1903 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

Firsts, Inventions and Wonders: 
The Great Train Robbery is considered to be the first American Action/Western film. The first stuntman was ex-US cavalryman Frank Hanaway,  in this Edwin S. Porter film, for his ability to fall off a horse without injuring himself.

Mary Anderson from Alabama patented (#743,801) windshield wipers in 1903.

Joseph Pulitzer donated $1 million to Columbia University, founding the Pulitzer Prize.

The Tour de France bicycle race was organized.

Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland premiered in Chicago Grand Opera, and later New York. You have probably heard March of the Toys at Christmastime.

On April 22, the American Power Boat Association formed.

The first box of Crayola crayons sold for 5 cents. It contained 8 colors; brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and black.

The Ford Motor Company under Henry Ford incorporated.

Enrico Caruso, operatic tenor voice of his era, made his US debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, NY in Rigoletto.

New York’s original Lyric Theater opened at 213 W 42nd St., with Richard Mansfield’s production of Old Heidelberg.

Lyceum Theater (New Lyceum) at 149 W 45th St NYC and New Amsterdam Theater at 214 W 42nd St NYC also opened.

“Baked by Electricity” Triscuit Crackers were introduced.

The Oxnard strike of 1903 was the first time in US history that a labor union was formed from members of different racial groups (Japanese and Mexican workers).

Pop Culture News: 
President Teddy Roosevelt and wilderness advocate John Muir visited Yosemite Valley in 1903, inspiring the US National Park System.

Topsy the elephant was electrocuted by her owners at Luna Park, Coney Island and filmed by Edison Manufacturing movie company in Edison’s effort to show the safety of Direct Current vs Alternating Current.

Monopoly was originally created to expose the unfairness of a social system where a small minority takes advantage of the majority of tenants, as The Landlord’s Game.

John Pemberton included coca leaves as an ingredient in his 1886 soft drink, Coca-Cola but removed the cocaine from the soft drink in 1903.

1903’s Alice in Wonderland was an early film adaptation of the book.

The Wizard of Oz, the first musical version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book, was produced by L. Frank Baum and W.W. Denslow (music by Paul Tietjens) in Chicago in 1902 and moved to New York in 1903.

Guantanamo Bay is leased by the US against Cuba’s wishes, based on the Cuban-American Treaty, signed in 1903. A $4,085 is sent annually to a position that has not existed since 1959 and was only cashed once, in 1959, by mistake. The treaty provides for Guantanamo Bay to be leased to the United States “in perpetuity”.

Horatio Nelson Jackson with driving partner Sewall K. Crocker were the first to drive cross country (San Francisco to New York City) in an automobile.

The New York Times predicted that building a flying machine would be possible in 1-10 Million years.

Traian Vuia, a Romanian Engineer presented his flying machine plan to the Académie des Sciences in Paris, but was rejected with the comment: “The problem of flight with a machine which weighs more than air can not be solved and it is only a dream.”

The first flight of the Wright Flyer I took place on December 17, 1903. Orville Wright piloted, and Wilbur ran (safety) at the wingtip.

A barge, The Harold, tipped somewhere off the coast of Staten Island, sending most of its 7,700 silver-and-lead bars to the bottom. Most bars were recovered right away, but about 1,400 bars were never recovered.

The Horrible:
Wreck of the Old 97- involved the Southern Railway Fast Mail train, while en route from Monroe, Virginia, to Spencer, North Carolina, on September 27, 1903. Eleven people were killed and seven injured. It is also the basis for one of the first Dirge Pop Songs. You probably know the melody.

The Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago killed over 600 people.

Popular and Notable Books From 1903: