1906

January 1

• Dutch law makes driver's license mandatory. [1]
• Joseph Miroslav Weber composer, dies at age 51. [1]

January 6

• Maurice Ravel's "Miroirs" premieres in Paris. [1]

January 8

• Jacob C van Marken peanut butter maker (Calvé-Delft), dies at age 60. [1]

January 12

• First time Dow Jones closes above 100 (100.26). [1]

January 13

• First radio set advertised (Telimco for $7.50 in Scientific American) claimed to receive signals up to one mile. [1]

January 16

• Conference of Algeciras (about Morocco). [1]

January 18

• Bartolomé Mitre President of Argentina (1862-70), dies at age 84. [1]

January 19

• Gerhart Hauptmann's "Und Pippa Tanzt!" premieres in Berlin. [1]

January 25

• Del Valle Inclans "El Marqués de Bradomin" premieres in Madrid. [1]
• Joseph Wheeler II Confederate General, dies at age 70. [1]
• Pierre L Goossens Belgian archbishop of Malines/Cardinal, dies at age 78. [1]

January 29

• Christaan IX King of Denmark (1893-1906), dies. [1]

January 31

• An 8.8-magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Ecuador; the quake and resulting tsunami kill over 500 people. [1] [383.A8]

February 1

• First federal penitentiary building completed, Leavenworth KS. [1]
• English Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Grey's wife Dorothy fatally injured. [1]

February 2

• Pope encyclical against separation of church and state. [1]

February 9

• Natal proclaims state of siege in Zulu uprising. [1]
• Paul Laurence Dunbar black dialect poet, dies at age 33 in Dayton Ohio. [1]

February 10

• Britain's first modern and largest battleship "HMS Dreadnought" launched. [1]
• State of siege proclaimed in Zululand. [1]

February 12

• George M Cohans musical "George Washington" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

February 15

• British Labour Party organizes. [1]

February 17

• Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice marries in the White House. [1]

February 18

• Vincent d'Indy's "Jour D'été à La Montagne" premieres in Paris. [1]
• Willem Doorenbos literary/critic, dies at age 85. [1]

February 19

• W K Kellogg and Charles D Bolin incorporate Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, Battle Creek Michigan. [1]

February 22

• Black evangelist William J Seymour arrives in Los Angeles California. [1]

February 23

• Johann Hoch US murderer, executed. [1]

February 25

• Anton Stepanovich Arensky Russian composer/conductor, dies at age 44. [1]

February 26

• Manuel Fernandez Caballero composer, dies at age 70. [1]

February 27

• France and Britain agree to joint control of New Hebrides. [1]

March 1

• José M de Pereda y Sánchez the Porrúa Spanish writer, dies at age 73. [1]
• Moriz Heyne German germanist (German Wörterbuch), dies at age 68. [1]

March 3

• Vuia I aircraft built by Romanian Traja Vuia tested in France. [1]

March 6

• Heavy storm bursts dike flooding Vlissingen, Netherlands. [1]
• Nora Blatch becomes first woman elected to American Society of Civil Engineers. [1]

March 7

• Finnish Senate accepts universal suffrage, except for poor. [1]

March 10

• First performance of Maurice Ravel's "Sonatine". [1]
• Coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrieres France. [1]
• Eugen Richter German Member of Parliament (Liberal), dies at age 67. [1]
• London Underground opens Bakeroo line (Baker Street to Waterloo Line). [1]

March 12

• Heavy storm ravages Dutch west coast. [1]

March 13

• Susan B[rownell] Anthony American suffragist, dies at age 85. [1]

March 15

• Alfred Gilpin Jones Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia (1900-06), dies at age 81. [1]
• Brits Rolls, Royce and Johnson form Rolls Royce Ltd. [1]

March 17

• Carlos Calvo Argentina diplomat (Calvo Clause), dies at age 82. [1]
• President Theodore Roosevelt uses term "muckraker". [1]

