What Happened in 1901 — Events, Births & Deaths

The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.

New York: Automobile Club of America installs signs on major highways.

Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, is stricken with paralysis. She dies three days later at the age of 81.

Edward VII is proclaimed King of the United Kingdom after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.

Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia.

Funeral of Queen Victoria.

J. P. Morgan incorporates U.S. Steel in the state of New Jersey, although the company would not start doing business until February 25 and the assets of Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company, Elbert H. Gary's Federal Steel Company, and William Henry Moore's National Steel Company were not acquired until April 1.

The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.

William McKinley is inaugurated President of the United States for the second time; Theodore Roosevelt is vice president.

An anarchist assassin tries to kill German Emperor Wilhelm II.

Utah governor Heber Manning Wells vetoes a bill that would have eased restrictions on polygamy.

The Kumasi Mutiny of 1901 begins.

Emilio Aguinaldo, only President of the First Philippine Republic, is captured at Palanan, Isabela by the forces of American General Frederick Funston.

Philippine–American War: Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by the Americans.

The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.

The first issue of Gorkhapatra, the oldest still running state-owned Nepali newspaper, is published.

Australia opens its first national parliament in Melbourne.

The boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand are extended by the UK to include the Cook Islands.

The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT.

O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio, after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.

Land lottery begins in Oklahoma.

Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.

The U.S. Steel recognition strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins.

The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.

Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.

Silliman University is founded in the Philippines. It is the first American private school in the country.

Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.

U.S. president William McKinley dies after being mortally wounded on September 6 by anarchist Leon Czolgosz and is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.

Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas kill more than forty American soldiers while losing 28 of their own.

The 1901 Caister lifeboat disaster occurs, killing 9 of the 12 crew members.

Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama.

The U.S. Army War College is established.

In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word report to the House of Representatives asking Congress to curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits". The speech was not delivered in person.

The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter "S" [•••] in Morse Code), at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.

2-31 seconds before the epoch: The date at which all fixed-width 32-bit date processors will have overflown to and display; the year 2038 problem.