1900

1900

Work On New York Subway Begins , Work on the New York subway begins on the first section from City Hall to the Bronx in the year 1900. It was financed by the issue of rapid transit bonds by the City of New York and because no company was willing to take the risk of such a large project. The city decided to build the subways itself by subcontracting with the IRT who ran the elevated railways in the city to equip and operate the subways, sharing the profits with the City and guaranteeing a fixed five-cent fare.

The Boxer Rebellion , The Boxer Rebellion was a supposed peasant uprising that was supported by the Empress Dowager's Court. The European residents of Peking had started to call the rebels Boxers from their boxing rituals and calisthenics beliefs. Their society can be translated into English as 'the righteous and harmonious hands,' and was encouraged in their anti-Western actions by the more conservative elements of the Ch'ing Dynasty's Court. The Boxer's influence around Peking had made the Western powers send a relief force to their legations' aid from the coastline of Tientsin. The Empress Dowager had ordered the Imperial Forces to stop the approaching foreign troops, but the Europeans and Japanese had captured the coastline's strategic forts in order to keep the road to Peking open. The Dowager Empress had ordered all foreigners killed, and the ones in Peking were besieged in their legations or in the city's Roman Catholic church. The regional governors did not support the Boxers, and on August 14 the foreign troops entered Peking. Peace was signed, but the Empress Dowager had fled the city.

Galveston Island Hurricane , A Category 4 Hurricane with estimated winds of 135 miles per hour makes landfall on the city of Galveston, Texas. The hurricane caused the loss of between 6,000 and 12,000 lives about 20% of the island’s population, the reason for so much loss of life was that Galveston was a low, flat island, little more than a large sandbar along the Gulf Coast and the hurricane had brought with it a storm surge of over 15 feet, which washed over the entire island.

Electric Cars , 25% of all cars that were sold in 1900 were electric cars. It will be interesting to see how many years it takes for 25% of all cars sold to be fully electric or Hybrid.

Irish Party Formed , In Dublin, Ireland, Irish delegates convened to create what they called the “Irish Party” and denounced British atrocities in the Boer War. An applauded John Dillon proposed a resolution passed that “the South African war was entered upon in pursuance of a conspiracy to deprive two free nations of their liberty in the interests of capitalists and mine owners.”

Small Pox Epidemic , In Kentucky a small pox epidemic was raging with hundreds of people stricken. The mortality rate was 20% and health authorities demanded that every person in the state be vaccinated.

2nd Modern Olympic Games , The Summer Olympic Games of the II Olympiad are held in Paris, France. This is the first Olympics where women are allowed to compete

Marconi Sends First Wireless Transmission , Marconi sends first wireless transmission over 2000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Poldhu in Cornwall, England to Newfoundland, Canada. The transmission consisted of the Morse-code signal for the letter "s" which consists of three dots ( ... ).

First Speed Limits , Connecticut passes new laws limiting the speeds of Automobiles to 10 MPH in cities 15 MPH in villages and 20 MPH in rural areas.

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