March 18

• Traian Vuia flies a self-propelled heavier-than-air aircraft, taking off without help of a catapult. [5]

March 19

• Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's "Quattro Rusteghi" premieres in Munich. [1]

March 20

• George B Shaw's "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" premieres in London. [1]

March 22

• Martin Wegelius Finnish musicologist/composer, dies at age 59. [1]

March 24

• "Census of the British Empire" shows England rules 1/5 of the world. [1]

March 30

• Betsy Perk [Christina E], journalist/writer/feminist, dies at age 73. [1]

March 31

• George Bernard Shaw's German version of "Caesar and Cleopatra" premieres in Berlin. [1]

April 2

• South Africa completes a 4-1 series drubbing of England. [1]

April 5

• Saint Pius X encyclical "On the Mariavites or Mystic Priests of Poland". [1]

April 6

• First animated cartoon copyrighted. [1]
• Alexander L Kielland Norwegian writer (Working People), dies at age 57. [1]

April 7

• Act of Algeciras drawn between Moroccan police and banking business. [1]

April 11

• Einstein introduces his Theory of Relativity. [1]
• Georgi Apollonovitch Gapon Russian-orthodox clergyman/tsarist agent, dies. [1]
• James A Bailey circus showman (Barnum and Bailey), dies at age 58. [1]

April 13

• Mutiny on Portuguese battleships Dom Carlos and Vasco da Gama. [1]

April 14

• President Theodore Roosevelt denounces "muckrakers" in US press. [1]

April 18

• Calvinist Reformed Union in Netherlands Church forms in Utrecht. [1]
• At 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale strikes San Francisco, California. The quake was caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275 miles long. An estimated 3,000 people died from the quake and fires. Almost 30,000 buildings are destroyed, including most of the city's homes and nearly all the central business district. [1] [129]

April 19

• Belgian naval education ship Comte The Stain de Naeyer sets sail. [1]
• Pierre Curie French physicist/chemist (Nobel Prize 1903), dies. [1]

April 20

• Australian wombat oldest known marsupial, dies in London Zoo at age 26. [1]

April 25

• John Knowles Paine US composer, dies at age 67. [1]

April 26

• First motion pictures shown in Hawaii. [1]

May 3

• British-controlled Egypt takes Sinai peninsula from Turkey. [1]

May 6

• "Temporary" permit to erect overhead wires on Market Steet San Francisco. [1]

May 10

• Russia's Duma (Parliament) meets for first time. [1]

May 13

• Bezalel Art School opens in Jerusalem. [1]

May 19

• Federated Boys' Club (Boys' Club of America) organizes. [1]
• Portugal's King Carlos I names Joao Franco premier. [1]

May 21

• Louis H Perlman patents a demountable tire carrying rim for cars. [1]

May 22

• The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine." [1] [5]

May 23

• Henrik Johan Ibsen Norwegian playwright (Doll House), dies at age 78. [1]

May 26

• Archaeological Institute of America forms. [1]

May 27

• First outlining of Gustav Mahler's 6th symphony, in Essen. [1]

May 28

• Shields/Cobbs musical "His honor, the Mayor" premieres in New York City. [1]

May 30

• William Yeates Hurlstone composer, dies at age 30. [1]

May 31

• Attack on King Alfonso XIII and Victoria von Battenberg in Madrid. [1]
• Hermann Schell German theologist (Gott und Geist), dies at age 56. [1]
• King Alfonso XIII assassinated in Madrid. [1]
• Victoria von Battenberg assassinated in Madrid. [1]

June 14

• J H Metcalf discovers asteroid #600 Musa. [1]

June 26

• Alexander Muir poet (The Maple Leaf Forever), dies at age 76. [1]

June 30

• Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act adopted. [1]

July 12

• Alfred Dreyfus found innocent in France. [1]

August 13

• Black soldiers raid Brownsville Texas. [1]

August 15

• First freight delivery tunnel system begins, underneath Chicago. [1]

