January 4
January 4
Utah enters the Union
Six years after Wilford Woodruff, president of the Mormon church, issued his Manifesto reforming political, religious, and economic life in Utah, the territory is admitted into the Union as the…
A Year In History: 1896
This Year in History:
1896
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
February 1
February 1
Puccini’s “La Bohème” premieres in Turin, Italy
On February 1, 1896, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème premieres at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy. It would go on to become one of the opera world’s most enduring, and…
April 6
April 6
First modern Olympic Games
On April 6, 1896, the Olympic Games, a long‑lost tradition of ancient Greece, are reborn in Athens 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I. At the opening…
April 6
April 6
First modern Olympics is held
On April 6, 1896, the first modern Olympic Games are held in Athens, Greece, with athletes from 14 countries participating. The International Olympic Committee met for the first time in…
May 7
May 7
Serial killer H.H. Holmes is hanged in Philadelphia
Dr. H. H. Holmes, one of America’s first well‑known serial killers, is hanged in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born Herman Mudgett in New Hampshire, Holmes began torturing animals as a child. Still,…
May 11
May 11
Western writer Mari Sandoz is born
Mari Sandoz, the author of several histories that demonstrated sympathy for Indians that was unusual for the time, is born in Sheridan County, Nebraska. Sandoz had a difficult childhood on…
May 15
May 15
Tornado decimates Texas town
A particularly intense tornado hits Sherman, Texas, on this day in 1896, and kills 73 people. It is estimated that the tornado was a rare F5 tornado, in which winds…
May 18
May 18
Supreme Court rules “separate but equal” constitutional in Plessy v. Ferguson
In a major victory for supporters of racial segregation, the U.S. Supreme Court rules seven to one that a Louisiana law providing for “equal but separate accommodations for the white…
May 26
May 26
Czar Nicholas II crowned
Nicholas II, the last czar, is crowned ruler of Russia in the old Ouspensky Cathedral in Moscow. Nicholas was neither trained nor inclined to rule, which did not help the…
June 4
June 4
Henry Ford test‑drives his “Quadricycle”
At approximately 4:00 a.m. on June 4, 1896, in the shed behind his home on Bagley Avenue in Detroit, Henry Ford unveils the “Quadricycle,” the first automobile he ever designed…
June 8
June 8
Cleveland asks for inquiry into number of “aliens” in federal employment
On this day in 1896, President Grover Cleveland asks leaders of federal departments to investigate how many “aliens,” or foreign nationals, are currently employed in the federal government, specifically directing…
June 16
June 16
Tsunami ravages Japanese coast
As daylight breaks, survivors of a tsunami in Japan find that more than 20,000 of their friends and family have perished overnight. The tsunami resulted from a disturbance in the…
July 5
July 5
Bill Doolin escapes from jail
The famous outlaw Bill Doolin escapes from an Oklahoma jail after only a few months of captivity. Like many outlaws, William Doolin only gradually fell into a life of crime.…
August 16
August 16
Gold discovered in the Yukon
While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory on August 16, 1896, George Carmack reportedly spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparks…
August 16
August 16
George Carmack discovers Klondike gold
Sometime prospector George Carmack stumbles across gold while salmon fishing along the Klondike River in the Yukon. George Carmack’s discovery of gold in that region sparked the last great western…
August 25
August 25
Outlaw Bill Doolin is killed
The outlaw Bill Doolin is killed by a posse at Lawson, Oklahoma on the night of August 25, 1896. Born in Arkansas in 1858, William Doolin was never as hardened a criminal…
September 7
September 7
Electric car wins the first auto race in the United States
On September 7, 1896, an electric car built by the Riker Electric Motor Company wins the first auto race in the United States, at the Narragansett Trotting Park–a mile‑long dirt…
December 15
December 15
Stephen M. Balzer patents rotary‑engine auto
On this day in 1896, the U.S. government awards Patent Number 573,174 to inventor Stephen M. Balzer for a gasoline‑powered motor buggy that he built two years earlier. Balzer never…
