The Year 1901 in Review: Fun Facts, Trivia, and Historic Highlights

This quick read is a collection of fun facts, trivia, and historic events from the year 1901. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, sports facts, notable inventions, and much more.

1. In 1901, William McKinley (R-Ohio) was the 25th U.S. president until September 14, when he died of complications from gunshot wounds inflicted on September 6 by assassin Leon Czolgosz. On September 14, Theodore Roosevelt (R-New York) became the 26th president of the United States.
2. The U.S. unemployment rate was 4.0%, the nation’s inflation rate was 1.19%, and the average retail price for a gallon of gas was 10 cents.
3. American companies and brands launched in 1901 included Gillette, Gulf Oil, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Magic Chef, Nordstrom, Orkin, and Walgreens.
4. On January 10, a well on Spindletop Hill in Texas struck oil and soon shot Texas tea at a rate of 100,000 barrels a day.
5. On February 25, American industrialist J. P. Morgan incorporated U.S. Steel—the first billion-dollar corporation and the world's largest producer of steel for decades.
6. On March 2, the Carnegie Steel Company, the Illinois Steel Company, and the National Steel Company merged to form the United States Steel Corporation.
7. On April 25, New York became the first state to require license plates on vehicles.
8. On May 3, a devastating fire broke out in downtown Jacksonville, Florida, at lunchtime. It was touched off by a kitchen fire “that ignited piles of drying Spanish moss at a nearby mattress factory.” An estimated 2,368 buildings were destroyed, and 10,000 people were left homeless.
9. On May 17, the New York Stock Exchange crashed for the first time. The meltdown “was caused in part by struggles between E. H. Harriman, Jacob Schiff, and business partners J. P. Morgan and James J. Hill for the financial control of the Northern Pacific Railway.”
10. Blanche Monnier (1849-1913)—also known as "The Confined Woman of Poitiers"—was a woman from Poitiers, France, who was secretly imprisoned in the attic of her family’s home for 25 years. On May 23, 1901, French police discovered her in an “emaciated and filthy condition.” According to officials, “Monnier had not seen any sunlight for her entire captivity.”
11. On June 12, Cuba became a United States protectorate.
12. On October 24, Annie Taylor, a 63-year-old teacher from Bay City, Michigan, became the first known person ever to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive.
13. On September 5, the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, now known as Minor League Baseball, was formed in Chicago.
14. On September 6, President McKinley was shot by American anarchist Leon Czolgosz while visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
15. On September 14, President McKinley died from complications from his gunshot wounds, and Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as the 26th U.S. president.
16. On October 29, Leon Czolgosz, President McKinley’s assassin, was executed in the electric chair at Auburn State Prison in New York.
17. Effective on November 28, Alabama’s new state constitution required voters to have passed a literacy test.
18. In 1901, the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Red Cross founder Jean Henry Dunant and peace activist Frédéric Passy.
19. The Centennial Light in Livermore, California, is “an incandescent light bulb recognized as the [world’s] oldest known operating light bulb. It was first illuminated in 1901 and has only been turned off a few brief times since.”
20. John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin opened their first retail store, a shoe store named Wallin & Nordstrom, at Fourth and Pike Streets in Seattle, Washington.
21. British engineer Hubert Booth invented the vacuum cleaner.
22. Yale University celebrated its bicentennial.
23. In 1901, popular baby names were Mary, Helen, Margaret, Anna, Ruth, John, William, James, George, and Robert.
24. The life expectancy for men born in 1901 was 47.6 years; for women, it was 50.6 years.
25. America’s favorite songs were Stars & Stripes Forever (John Philip Sousa's Band), American Patrol (John Philip Sousa's Band), and The Tale of the Bumble Bee (Harry MacDonough).
26. Popular movies for the year were A Photographic Contortion, Bluebeard, History of a Crime, The Fat and the Lean Wrestling Match, and The Man with the Rubber Head.
27. Famous people born in 1901 included Clark Gable (movie actor), Ed Sullivan (TV show host), Gary Cooper (movie actor), Linus Pauling (chemist), Louis Armstrong (trumpet player), Margaret Mead (anthropologist), and Walt Disney (entertainment magnate).
28. In 1901, Philip Danforth Armour died. He was an American industrialist who founded Armour & Co., which became the largest meat processor in the world and helped to make Chicago the meatpacking capital of the world.
29. Clement Studebaker also passed away. He founded a family firm—the H & C Studebaker Company, the precursor to the Studebaker Corporation—that became the world's largest manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles.
30. Other famous people who died in 1901 were Benjamin Harrison (former U.S. president), Giuseppe Verdi (composer), Johanna Spyri (children’s author), Queen Victoria (British monarch), and Lewis Waterman (entrepreneur).
31. Here are some sports facts from the year 1901: The Chicago White Sox were the American League baseball champions, the Pittsburgh Pirates were the National League baseball champions, and John “Jack” Caffery won the Boston Marathon.
32. In 1901 as well, the words “autoworker,” “back-order,” “buttinsky,” “chain store,” “child support,” “eatery,” “health insurance,” “Italian dressing,” “Ms.,” “pay stub,” “physical therapy,” “short-term,” “sweet talk,” “taco,” and “third-party” all appeared in print for the first time.

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1901_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1901
3. https://popculturemadness.com/1901-history-trivia-fun-facts/
4. https://www.infoplease.com/year/1901
5. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/yearonlytimeline1900-1950.html
6. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1901
7. https://www.mclib.info/Research/Local-History-Genealogy/Historic-Prices/Historic-Prices-1900s/Historic-Prices-1901
8. https://www.listchallenges.com/foods-popular-from-1900-1910
9. https://www.alphadictionary.com/slang/?term=&beginEra=1900&endEra=1920&clean=true
10. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1901.html

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor