1897

From ArticleWorld

1897 will be linked in history with the Klondike Gold Rush that started on the 17th of July.

Important events

• The first day of the year saw New York taking in Brooklyn.
• On February the 2nd in Harrisburg, the state capitol was destroyed by fire.
• March the 4th – William McKinley became the new United States of America president.
• April 5 – In Austria-Hungary the signing of the “Ordinance of April 5” was signed.
• May 19 – Oscar Wilde was released from prison after two years of jail sentence following the trial against the Marquees of Queensberry.
• June 2 – Several rumors appeared concerning Mark Twain’s death. The New York Journal quoted the writer on this day saying the famous lines: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
• July 17 – The beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush. 8 days later writer Jack London sets sail to join it. He would later write his first successful stories. His inspiration came from the trip.
• September 1 – The first underground subway in North America is opened in Boston.
• September 10 – 19 unarmed immigrants were killed in Pennsylvania. The incident is known as the Lattimer Massacre.

Another important event that took place in 1897 but does not have a fix date was the discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle by J.J. Thompson.

Dates of birth

• January 3 – American actress Marion Davies (died in 1961)
• February 10 - John F. Enders, American scientist that was to receive the Nobel Prize in Psychology or Medicine, and Australian actress Judith Anderson.
• March 24 – American psychotherapist Wilhelm Reich (died in 1957)
• April 23 – Prime minister of Canada Lester B. Pearson (died in 1972). He was also to receive the Nobel peace Prize)
• May 18 - Frank Capra, important American writer, producer and director (died in 1991).
• June 19 – One third of the Three Stooges, American comic and actor Moe Howard (died in 1975).
• July 20 – Polish chemist that was to receive the Nobel Prize in Psychology or Medicine Tadeus Reichstein. On the 12th of September Irene Joliot-Curie was born. She was to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• December 30 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (died in 1976)