Historical Events for Year 1915
The Last Great World’s Fair: San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition
Months in Year 1915: January February March April May June July August September October November December
Jan 1st – DW Griffith shows “Clansman” at a sneak preview
Jan 1st – Jews of Laibach Austria expelled
Jan 4th – 1st elected Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, takes office in Idaho
Jan 4th – Trans-Caucausus Russian defeat Turkish troops
Jan 9th – Exposition (now Civic) Auditorium dedicated, SF
Jan 11th – Col Jacob Ruppert & Col Tillinghast Huston purchase Yanks for $460,000
Jan 12th – House of Reps rejects proposal to give women right to vote
Jan 13th – Earthquake in Avezzano Italy kills 29,800
Jan 13th – W Churchill presents plan for assault on Dardanelles
Jan 15th – Japan claims economic control of China
Jan 15th – Sydney, Kern & Smith’s musical “Love o’ Mike,” premieres in NYC
Jan 16th – Congress authorizes $1 & $50 Panama-Pacific Intl Expo gold coin
Jan 17th – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s Hospital in Amsterdam opens
Jan 17th – Russia occupies Bukovina & Western Ukraine
Jan 18th – Train crashes at Colima-Guadalajara Mexico, about 600 die
Jan 18th – Japan issues the “Twenty-One Demands” to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
Jan 19th – 1st German Zeppelin attack over Great Britain, 4 die
Jan 19th – Neon Tube sign patented by George Claude
Jan 21st – Kiwanis International founded in Detroit
Jan 24th – German-British sea battle at Doggersbank & Helgoland
Jan 25th – Alexander Graham Bell in NY calls Thomas Watson in SF
Jan 25th – Giordano, Sardou & Moreau’s opera “Madame Sans Gêne” premieres in NYC
Jan 25th – Transcontinental telephone service inaugurated (NY to SF)
Jan 26th – Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo established
Jan 27th – US Marines occupy Haiti
Jan 28th – 1st US ship lost in WW I, William P Frye (carrying wheat to UK)
Jan 28th – US Coast Guard created from Life Saving & Revenue Cutter services
Jan 28th – US Pres Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates
Jan 30th – German submarine attack on Le Havre
Jan 30th – No 10 batsman F W Hyett scores century on debut, Vic v Tas
Jan 31st – 1st (German) poison gas attack, against Russians
Feb 3rd – Turkish & German army reach Suez Canal
Feb 4th – Experiments to find cause of pellagra begin at Miss Penitentiary
Feb 7th – 1st wireless message sent from a moving train to a station received
Feb 7th – 2nd Battle of Masurian Lakes: German armies surrounded a Russian army
Feb 8th – “Birth of a Nation” opens at Clune’s Auditorium in LA
Feb 12th – Cornerstone laid for Lincoln Memorial in Wash DC
Feb 16th – Frank Home Run Baker, 28, announces retirement following a contract dispute with Connie Mack. He sits out 1915 season
Feb 17th – Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WW I, is mortally wounded
Feb 18th – Germany begins a blockade of England
Feb 19th – British fleet fire on Dardanellen coast
Feb 20th – Panama-Pacific International Exposition opens in SF
Feb 21st – 20th Russian Army corps surrenders
Feb 21st – World’s Fair in SF opens
Feb 22nd – Germany begins “unrestricted” submarine war
Feb 23rd – Germany sinks US ships Carib & Evelyn & torpedoes Norwegian ship Regin
Feb 23rd – Nevada enforces convenient divorce law
Feb 26th – Malancourt, Argonnen (1st (German) flame-thrower
Mar 2nd – British vice adm Carden begins bombing of Dardanelles forts
Mar 2nd – Vladmir Jabotinsky forms a Jewish military force to fight in Palestine
Mar 3rd – Natl Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA forerunner) created
Mar 3rd – NACA, the predecessor of NASA founded.
