an 8th round KO in San Francisco for the heavyweight crown

Boxer and World Heavyweight Champion James J. Jeffries

Jul 26 Australia beat England by 3 runs at Old Trafford
Jul 29 Union of Orthodox Rabbis of US and Canada forms
Jul 30 Anti-Jewish rioters attack funeral procession of Rabbi Joseph (NYC)
Aug 1 Building begins on Dutch public housing
Aug 1 Mine accident in Wollongong, Australia (100 die)
Aug 4 The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens
Aug 9 Edward VII of Great Britain crowned King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, succeeding his mother Queen Victoria
Aug 13 English cricket team beats Australia by one wicket in a famous victory at The Oval, in London
Aug 22 US President Theodore Roosevelt became 1st US chief executive to ride in a car
Aug 31 Split skirt 1st worn by Mrs Adolph Landeburg (a horse rider)
Sep 2 "A Trip To The Moon", the first sci-fi film, released
Sep 7 In Australia, the whole nation observes a 'day of humiliation' and prays for rain, as a terrible drought kills livestock and threatens crops; rain begins to appear on 10 September

Sports History

Sep 13 Chicago Cubs infielders Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, & Frank Chance appear together as teammates for 1st time, creating the famed double-play combination of "Tinker to Evers to Chance"

Sep 15 Chicago Cubs infielders Tinker, Evers, & Chance turn their first double play together in a 6-3 win over Cincinnati
Sep 17 US protests anti-semitism in Romania
Sep 20 Chicago White Sox pitcher Jimmy 'Nixey' Callahan no-hits Detroit Tigers, 3-0
Sep 29 Impresario David Belasco opens his 1st Broadway theater

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Oct 2 Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" is published by Frederick Warne & Co. in London

Trial of Tom Horn

Oct 10 American outlaw Tom Horn's murder trial begins, and he is eventually found guilty and sentenced to death

Old West Lawman, Outlaw and Bounty Hunter Tom Horn

Oct 10 South Africa's President of Transvaal Paul Kruger visits Utrecht
Oct 11 Commencement of 1st Test Cricket between South Africa & Australia
Oct 13 US President Theodore Roosevelt threatens to start using army troops to work coal mines struck since 12 may; this brings the owners to agree to abide by a Commission of Arbitration
Oct 20 The Chamber of Deputies appoints a committee to consider questions on the separation of Church and State in France
Oct 21 In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
Oct 24 Santa Maria volcano in Guatemala erupts, killing 6,000 people and becoming one of the three largest eruptions of the 20th century

The Lower Depths

Oct 25 Maxim Gorky's play "The Lower Depths" premieres in Moscow

Oct 25 Santa Maria, Guatemala hit by Earthquake, killing an estimated 6,000 people
Nov 1 France and Italy sign an Entente under which Italy agrees to remain neutral if France is attacked; this is France's attempt to neutralize the Triple Entente

Heart of Darkness

Nov 13 "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad is first published in one volume (previously serialized) by William Blackwood in Edinburgh

Assassination Attempt on Leopold II

Nov 15 Leopold II, King of Belgium almost assassinated by Italian anarchist

King of the Belgians Leopold II of Belgium

Nov 15 The Egyptian Museum, the first national museum in the Middle East, opens to the public in its new premises on Ismailia Square (now Tahir Square) in Cairo [1]
Nov 18 Brooklyn toymaker Morris Michton names the teddy bear after US President Teddy Roosevelt

Tour de France Created

Nov 20 Geo Lefevre and Henri Desgrange create Tour de France bicycle race

Cyclist and Founder of the Tour-de-France Henri Desgrange

Nov 21 1st night football game, Philadelphia Athletics beats Kanaweola AC, 39-0
Nov 21 Baseball's Philadelphia Athletics & Phillies form pro football teams, joining Pitts Stars in 1st attempt at a National Football League
Nov 21 The Canadian government appoints a commission to consider revising, classifying, and consolidating the many public statutes passed over the years

Wiener Frauen

Nov 25 Franz Lehar's opera "Wiener Frauen" premieres in Vienna

Der arme Heinrich

Nov 29 Gerhart Hauptmann's play "Der arme Heinrich" premieres in Vienna

Dramatist, Author and Nobel Laureate Gerhart Hauptmann

Nov 30 American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang Kid Curry Logan sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor
Dec 2 Dutch soccer club Be Quick - later Go Ahead, forms in Deventer; suffix 'Eagles' added in 1971
Dec 7 Britain and Germany issue an ultimatum to Venezuela demanding that President Cipriano Castro pay claims for damages caused during his takeover of the government in 1899

Oliver Wendell Holmes Associate Justice

Dec 8 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr became Associate Justice on US Supreme Court

Dec 9 AL announces purchase of grounds for a stadium in NY

Fischer Awarded Chemistry Nobel

Dec 10 German organic chemist Emil Fischer is award the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on sugar and purine syntheses

Aswan Low Dam Opens

Dec 10 Opening of the Aswan Low Dam at the first cataract - first dam across the Nile, then the largest masonry dam in the world

Dec 10 Women are given the right to vote in Tasmania
Dec 11 The US signs a treaty with Cuba allowing for a 20 percent reduction of tariff rates on imported Cuban products

Mommsen Literature Nobel

Dec 12 German historian Theodor Mommsen is awarded the Nobel prize for Literature for his historical writing and especially his monumental work, "A History of Rome"

Dec 13 British and German ships bombard Venezuelan forts after President Castro refuses to comply with ultimatum demanding damages caused during his takeover of the government in 1899; Castro asks US President Theodore Roosevelt to arbitrate
Dec 15 German agricultural tariffs are increased

Der Erdgeist

Dec 17 Frank Wedekind's play "Der Erdgeist" premieres in Berlin

Dec 18 British parliament passes the Education Act, which will come to be regarded as the most important legislation of Arthur Balfour's government

"The Girl with the Green Eyes"

Dec 25 Clyde Fitch' play "The Girl with the Green Eyes" premieres in NYC

Dec 25 Pope Leo XIII, at his annual Christmas reception, endorses the Christian Democratic movement now emerging in Europe as an attempt to offer an alternative to more radical movements
Dec 26 Most knock downs in a fight, Oscar Nelson (5) & Christy Williams (42)
Dec 28 1st indoor pro football game, Syracuse beats Philadelphia 6-0 (Madison Square Garden, NYC)
Dec 28 Trans-Pacific cable links Hawaii to US

"The Entertainer"

Dec 29 Scot Joplin copyrights "The Entertainer" and several other piano rag compositions through the US Copyright Office