1897

Decades: 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s - 1890s - 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s

Years: 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 - 1897 - 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902

Events

• January 1 - Brooklyn, New York merges with New York City
• January 4 - A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosheri, son-in-law of the Oba of Benin. This leads to a Punitive Expedition against Benin.
• February 2 - The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.
• February 18- Benin is put to the torch by the Punitive Expedition.
• March 4 - Stephen Grover Cleveland is succeeded as President of the United States by William McKinley.
• April 5 - "Ordinance of April 5," equalizing German and Czech in Bohemia signed in Austria-Hungary, see Kasimir Felix Graf von Badeni
• April 27 - Grant's Tomb is dedicated.
• May 19 - Oscar Wilde is released from prison.
• July 17 - Klondike gold rush begins when first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle.
• July 25 - Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories.
• August 29 - First Zionist Congress convenes in Basel, Switzerland.
• September 1 - The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.
• December 28 - The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris.
• December 30 - Natal annexes Zululand

• France allows women to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts

Births

• January 3 - Pola Negri, actress (d. 1987)
• January 3 - Marion Davies, actress (d. 1961)
• January 23 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, architect (d. 2000)
• February 4 - Ludwig Erhard, politician.
• February 10 - John F. Enders, scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954 (d. 1985)
• February 10 - Dame Judith Anderson, actress (d. 1992)
• February 11 - Yves de La Casiniere, composer.
• March 4 - Lefty O'Doul, baseball star, restauranteur (d. 1969)
• March 5 - Soong May-ling aka Madame Chiang Kai-Shek
• March 15 - Jackson Scholz, American sprinter
• March 24 - Wilhelm Reich, psychotherapist (d. 1957)
• March 27 - Gloria Swanson, actress (d. 1983)
• March 28 - Sepp Herberger, football coach (d. 1977)
• April 7 - Walter Winchell, broadcaster, journalist (d. 1972)
• April 9 - John B. Gambling, radio talk-show host (d. 1974)
• April 26 - Olga Tschechowa, actress (d. 1980)
• April 26 - Douglas Sirk, director (d. 1987)
• May 18 - Frank Capra, producer, director, writer (d. 1991)
• May 19 - Frank Luke, World War I fighter ace (d. 1918)
• June 13 - Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner.
• July 11 - Blind Lemon Jefferson
• July 24 - Amelia Earhart, aviator
• August 2 - Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1974)
• August 28 - Charles Boyer, actor
• September 8 - Jimmie Rodgers
• September 12 - Irene Joliot-Curie, scientist
• September 23 - Walter Pidgeon, actor (d. 1984)
• September 25 - William Faulkner, novelist

Deaths

• April 3 - Johannes Brahms, composer
• Obtober 27- Her Royal Highness Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, mother of Queen Mary
• October 29 - Henry George, economist
• Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie - traveler

Science

• Thomson discovers the electron.

Referenced By