Mar 5th – World War I: The LZ 33, a zeppelin, is damaged by enemy fire and stranded south of Ostend.
Mar 6th – Greek King Constantine I fires premier Venizelos
Mar 8th – 1st US navy minelayer, Baltimore, commissioned
Mar 10th – British expedition Army in Belgium captures Neuve Chapelle
Mar 13th – Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substituted a grapefruit
Mar 14th – German cruiser Dresden blows itself up near coast of Chile
Mar 15th – Neth merchant ship Tubantia torpedoed & sinks in North Sea
Mar 16th – Brit battle cruisers Inflexible & Irresistible hit mines in Dardanelle
Mar 16th – Federal Trade Commission organizes
Mar 18th – Failed British attack in Dardanelles
Mar 18th – French battleship Bouvet explodes, 640 killed
Mar 19th – Pluto photographed for 1st time (although unknown at the time)
Mar 23rd – Zion Mule Corp forms
Mar 25th – 1st submarine disaster; a US F-4 sank off Hawaii, killing 21
Mar 25th – German U boat torpedoes Neth merchant ship Medea
Mar 26th – Stanley Cup: Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA) sweep Ottawa Senators
Apr 5th – French begin Woëvre-offensive
Apr 5th – Jess Willard KOs Jack Johnson in 26 for heavyweight boxing title
Apr 14th – A’s Herb Pennock is within 1 out of pitching 1st Opening Day no-hitter
Apr 14th – Dutch merchant navy ship Katwijk sunk by Germany torpedo
Apr 14th – The Turks invade Armenia.
Apr 15th – Manuel de Falla’s ballet “El Amor Brujo,” premieres in Madrid
Apr 15th – NY Giant Rube Marquard no-hits Bkln, 2-0
Apr 18th – French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
Apr 19th – 19th Boston Marathon won by Edouard Fabre of Canada in 2:31:41.2
Apr 22nd – 1st military use of poison gas (chlorine, by Germany) in WW I
Apr 22nd – 2nd Battle of Ypres begins
Apr 22nd – NY Yankees don pinstripes & hat-in-the-ring logo for 1st time
Apr 23rd – ACA becomes National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA)
Apr 24th – German army fires chloroform gas in Ieper
Apr 24th – Massacre of Armenians by Turks starts (Armenian Martyrs Day)
Apr 24th – Pitts’ Frank Allen no-hits St Louis (Federal League), 2-0
Apr 25th – 78,000 ANZAC troops land at Gallipoli
Apr 26th – Italy secretly signes Pact of London with Britain, France & Russia
May 1st – British Lusitania leaves NY, for Liverpool
May 1st – German submarine sinks US ship Gulflight
May 2nd – Old Fordham Road in Bronx renamed Landing Road
May 4th – Italy drops Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungaryb & Germany
May 5th – German U-20 sinks Earl of Lathom
May 6th – Allies attack Cape Helles, Hellespont
May 6th – German U-20 sinks Centurion SE of Ireland
May 6th – Red Sox Babe Ruth pitching debut & 1st HR, loses to Yanks 4-3 in 15
May 7th – Lusitania sunk by German submarine; 1198 lives lost
May 8th – 41st Kentucky Derby: Joe Notter aboard Regret wins in 2:05.4
May 9th – German & French fight Battle of Artois
May 10th – Zeppelin drops hundred of bombs on Southend-on-Sea
May 12th – Croatians plunder Armenia, killing 250
May 12th – Franklin K Mathiews, presents idea of “Book Week”
May 15th – A T & T becomes 1st corporation to have 1 million stockholders
May 17th – 40th Preakness: Douglas Hoffman aboard Rhine Maiden wins in 1:58
May 17th – Cubs George “Zip” Zabel relieves with 2 outs in 1st & winds up with 4-3 19-inning win over Brooklyn in longest relief job ever
May 17th – Last liberal British government of Asquith falls
May 17th – National Baptist Convention chartered
May 20th – Bataafsche Petroleum Me begins oil extraction of Maracaibo
May 22nd – Local train collides with troop train killing 226 (Gretna Scotland)
May 22nd – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain, other than Mount St. Helens, to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century.