August 22

• First Victor Victrola manufactured. [1]

August 30

• Hal Chase became first Yank to hit three triples in a game. [1]

September 1

• Alberta adopts Mountain Standard Time. [1]
• Papua placed under Australian administration. [1]

September 13

• First airplane flight in Europe. [1]

September 16

• Roald Amundsen discovers the Magnetic South Pole. [5]

September 25

• In the presence of the king and before a great crowd, Leonardo Torres Quevedo successfully demonstrates the invention of the Telekino in the port of Bilbao, guiding a boat from the shore, in what is considered the birth of the remote control. [5]

September 28

• US troops reoccupy Cuba, stay until 1909. [1]

October 8

• Karl Nessler demonstrates first 'permanent wave' for hair, in London. [1]

October 20

• Dr Lee DeForest demonstrates his radio tube. [1]

October 22

• 3000 blacks demonstrate and riot in Philadelphia. [1]

October 23

• Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France. [5]

November 6

• Charles Evans Hughes (Republican) elected New York governor beats William Randolph Hearst. [1]

November 14

• US President Theodore Roosevelt becomes first US President to visit a foreign country (Panama) while in office, to see work on the Panama Canal. [1] [150.61]

November 22

• International Radio Telecommunications Com adopts "SOS" as new call for help. [1]

December 1

• Cinema Omnia Pathe, world's first cinema, opens (Paris). [1]
• Shoemaker Wilhelm Voigt (Captain of Köpenick) sentenced to four years. [1]

December 5

• British government-Balfour resigns. [1]

December 9

• New York American reports Belgian King Leopold II bribed US Senate commission on the Congo. [1]

December 10

• First American awarded Nobel Peace Prize - President Theodore Roosevelt. [1]

December 11

• US President Roosevelt attacks abuses in the Congo. [1]

December 12

• Oscar Straus, first Jewish cabinet member, appointed Secretary of Commerce. [1]

December 13

• German chancellor Bernhard von Bülow disbands the Parliament. [1]

December 14

• John A C Oudemans Dutch geographer/astronomer, dies at age 78. [1]

December 20

• Venezuela (under Vice-President Gomez) attacks Dutch fleet. [1]

December 21

• Adalbert von Goldschmidt composer, dies at age 58. [1]

December 24

• In Massachusetts, USA, Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast, consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech. [1] [5]

December 27

• First annual meeting of American Sociological Society, Providence Rhode Island. [1]

December 28

• Ecuador adopts its constitution. [1]

December 30

• Iran becomes a constitutional monarchy. [1]

December 31

• French/British/Italian treaty concerning rights on Abyssinia. [1]

1907

January 1

• Cyrill Kistler composer, dies at age 58. [1]
• President Theodore Roosevelt shakes a record 8,513 hands in one day. [1]

January 3

• Josef Foerster composer, dies at age 73. [1]

January 4

• George Bernard Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell" premieres in London. [1]

January 6

• Maria Montessori opens her first (Montessori) school (Rome). [1]

January 7

• Anton Urspruch composer, dies at age 56. [1]
• Clyde Fitch' "Truth" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

January 8

• Theodoor Verstraete Flemish painter/etcher, dies at age 57. [1]

January 12

• Britain grants responsible government to former colony of Transvaal. [1]

January 14

• Karl von Perfall composer, dies at age 82. [1]

January 15

• 3-element vacuum tube patented by Dr Lee de Forest. [1]
• Gold dental inlays first described by William Taggart, who invented them. [1]

January 23

• Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes first Native American US senator. [1]

January 25

• Julia Ward Howe is first woman elected to National Institute of Arts and Letters. [1]

January 26

• First federal corrupt election practices law passed. [1]
• J M Synge's "Playboy of the Western World" opens; police are called. [1]

February 2

• Dmitri I Mendelejev Russian chemist (Periodic Table), dies at age 72. [1]

