1897

Years: 1894 1895 1896 - 1897 - 1898 1899 1900
Decades: 1860s 1870s 1880s - 1890s - 1900s 1910s 1920s
Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1897 in art 1897 in film 1897 in literature 1897 in music 1897 in science 1897 in sports List of state leaders in 1897 List of religious leaders in 1897

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths

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 - William McKinley succeeds Grover Cleveland s President of the United States.
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.
June 2 - Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he was dead, is quoted by the New York Journal as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."
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.
Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee.
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 (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)
April 26 - Eddie Eagan, US sportsman
April 27 - Mary, Princess Royal.
May 14 - Sidney Bechet, jazz musician (d. 1959)
May 18 - Frank Capra, producer, director, writer (d. 1991)
May 19 - Frank Luke, World War I fighter ace (d. 1918)
June 10 - Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia (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
September 26 - Pope Paul VI (d. 1978)
December 18 - Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician (d. 1952)

Deaths

April 3 - Johannes Brahms, composer
September 9 - Richard Holt Hutton, English writer and theologian
September 21 - Wilhelm Wattenbach, German historian
October 27- Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, mother of Queen Mary
October 29 - Henry George, economist
Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie - traveler