May 23rd – Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary & Germany during WW I
May 24th – Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary
May 24th – Thomas Edison invents telescribe to record telephone conversations
May 25th – 2nd Battle of Ypres ends with 105,000 casualties
May 25th – Chicago Claude Hendrix no-hits Pitts (Federal League), 10-0
May 26th – H H Asquith forms a coalition government in England
May 28th – John B Gruelle patents Raggedy Ann doll
May 31st – An LZ-38 Zeppelin makes an air raid on London
Jun 1st – 1st Zeppelin air raid over England
Jun 5th – 47th Belmont: George Byrne aboard The Finn wins in 2:18.6
Jun 5th – Denmark amends its constitution to allow women’s suffrage.
Jun 8th – 92°F (33.3°C) in De Bilt, Netherlands
Jun 8th – William Jennings Bryan quits as Secretary of State
Jun 10th – British/French troops conquer German colony of Cameroon
Jun 10th – Girl Scouts founded
Jun 12th – 29th US Womens Tennis: Molla B Mallory beats Hazel Wightman (46 62 60)
Jun 15th – US government mints 1st $50 gold pieces, for Panama Pacific Expo
Jun 16th – The foundation of the British Women’s Institute.
Jun 17th – League to Enforce Peace forms in Philadelphia
Jun 18th – 21st US Golf Open: John Travers shoots a 297 at Baltusrol GC NJ
Jun 20th – German offensive in Argonnes
Jun 21st – Anti-British revolt in South-Africa ends with arrest of Gen De Law
Jun 21st – The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down an Oklahoma law denying the right to vote to some citizens.
Jun 22nd – BMT, then Brooklyn Rapid Transit, begins subway service
Jun 23rd – Yanks get record 16 walks & 3 wild pitches beat A’s Bruno Hass, 15-0
Jun 23rd – Zeb Turner, country-rock performer (Chew Tobacco Rag)
Jun 26th – Germany suppresses its “Vorwarts” newspaper after it called for peace
Jun 27th – 100°F (38°C), Fort Yukon Alaska (state record)
Jun 27th – Dutch SDAP demonstrates against conscription
Jul 1st – Australia begins Commonwealth Lighthouse Service
Jul 1st – Australian Survey Corps becomes part of Military Forces
Jul 3rd – US military forces occupy Haiti, remain until 1934
Jul 7th – A Great Gorge and International Railway trolley with an extreme overload of 157 passengers crashes near Queenston, Ontario, killing 15.
Jul 9th – Germany surrenders South West Africa to Union of South Africa
Jul 10th – British/South African troops march into German SW-Africa
Jul 11th – Germany cruiser Königsberg sinks off Dar-es-Salam
Jul 17th – Italian offensive at Isonzo
Jul 18th – 2nd Battle of Isonzo begins & ends with loss of 280,000 men
Jul 18th – Boston Braves start move from last place to become world series champs
Jul 19th – Dutch accidents at sea law enforced
Jul 19th – Naval accident
Jul 19th – Wash Nationals steal record 8 bases vs Cleve Indians in the 1st inning
Jul 24th – Excursion ship Eastland capsizes in Lake Michigan, 852 die
Jul 26th – International School for Wijsbegeerte forms
Jul 28th – 10,000 blacks march on 5th Ave (NYC) protesting lynchings
Jul 28th – US forces invade Haiti, stays until 1924
Jul 29th – Pirate Honus Wagner at 41, hits a grand slam HR
Aug 5th – German troops over run Warsaw
Aug 5th – Warsaw, evacuated by the Russians, is occupied by Germans
Aug 7th – Assault up Russell’s Top at Gallipolis, 232 Australians die
