1910 Trivia, History and Fun Facts

Quick Facts from 1910:

• World Changing Events: The Albanian Revolt of 1910 and The Mexican Revolution
• The Popular Songs Included: By The Light of the Silvery Moon, Let Me Call You Sweetheart and I’m Henery the Eighth, I Am.
• The Republic of China officially abolished slavery.
• The first film versions of The Wizard of Oz and Frankenstein were released.
• President Taft began the tradition of throwing out ball on MLB’s opening day.
• On April 20, Comet Halley was visible from Earth. May 18, The Earth passed through the tail of Halley’s Comet.
• Washington State became the 5th US State in which women could vote.
• The beginning of American domestic tourism started with the establishment of Glacier National Park in Montana.
• In the first “Fight of the Century”, African-American boxer Jack Johnson defeated white American boxer, James J. Jeffries.
• The Conversation: Was about Halley’s Comet.

Firsts, Inventions, and Wonders: 
Principia Mathematica, a three-volume work on the foundations of Mathematics was released. This hefty work aimed to create a set of axioms that could, in theory, prove all mathematical truths. This included proving that 1+1=2.

Thomas Edison’s Frankenstein (1910) is the earliest known film version of Mary Shelley’s novel.

The word “Moron” was first coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard from the Ancient Greek word ‘moros’, meaning “dull”.

The Boy Scouts of America was founded by William D. Boyce.

The first mid-air collision. On October 3, Frenchman René Thomas, flying the Antoinette IV monoplane, collided with British Army Captain Bertram Dickson in his Farman III biplane. No one was killed.

The first public radio broadcast took place with live performances of the operas Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

The first airship with passengers set afloat-Zeppelin on June 22, on The Deutschland.

Invented by Georges Claude, Neon Lights were first publicly displayed at the Paris Motor (Auto) Show.

The Tango dance, a cultural blend of Cuban, Argentinian, and African rhythms, became popular around the world.

President William Howard Taft began the tradition of throwing out ball on MLB’s opening day.

“ALFA” (later Alfa Romeo) was an acronym for “Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili,” founded 1910.

Yellow Cab was founded

Pop Culture History:
When Earth passed through the tail of Halley’s Comet during its 1910 approach, there was public fear that a gas discovered in the tail, cyanogen, would destroy all life on the planet, leading to people buying gas masks and “Anti-Comet Pills”, which were $1 each.

The Great January Comet of 1910, often referred to as the Daylight Comet appeared in January. It was brighter than Halley’s and unexpected.

Typhoid Mary (Mary Mallon) was released from her first periods of forced isolation and went on to cause several further outbreaks of typhoid in the New York area.

“Lakeview Gusher” was the name given to an out-of-control eruption of oil from a drilled well in Kern County, California. It created the largest accidental oil spill in history, spewing for 544 consecutive days, and releasing 9 million barrels of crude oil.

Adolf Toepperwein, during 3 days of shooting in December 1910, shot 72,491 out of 75,000 tossed wooden blocks.

In one single hour, 10,000 people in Iowa constructed a 380-mile road in 1910.

The first movie ever shot in Hollywood was “In Old California”, by DW Griffith in 1910. It was a historical melodrama about southern California in the 1800s when it was a part of Mexico.

The first film version of The Wizard of Oz was released in 1910

Alice Stebbins Wells was sworn in as the first policewoman in the United States by the Los Angeles Police Department.

The long time world record holder for the world’s oldest dog was Bluey, who lived from 1910 to 1939 and died at the age of 29 years and 5 months.

In France, Raymonde de Laroche was awarded Pilot’s License #36 by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, becoming the first woman authorized to fly an airplane.

Rayon, a man-made fabric blended from cotton, wood pulp, and other natural or synthetic fibers, was first commercially produced in America in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania.

While attending the first American Air Meet, William Boeing asked every aviator for a ride, but no one obliged. William then went back to Seattle and founded Boeing aircraft.

The Tragedies:
118 people died when three passenger trains were buried at Steven’s Pass, Washington, in the Cascade Range by the worst snow slide in US history.

On March 27, a Fire during a barn-dance in Hungary killed 312 people.

In England, near Bolton, an explosion killed 360 coal miners: The Pretoria Pit Disaster.

A fire at a building in Newark, New Jersey, housing several factories, killed 24 women and girls employed by the Wolf Muslin Undergarment Company.

The Great Fire of 1910 (aka Idaho Big Burn or The Big Blowup) in the western US was the size of the state of Connecticut. It spanned from eastern Washington to western Montana and 3 million acres were burned. 87 people were killed.

In England, an explosion at the Wellington Coal Mine near Manchester killed 137 people.

Interesting…
Valentine Tapley promised to never shave again if Abraham Lincoln was elected president. He died in 1910 with a 12-foot 6-inch long beard.

The Great Illusion by Norman Angell, , a best selling British book published in 1910 that claimed future major wars were unlikely because it would unprofitably disrupt the commerce and credit between nations.

The Population of Manhattan peaked in 1910, at 2,331,542. It is lower today.