1900 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

1900 History, Trivia, and Fun Facts

Top Ten Baby Names of 1900

Mary, Helen, Anna, Margaret, Ruth, John, William, James, George, Charles

US Life Expectancy

Males: 46.3 years, Females: 48.3 years

Firsts, Inventions and Wonders

On January 18, author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W. W. Denslow joint copyrighted their new book- The Land of Oz. It was released as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on May 12.

Veterans of Foreign Wars was founded on September 29, 1899

King Oscar II of Sweden approved the creation of the Nobel Foundation, funded by the 1895 Will of Alfred Nobel. The first Nobel Prize awards were made by the foundation in 1901.

The Eastman Kodak Company introduced the Brownie camera, priced at $1.00.

The founding brothers of Michelin Tires started the Michelin Guide in 1900 when they decided that a rating guide (Michelin Stars) for hotels and restaurants would compel the limited number of drivers to use up and buy more of their tires.

Nipper, the RCA Victor dog, was registered as a trademark and became one of the advertising icons of the 20th century. The dog belonged to Francis Barraud, whose painting His Master’s Voice showed the animal listening to a gramophone.

The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) was founded in New York.

Harvey Firestone established the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company as an automobile tire supply store in Akron, Ohio. He started making tires about three years later.

The Most Popular Singers and Artists of 1900

Albert Cambell, Arthur Collins, Edward M. Favor, George J. Gaskin, The Hayden Quartet, Harry Macdonough, Jere Mahoney, J.W. Meyers, Voss Ossman, Steve Porter, Dan Quinn, Len Spencer

Pop Culture Facts & History

Dwight F. Davis, President of the United States Lawn Tennis Association, announced the creation of a silver cup for whoever won the international tennis championship. It is now known as The Davis Cup.

Guglielmo Marconi was awarded a British patent (#7,777) for his wireless radio.

Robert Leroy Parker (aka Butch Cassidy), Harry Longabaugh (aka The Sundance Kid), and other members of “The Wild Bunch” staged their third train robbery, taking control of Union Pacific train No. 3 at Tipton, Wyoming, robbing the express car of $45,000 and successfully escaping.

The Paris World Exhibition (Exposition Universelle of 1900) World’s Fair occurred between April 14 and November 12.

The American League’s eight teams for the inaugural 1900 season were the Buffalo Bisons, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Indianapolis Indians, Kansas City Blues, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Minneapolis Millers.

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the controlling body for bicycling events around the world, was founded in Aigle, Switzerland.

Nikola Tesla received a patent (#645,576) for ‘wireless transmission of electrical power’ – the first in a series of patents for sending “industrially significant amounts of power” from one station to another without electrical wires.

The first book of stamps in the United States was placed on sale in American post offices in packs of 12,24 and 48 2-cent stamps.

Willis L. Moore, Chief of the US Weather Bureau, issued the first workplace smoking ban. “The smoking of cigarettes in the offices of the Weather Bureau is hereby prohibited. Officials in charge of stations will rigidly enforce this order, and will also include in their semiannual confidential reports information about those of their assistants who smoke cigarettes outside of office hours.”

The 1900 Census counted 76,295,220 people living in the United States and Territories.

John Luther “Casey” Jones was driving a passenger train from Memphis to Canton, Mississippi, when he encountered two stalled freight trains on the main track at Vaughn, Mississippi, ahead of his. Unable to avoid a collision, Casey Jones slowed the train enough that he was the only fatality in the accident.

The Patent (#646,375) was granted to William Abner Eddy for the ‘Eddy kite’ – the standard basic kite design we use today.

The Associated Press (AP) was incorporated as a New York corporation.

The vaudeville team of Joe and Myra Keaton was appearing at a matinee show at the Wonderland Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, and their 5-year-old son, Buster, joined the act. He later became one of the first silent film stars.

The largest banquet in history was held at the Tuileries Gardens when French President Émile Loubet treated the 22,695 mayors of all French cities.

A hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, causing the worst natural disaster in American history, with 8-12,000 people killed.

Popular and Best-selling Books From 1900

Fiction Bestsellers

1. To Have and To Hold by Mary Johnston
2. Red Pottage by Mary Cholmondeley
3. Unleavened Bread by Robert Grant
4. The Reign of Law by James Lane Allen
5. Eben Holden by Irving Bacheller
6. Janice Meredith by Paul Leicester Ford
7. The Redemption of David Corson by Charles Frederic Goss
8. Richard Carvel by Winston Churchill
9. When Knighthood Was in Flower by Charles Majo
10. Alice of Old Vincennes by Maurice Thompson

Other Books of Note

The World and the Individual by Josiah Royce
An American Anthology by Clarence Stedman
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
The School and Society by John Dewey

1900 United States Census

Total US Population: 76,212,168
1. New York, New York – 3,437,202
2. Chicago, Illinois – 1,698,575
3. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1,293,697
4. St. Louis, Missouri – 575,238
5. Boston, Massachusetts – 560,892
6. Baltimore, Maryland – 508,957
7. Cleveland, Ohio – 391,768
8. Buffalo, New York 352,387
9. San Francisco, California – 342,782
10. Cincinnati, Ohio – 325,902

Sports

National League Baseball Champions: Brooklyn Superbas
Challenge Cup Champs: Montreal Shamrocks
U.S. Open Golf: Harry Varden
U.S. Tennis (Men/Ladies): Malcolm Whitman/Myrtle McAteer
Wimbledon (Men/Women): Reginald Doherty/Blanche Hillyard
NCAA Football Champions: Yale
Kentucky Derby Winner: Lieutenant Gibson
Boston Marathon Winner: 1900 John “Jack” Caffery Time: 2:39:44
Tug of War was an Olympic event between 1900 and 1920.

More 1900 Facts & History Resources:

Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com)
Popular and Notable Books (popculture.us) 
Broadway Shows that opened in 1900
1900 Calendar, courtesy of Time and Date.com 
1900 Census
Fact Monster 
Wikipedia 1900