Aug 7th – St Louis 3rd base coach Miller Huggins, calls for ball Bkln rookie obliges, Huggins steps aside, & Card runner scores
Aug 9th – British attack at Chanak Bair at Gallipolis
Aug 12th – “Of Human Bondage,” by William Somerset Maugham, published
Aug 14th – British transport Royal Edward sank by German U boat kills 1000
Aug 15th – Journalist Albert Siegfried Bettelheim, convicted of murder in Georgia
Aug 16th – KC’s Alex Main no-hits Buffalo (Federal League), 5-0
Aug 17th – German troops over run Kovno Lithuiana
Aug 17th – Hurricane strikes Galveston, TX (275 killed)
Aug 17th – Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Ga after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life
Aug 18th – Braves Field opens in Boston to see Braves beat Cards 3-1
Aug 19th – Rationing laws go into effect in Netherlands
Aug 19th – World War I: the Battle of Van begins
Aug 20th – White Sox obtain Joe Jackson from Cleve in exchange for Robert Roth, Larry Chappell, Ed Klepfer, & $31,500
Aug 21st – Italy declares war on Turkey in World War One
Aug 23rd – Czar Nicolaas II takes control of Russian Army
Aug 25th – Hurricane kills 275 in Galveston, Texas with $50 million damage
Aug 26th – German troops over run Brest-Litovsk, Russia
Aug 31st – Chic White Sox Jimmy Lavender no-hits NY Giants, 2-0
Aug 31st – Brazil becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
Sep 5th – 35th US Mens Tennis: William Johnston beats McLoughlin (16 60 75 108)
Sep 5th – Anti-war conference in Zimmerwald, Switzerland
Sep 7th – 35th US Mens Tennis: Wm Johnston beats M E McLoughlin (16 60 75 108)
Sep 7th – John Gruelle patents his Raggedy Ann doll
Sep 7th – St Louis Dave Davenport no-hits Chicago (Federal League), 3-0
Sep 8th – Association of Negro Life & History founded
Sep 9th – Association for study of Negro Life & History forms by Carter G Woodson
Sep 15th – Boston Braves beat St Louis Cards 20-1
Sep 16th – Czar Nicolas II adjourns 4th Duma
Sep 16th – US takes control of customs & finances of Haiti for 10 years
Sep 18th – Boston Braves trounce St Louis Cardinals 20-1
Sep 21st – CH Chubb buys Stonehenge for £6,600
Sep 21st – Emanuel Querido (“Kerido”) begins publishing Querido
Sep 22nd – Red Sox ask Braves for use of their larger park for World Series
Sep 22nd – Southern Methodist University (Dallas Texas) holds its 1st class
Sep 22nd – Xavier University, 1st Black Catholic College in US, opens in NO LA
Sep 25th – -26] Battle at Loos: 8,246 British & 0 German casualties
Sep 25th – The Second Battle of Champagne begins.
Sep 28th – Battle of Kut-el-Amara: Brits defeat Turks in Mesopotamia
Sep 29th – 1st transcontinental radio telephone message is sent
Sep 29th – British army conquerors Chilly al Imara, Mesopotamia
Sep 29th – Dutch Opera’s 1st performance
Sep 29th – Herbert/Blossoms musical “Princess Pat,” premieres in NYC
Sep 29th – Hurricane claims 275 in Mississippi Delta
Sep 29th – Philadelphia Phillies clinch their 1st pennant
Sep 30th – Red Sox clinch AL pennant by beating Detroit
Oct 3rd – 7.8 earthquake shakes Pleasant Valley Nevada
Oct 4th – Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado & Utah is established
Oct 5th – Bulgaria enters World War I as one of the Central Powers.
