Important Events 

1900

• The first auto show was held in Madison Square Garden, New York     City. The cars exhibited range in price from $280 to $4,000.

• Eastman Kodak introduces its $1 Box Brownie camera, making photography accessible to everyone.  This was shaped like a box with a lens coming out the side.  This is where the image went through.
• President William McKinley signs the Gold Standard Act, requiring all paper money to be backed by gold, an important move in the international monetary system.

1901

• President William McKinley was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, New York, at the World's Fair. Theodore Roosevelt becomes president at age 42, replacing McKinley.

 
• Victoria, Queen of England and Empress of India, died after a reign of sixty-four years.  Edward VII of Great Britain was crowned her successor.

 
• Animation pioneer Walt Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois.

 
• Guglielmo Marconi sent the first transatlantic wireless message from England to Newfoundland. The invention was soon used to propel radio and television forward.

 
• Oil was discovered for the first time in southern Texas.  A tremendous gusher ushered in a lucrative new period in AmeriSoutheast Texas Thica's oil industry.

 
• Booker T. Washington published his autobiography Up from Slavery.

 
• Louis Armstrong was born. 

1902

• The Flatiron Building, an early example of skyscrapers in New York City, was built. It was a triangular, 10 story, building.

 
• Railroads reign for faster transportation; the 20th Century Ltd. set a record by traveling the rails from New York to Chicago in 20 hours.

 
• A Brooklyn toy store sold the first teddy bear, named after President Theodore Roosevelt; "Teddy."

 
• Immigrants continued to pour into the United States; record numbers arrive this year, mostly from Italy, Austro-Hungary and Russia.

 
• The most famous of all dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex, was discovered by Barnum Brown in 1902, in Hell Creek, Montana.

1903

• A landmark in the history of aviation, the Wright brothers make their first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  It lasted 58 seconds.

 
• Henry Ford found the Ford Motor Company, a key step forward in automobile history.

 
• The first "Tour de France" bicycle race was staged.  This race is still popular today.

1904

• Work began on the Panama Canal, signaling an important shift in U.S.-Caribbean relations.

 
• The Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis-one of the world's fairs-introduced ice cream cones and iced tea to the United States.

 
• The first segment of the New York City subway opened, introducing this quicker, more convenient type of public transportation.

1905

• One of the most influential scientists ever, Albert Einstein, a former patent clerk, proposes his theory of relativity, E=MC square.

1906

• A great earthquake hit San Francisco. 2,500 people died in the quake and in the blazing fires.

 
• Finally women win the right to vote, making Finland the first European nation to grant women suffrage.

 
• Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle, a educational novel about the American meat packing industry.

 
• Maria Montessori opens the first day-care center in Rome. Her Montessori method of early childhood education, part of the progressive education movement, spread throughout the world.

 
• Lawyer Mohandas K. Gandhi begins a campaign of nonviolent resistance to protest the treatment of Indians in South Africa.

 
• Picasso paints his portrait of American expatriate, Gertrude Stein.

1907 

• Oklahoma becomes the 46th state. 

• The first canned tuna is packed in San Pedro, California.

 
• A record 1.29 million immigrants enter the United States.

1908

• Henry Ford develops the first Model T automobile, which sells for $850.

 
• The Federal Bureau for Investigation is founded as a division of the Department of Justice.

 
• The first large deposit of petroleum is discovered in Persia, marking the beginning of the Middle East "oil boom."

 
• The first Boy Scout troop is formed in Great Britain by Robert Baden-Powell, a veteran of the Boer War.

 
• William Taft was elected as president.  He was the largest of all presidents, weighing 300 pounds.

1909

• Louis Bleriot successfully flew across the English Channel in 37 minutes.

 
• Standard Oil's John D. Rockefeller, son of the Rockefeller family, became the world's first billionaire. Rockefeller's fortunes were accumulated in the oil industry.