February 5

• Arnold Schönberg's first string quartet premieres in Vienna. [1]
• Ludwig Thuille composer, dies at age 45. [1]

February 8

• Hendrik W Bakhuis Roozeboom chemist (fasenleer), dies at age 52. [1]

February 11

• De Master's Dutch government resigns. [1]
• Passenger ship Larchmont sinks by Block Island, 322 die. [1]
• Peter J Savelberg Dutch Limbourg monastery founder, dies at age 80. [1]

February 13

• English suffragettes storm British Parliament and 60 women are arrested. [1]
• Marcel Bertrand French mine engineer, dies at age 59. [1]

February 14

• First US fox hound association forms in New York City, New York. [1]

February 16

• Giosué Carducci poet (Nobel Prize 1906), dies. [1]

February 17

• Henry Steel Olcott US co-founder (Theosophist Society-Madras), dies at age 74. [1]

February 20

• [Ferdinand-Frederic-]Henri Moissan chemist (Nobel Prize 1906), dies at age 54. [1]

February 21

• SS Berlin sinks off Hoek van Holland Netherlands (142 dead). [1]

February 22

• First cabs with taxi meters begin operating in London. [1]
• Leonid N Andreyev's "Zhizn Cheloveka" premieres in Saint Petersburg. [1]

February 24

• Otto Goldschmidt composer, dies at age 77. [1]

February 25

• George Bernard Shaw's "Philanderer" premieres in London. [1]
• US proclaims protectorate over Dominican Republic. [1]

February 26

• Royal Oil and Shell merge to form British Petroleum (BP). [1]
• US Congress raised their own salaries to $7500. [1]

March 2

• General Louis Botha named premier of Transvaal. [1]
• Georges Feydeaus' "La Puce à l'Oreille" premieres in Paris France. [1]

March 5

• First radio broadcast of a musical composition aired. [1]

March 7

• Victor Alphonse Duvernoy composer, dies at age 64. [1]

March 9

• First involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana. [1]
• Lady Gregory's "Rising of the Moon" premieres in Dublin. [1]

March 11

• Nikola Petkow premier (Bulgaria), murdered. [1]

March 15

• Finland is first European country to give women the right to vote. [1]

March 19

• 18.8 cm precipitation at Lewer's Ranch Nevada (state record). [1]
• Thomas Bailey Aldrich US writer (Stillwater Tragedy), dies at age 70. [1]

March 21

• US invades Honduras. [1]

March 23

• Constantine P Pobedonostsev Russian reactionary senator, dies at age 79. [1]

March 28

• Pavel Ivanovich Blaramberg composer, dies at age 65. [1]

March 30

• In Bagatelle, France, Voisin Frères delivers the first commercially-produced aircraft, a box-kite bi-plane powered by a 50hp 8-cylinder Antoinette engine. [55.11]

March 31

• Romanian Army puts down Moldavian farmers' revolt. [1]

April 5

• Anton G van Hamel founder (Roman philosphy in Netherlands), dies at age 65. [1]

April 12

• Belgium government of De Stain de Naeyer, resigns. [1]

April 17

• The Ellis Island immigration center in New York, USA, processes 11,747 people, more than any other day. [1] [5]

April 18

• Augustus Thomas' "Witching Hour", premieres in New York City. [1]
• Fairmont Hotel opens. [1]

April 26

• Jamestown Virginia Tercentenary Exposition opens. [1]
• Pietro Plantania composer, dies at age 79. [1]

May 1

• Belgian Government of De Trooz forms. [1]
• Indian Mine Laws passes (concessions from Netherlands-Indies). [1]

May 2

• Belgium Jules baron de Trooz forms Belgian Government. [1]

May 10

• Paul Dukas' opera "Ariane et Barbe Bleue" premieres in Paris France. [1]

May 11

• Bank of San Francisco incorporated. [1]
• John Albert Delany composer, dies at age 54. [1]