Oct 7th – Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland College 222-0 in football (record)
Oct 8th – Battle of Loos, almost 430,000 French, British & Germans killed
Oct 8th – Phillies win their 1st & only World Series game before 1980, beating
Oct 8th – Red Sox, 3-1, with an 8th inning 2 run rally
Oct 9th – Belgrade Serbia, surrenders to Central leaders
Oct 9th – Gil Anderson races auto (165.1 km record) in Sheepshead Bay, NY
Oct 9th – Louis Kaufmans “Unchastened Woman,” premieres in NYC
Oct 9th – Woodrow Wilson becomes 1st pres to attend a World Series game
Oct 11th – Bulgarian anti Serbian offensive begins
Oct 12th – Ford Motor Company manufactures its 1 millionth Model T automobile
Oct 12th – Theodore Roosevelt criticizes US citzens who identify themselves, with dual nationalities
Oct 13th – Boston Red Sox beat Philadelphia Phillies, 4 games to 1 in 12th World Series
Oct 16th – Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria
Oct 18th – 3rd Italians offensive at Isonzo
Oct 19th – Russia/Italy declares war on Bulgaria
Oct 21st – 1st transatlantic radiotelephone message, Arlington, Va to Paris
Oct 23rd – 1st national horseshoe throwing championship (Kellerton, Iowa)
Oct 23rd – 25,000 women march in NYC, demanding right to vote
Oct 25th – Atty James L Curtis named minister of Liberia
Oct 28th – Richard Strauss’ Alpensymfonie, premieres in Berlin
Oct 29th – Aristide Briand becomes premier of France
Oct 29th – Thomas Masaryk claims independence for Czechoslovakia
Nov 1st – Parris Island is officially designated a Marine Corps Recruit Depot.
Nov 2nd – 1st US election by proportional representation, Ashtabula, Ohio
Nov 6th – 1st military flight in Neth East Indies (Tandjong Priok)
Nov 6th – Sophokles Skouloudis forms Greek government
Nov 7th – Austrian submarine torpedoes Italian passenger ship (272 kill)
Nov 9th – Italian liner Ancona sinks by German torpedos, killing 272
Nov 12th – Britain annexes Gilbert & Ellice archipelago
Nov 12th – Theodore W Richards is 1st American to win Nobel Prize in chemistry
Nov 14th – Thomas Masaryk demands independence for Czechoslovakia
Nov 20th – 7th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tigers defeats Toronto Rowing, 13-7
Nov 24th – Serbian leader flees to Albania
Nov 29th – Fire destroys most of the buildings on Santa Catalina Island, California.
Nov 30th – St John Ervine’s “John Ferguson,” premieres in Dublin
Dec 4th – F F Fletcher is 1st admiral to receive Congressional Medal of Honor
Dec 4th – Ku Klux Klan receives charter from Fulton County Ga
Dec 4th – Panama Pacific International Exposition closes
Dec 8th – Jean Sibelius’ 5th Symphony in E, premieres
Dec 10th – 10,000,000th model T Ford assembled
Dec 10th – Pres Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Galt
Dec 12th – 1st all-metal aircraft (Junkers J-1) test flown at Dessau Germany
Dec 12th – Aristide Briand forms French war government
Dec 12th – Russian troops overrun Hamadan, Persia
Dec 14th – Jack Johnson is 1st black world heavyweight boxing champion
Dec 16th – Albert Einstein publishes his “General Theory of Relativity”
Dec 18th – Pres Wilson, widowed the year before, marries Edith Bolling Galt
Dec 20th – Russian troops overrun Qom, Persia
Dec 21st – 10.17″ (25.83 cm) of rainfall, Glenora, Oregon (state record)
Dec 22nd – Federal Baseball League disolved
Dec 22nd – Organized baseball & Federal League sign a peace treaty at Cincinnati
Dec 23rd – J Kern/S Greene’s musical “Very Good Eddie,” premieres in NYC
Dec 25th – Irving Berlin & Harry B Smith’s musical premieres in NYC
Dec 28th – SF City Hall dedicated by Mayor James Rolph
Dec 30th – Cromarty Harbour, Scot-British cruiser Natal explodes: 405 die