Timeline

  • September 1893 Charles and Frank Duryea develop America's first gasoline automobile and demonstrate it in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Unfortunately it had no brakes.
  • July 1899 The Newsboys Strike of 1899 lasted two weeks, causing Joseph Pulitzer's New York World to reduce its circulation from 360,000 to 125,000. The strike was successful in increasing the amount newsboys received by selling papers.
  • December 1903 The Wright brothers are credited with making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight.
  • June, 1909 Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, becomes the first woman to drive across the United States (3,800 miles, from Manhattan, New York to San Francisco, California).
  • April 1912 Boston's Fenway Park opens.
  • October 1912 Boston beats the New York Giants in the World Series.
  • March 1913 Woodrow Wilson becomes the 28th US President.
  • 1913 Boston's Franklin Park Zoo is founded and opened.
  • March 1914 The Elephant Fund for Mollie, Waddy and Tony begins on March 9.The elephants had appeared at Keith's Theatre in early March. Then the Boston Post announced that the elephant trainer was retiring, and the kids of New England were given the opportunity to raise money to bring the elephants to the Franklin Park Zoo. The Mayor and the Governor endorse the plan.
  • April 1914 Over $4000 already raised but $6000 is needed by June. The Boston Post's Elephant Editor, Paul Waitt, runs daily articles on the progress. Kids contibute their savings, and raise more money by doing extra chores and hosting parties.
  • May 1914 The $6000 goal is reached.
  • June 1914 Mollie, Waddy and Tony are presented to the kids of Boston at Fenway Park. After the ceremony, they move to their new home at the Franklin Park Zoo.
  • July 1914 Babe Ruth plays his first pro baseball game as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.
  • August 1914 World War I starts in Europe and last for 4 years.
  • 1920 Franklin Park Zoo, which charges no admission, has an estimated 2 million visitors.