1897
1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar).
Events January 1 - Brooklyn, New York merges with New York City. January 4 - A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosheri, son-in-law of the Oba of Benin. This leads to a Punitive Expedition against Benin. February 2 - Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania state capitol, is destroyed by fire. February 18- Benin is put to the torch by the Punitive Expedition. March 4 - William McKinley succeeds Grover Cleveland as President of the United States. April 5 - "Ordinance of April 5," equalizing German and Czech in Bohemia, signed in Austria-Hungary (see Kasimir Felix Graf von Badeni). April 27 - Grant's Tomb is dedicated. May 19 - Oscar Wilde is released from prison. June 2 - Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he was dead, is quoted by the New York Journal as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration." July 17 - Klondike Gold Rush begins when first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle. July 25 - Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories. July 31 - First ascent of Mount Saint Elias, second highest peak in the United States and Canada. August 29 - First Zionist Congress convenes in Basel, Switzerland. September 1 - The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America. December 9 - First issue of the feminist newspaper La Fronde is published by Marguerite Durand. December 28 - The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris. December 30 - Natal annexes Zululand. - Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee.
- France allows women to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
- First use of the word computer meaning an electronic calculation device.
- Coseley Urban District Council formed
Births
January - January 3 - Marion Davies, actress (d. 1961)
- January 23 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, architect (d. 2000)
February - February 4 - Ludwig Erhard, politician.
- February 10 - John F. Enders, scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
- February 10 - Dame Judith Anderson, actress (d. 1992)
- February 11 - Yves de La Casiniere, composer
- February 27 - Marian Anderson, contralto (d. 1993)
March - March 4 - Lefty O'Doul, baseball star, restauranteur (d. 1969)
- March 5 - Soong May-ling aka Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (d. 2003)
- March 15 - Jackson Scholz, American sprinter (d. 1986)
- March 24 - Wilhelm Reich, psychotherapist (d. 1957)
- March 26 - David McCallum Sr, concertmaster violinist and father of David McCallum (d. 1972)
- March 27 - Gloria Swanson, actress (d. 1983)
- March 28 - Sepp Herberger, football coach (d. 1977)
- March 29 - Ruby Muhammad, wife of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad
April - April 7 - Walter Winchell, broadcaster, journalist (d. 1972)
- April 9 - John B. Gambling, radio talk-show host (d. 1974)
- April 26 - Olga Tschechowa, actress (d. 1980)
- April 26 - Douglas Sirk, director (d. 1987)
- April 26 - Eddie Eagan, US sportsman
- April 27 - Mary, Princess Royal
May - May 14 - Sidney Bechet, jazz musician (d. 1959)
- May 18 - Frank Capra, producer, director, writer (d. 1991)
- May 19 - Frank Luke, World War I fighter ace (d. 1918)
- May 21 - Nikola Avramov, painter (d. 1945)
June - June 7 - George Szell, Hungarian conductor (d. 1970)
- June 10 - Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia (d. 1918)
- June 13 - Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner
July - July 11 - Blind Lemon Jefferson
- July 24 - Amelia Earhart, aviator
August - August 2 - Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1974)
- August 28 - Charles Boyer, actor
September - September 8 - Jimmie Rodgers
- September 12 - Irene Joliot-Curie, scientist
- September 23 - Walter Pidgeon, actor (d. 1984)
- September 25 - William Faulkner, novelist
- September 26 - Pope Paul VI (d. 1978)
October-November - October 3 - Louis Aragon, French writer (d. 1982)
- October 15 - Johannes Sikkar, Estonian statesman (d. 1960)
- November 23 - Nirad C. Chaudhuri, writer (d. 1999)
December - December 18 - Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician (d. 1952)
- December 30 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author
Deaths - March 19 Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie - traveler
- April 3 - Johannes Brahms, composer
- September 9 - Richard Holt Hutton, English writer and theologian
- September 21 - Wilhelm Wattenbach, German historian
- October 27- Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, mother of Queen Mary
- October 29 - Henry George, economist
- November 20 - Ernest Giles, Australian explorer
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