What in the World Happened in 1906?
This article was written by Emil Rothe
This article was published in Baseball in Chicago (SABR 16, 1986)
Despite the baseball fans of Chicago, 1906 was also remembered for other events than the 1906 baseball season and the Chicago World Series.
The San Francisco Earthquake struck on April 18 at 5:13 a.m. The fire that followed lasted for three days and destroyed two-thirds of the city. At least 452 people died and 250,000 were left homeless. The property destroyed was estimated at $400 million — and that was in 1906 dollars. On September 19 a typhoon hit Hong Kong killing an estimated 50,000 humans.
The British battleship H.M.S. Dreadnought was launched in February and for many years the large battleships of all nations were called dreadnoughts.
The Wasserman test was developed by German physician August Wasserman and became a specific blood test for syphilis.
A Pure Food and Drug Act was passed by the Senate on February 21 and was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt. It regulated producers and sellers against selling diseased meat, decomposed foods, or dangerously adulterated foods. And, it required labels that gave truthful descriptions of the contents of products.
The term “suffragettes” was coined by a London Daily Mail reporter to describe women, such as Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, who campaigned for women’s suffrage.
Excavation of the Panama Canal was begun by the United States War Department. The canal was opened for traffic August 3, 1914, the same day that Germany declared war on France to ignite the horrors of the war that we today call World War I.
Rolls Royce, Ltd. (of interest to those of you who drive one today) was incorporated March 16, 1906. The Autocar Company improved its model by adding acetylene headlights and kerosene side lamps but, like most cars of that period, still used a steering rudder rather than a steering wheel. The Mack Truck was introduced and, because of the power of that ten-ton vehicle, gave rise to a term still in use today, ”built like a Mack Truck.” The North American Review reported that more Americans were killed by the automobile in the first five months of 1906 than died in the Spanish-American War.
International News Service (INS) was founded by William Randolph Hearst to compete with Associated Press established in 1848. The International Radio Telegraph Convention in Berlin adopted SOS as the distress call to replace CQD. The first radio broadcast of voice and music was sent out on Christmas Eve and was picked up by ships within a radius of several hundred miles.
The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Brooks Adams first appeared on bookshelves, privately printed, in 1906. The Man of Property by John Galsworthy made its first appearance and introduced the reading public to Soames Forsyte, and The Forsyte Saga was begun (it continued until 1922). White Fang by Jack London had its first publication. Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw was presented in Berlin in March. A popular play (and later a movie), Brewster’s Millions was staged in New York; it was an adaptation of George Barr McCutcheon’s novel published in 1902. Metropolitan newspapers cost 2¢.
Songs that became popular in 1906 included “Mary’s a Grand Old Name” by George M. Cohan from the musical Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway. In the musical George Washington, Jr. people heard “You’re a Grand Old Flag” for the first time. Cohan also composed that melody. “Everyday Is Ladies Day with Me,” “China Town, My China Town,” and “School Days” were also introduced to our musical collection that year. Maurice Chevalier, 18, developed a unique style and launched a 60-year show business career.
Comedienne Gracie Allen, bandleader Count Basie, actors William Bendix and John Carradine, pianist Oscar Levant, directors Billy Wilder and John Huston, television personality Ozzie Nelson, actors Robert Young and George Sanders, actress Agnes Moorehead and ballplayer Leo Durocher were all born in 1906.
In 1906 you could have bought your girlfriend a corset for $3.50, a silk petticoat for $3.95 and a pair of shoes for $1.98. And for yourself you could have bought a fall suit for $15, gold fillings for 50¢ a piece and a set of false teeth for $2.00.
President Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906 for his efforts in bringing the Russo-Japanese War to an end.
The permanent wave was introduced in London. It took 8 to 12 hours and cost $1,000 (1906 dollars). The Fuller Brush Company had its beginning in that year. Gary, Indiana was born when United States Steel established a steel mill on the shores of Lake Michigan. The town that grew up there was named after the chairman of U.S. Steel, Elbert Henry Gary.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was founded after 18 American boys were killed playing football in the 1905 season. The forward pass was legalized in football. Walter K. Eckersall wound up a three-year career playing football for Alonzo Stagg at the University of Chicago. Oh, yes, the Chicago White Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs in the 1906 World Series.