Also Within This Year in History:
1908
In a year that would revolutionize transportation, Henry Ford’s introduced his first Model T and the Wright Brothers’ made their first public flight to demonstrate the airplane they’d invented several years earlier. In Europe, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, now seen as a prelude to World War I. In America, Sears started selling "kit" homes through its mail-order catalog, starting for $650. And the charismatic outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid reportedly met their end in Bolivia—although not everyone believed it.
At dawn, the most destructive earthquake in recorded European history strikes the Straits of Messina in southern Italy, leveling the cities of Messina in Sicily and Reggio di Calabria on…
An earthquake in Sicily kills over 100,000 people and destroys several towns on this day in 1908. The 7.5‑magnitude tremor off the coast of the large island was also responsible…