May 12

• J K Huysmans writer, dies at age 59. [1]

May 27

• Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco. [1]

May 31

• Taxis first begin running in New York City. [1]

June 1

• -27 degrees F (-33 degrees C), Sarmiento, Argentina (South American record). [1]

June 9

• K Lohnert discovers asteroid #635 Vundtia. [1]

June 13

• Lowest temp ever in 48 US states for June, 2 degrees F in Tamarack California. [1]

June 15

• 44 nations meet in second Hague Peace Conference. [1]

June 20

• First Portland Rose festival. [1]

(month unknown)

• French law authorizes public play of games of skill, including baccarat and chemin-de-fer games. [80.291] [187.316,468]

July 8

• Florenz Ziegfeld staged first 'Follies' on New York Theater roof. [1]

July 15

• First electric bus service in London, England, operated by London Electrobus Company; lasts until 1909. [78.10]

July 19

• K Lohnert discovers asteroid #639 Latona. [1]

August 1

• Bank of Italy opens first branch at 3433 Mission Street, San Francisco. [1]

August 10

• Prince Scipone Borchesi wins Peking to Paris, 7,500 mile auto rally. [1]

August 13

• First taxicab (New York City). [1]

August 26

• Houdini escapes from chains underwater at Aquatic Park in 57 sec. [1]

August 28

• United Parcel Service (UPS) is founded by James E. Casey in Seattle, Washington. [1] [5]

August 31

• England, Russia and France form the Triple Entente. [1]

September 7

• Sutro's ornate Cliff House in San Francisco destroyed by fire. [1]

September 26

• New Zealand becomes a dominion. [1]

September 29

• Construction begins on Washington National Cathedral. [1]

November 7

• Dynamite explodes on locomotive kills engineer Jesus Garcia in Mexico. [1]

November 13

• French cyclist Paul Cornu flies a twin rotor helicopter. [1]

November 15

• The daily comic strip "Mr. A. Mutt" by Bud Fisher begins in San Francisco Chronicle. [55.42]

November 16

• Oklahoma becomes 46th US state. [1]

November 30

• Pike Place Market dedicated in Seattle. [1]

December 3

• George Cohan's musical "Talk of the Town" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

December 6

• Coal mine explosions in Monongah West Virginia, kills 361. [1]

December 8

• On the death of Sweden's King Oskar II, Prince Gustav is proclaimed King Gustav V. [1] [7]

December 9

• First Christmas Seals sold (Wilmington DE post office). [1]
• Gustav Mahler departs Vienna. [1]

December 10

• Ruyard Kipling receives Nobel Prize for literature. [1]

December 13

• German emperor Wilhelm II visits Amsterdam. [1]

December 16

• Eugene H Farrar is first to sing on radio (Brooklyn Navy Yard New York). [1]
• Great White Fleet sails from Hampton Downs on its World Cruise. [1]
• The U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet is launched from Hampton Roads, Virginia, on an around-the-world voyage. [450.78]

December 17

• Kelvin of Largs [William Thomson] British physicist (Kelvin), dies at age 83. [1]
• Ugyen Wangchuck became first hereditary king of Bhutan. [1]

December 19

• 239 workers die in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek Pennsylvania. [1]

December 20

• Explosion at Yolande Alabama, coal mine kills 91. [1]

December 21

• Dutch government of De Master falls due to war budget. [1]
• Oskar Lassar German dermatologist (public baths), dies at age 58. [1]

December 22

• Saint-Saëns/Fokines ballet "Le Cygne" premieres in Saint Petersburg. [1]

December 23

• First all-steel passenger railroad coach completed, Altoona Pennsylvania. [1]

December 24

• Isidor Feinstein "Izzy" Stone journalist (IF Stone's Weekly), dies. [1]

December 31

• G Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera. [1]
• Jules de Trooz Belgium Prime Minister, dies at age 63. [1]
• For the first time, a ball drops in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year at midnight. [1] [5]