On This Day

What Happened in August 1909

Historical Events

  • Aug 1 Tour de France: François Faber of Luxembourg becomes the first foreigner to win the cycling classic
  • Aug 2 1st Lincoln head pennies minted
  • Aug 2 Army Air Corps formed as Army takes 1st delivery from Wright Brothers
  • Aug 2 US issues 1st Lincoln penny

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Aug 3 MLB umpire Tim Hurst instigates a riot by spitting in the face of A's 2nd baseman Eddie Collins who had questioned a call; 2 weeks later Hurst banned for life

Baseball Legend Eddie Collins
Baseball Legend
Eddie Collins
  • Aug 6 Alice Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip
  • Aug 11 SOS 1st used by an American ship, Arapahoe, off Cape Hatteras, NC
  • Aug 11 Warren Bardsley (136 & 130) 1st to get twin tons in a Test

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Aug 18 Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki presents Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees, which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River.

27th US President William Howard Taft
27th US President
William Howard Taft
  • Aug 19 Indianapolis 500 race track opens
  • Aug 24 Workers start pouring concrete for Panama Canal
  • Aug 26 Frank Tarrant scores cricket 145 & 13-67 for Middlesex v Gloucs
  • Aug 26 Middlesex beat Gloucs (Bristol) by Inn & 31 in a single day
  • Aug 27 Jack Chesbro's final Highlander game
  • Aug 27 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport, RI: William Larned beats William Clothier 6-1, 6-2, 5-7, 1-6, 6-1 for his 3rd straight & 5th overall US singles title
  • Aug 29 AH Latham of France sets world airplane altitude record of 155 m
  • Aug 29 World's 1st air race held in Rheims France. Glenn Curtiss (USA) wins
  • Aug 30 Burgess Shale fossils discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott
  • Aug 31 A J Reach Co patents cork-centered baseball
  • Aug 31 Swedish runner Thure Johansson runs world record marathon (2:40:34.2) in Stockholm

Famous Birthdays

  • Aug 1 Nigel Henderson, British Royal Navy admiral (d. 1993)
  • Aug 2 Lord Benson [Henry Alexander], British accountant (Coopers & Lybrand), born in Johannesburg, South Africa (d. 1995)
  • Aug 2 Ace Gutowsky, Russian/American football fullback (Portsmouth Spartans, Brooklyn Dodgers; NFL C'ship 1935, Detroit Lions), born in Komolty, Russian Empire (d. 1976)
  • Aug 4 Glenn Cunningham, American middle distance runner (1930's), born in Atlanta, Kansas (d. 1988)
  • Aug 4 Roberto Burle Marx, Brazilian landscape gardener, born in São Paulo, Brazil (d. 1994)
  • Aug 4 Saunders Mac Lane, American mathematician (co-founded category theory), born in Taftville, Connecticut (d. 2005)
  • Aug 5 Ernestine "Tiny" Davis, American jazz vocalist and trumpeter (International Sweethearts of Rhythm), born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 1994)
  • Aug 8 Bill Voce, cricketer (England left-arm bodyline bowler)
  • Aug 9 John Baur, American museum director and author (American Paintings in 19th Century), born in Woodbridge, Connecticut (d. 1987)
  • Aug 9 Adam von Trott zu Solz, German lawyer and diplomat, born in Potsdam, Germany (d. 1944)
  • Aug 10 Brian Easdale, composer
  • Aug 10 Claude Thornhill, composer
  • Aug 10 George W Crockett Jr, (Rep-D-MI, 1980- )
  • Aug 10 Julio A Abraham, president (Democratic Party Bonaire)
  • Aug 10 Leo Fender, inventor (Fender guitars including the Stratocaster), born in Anaheim California (d. 1991)
  • Aug 10 Mohammed V ibn Yusuf, King of Morocco (1953, 1955-61)
  • Aug 11 Gaston Gilbert Litaize, composer
  • Aug 11 Hugo Buchthal, art historian
  • Aug 11 Jean Lancaster, director (WRNS)
  • Aug 12 Maurice Heath, air marshal
  • Aug 12 Richard Bare, American director
  • Aug 13 John Beal [James Andrew Bliedung], American actor (10 Who Dare, I Am the Law, Les Misérables), born in Joplin, Missouri (d. 1997)
  • Aug 13 Wilhelmina Von Bremen, American 4X100 relay sprinter (Olympic gold 1932), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1976)
  • Aug 13 Dave Willock, American actor (Queen of Outer Space), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1990)
  • Aug 14 Len Darling, Australian cricketer (South Australian & Test batsman of 30's), born in South Yarra, Victoria, Australia (d. 1992)
  • Aug 14 Hezekiah "Stuff" Smith, American jazz violinist & composer (It's Wonderful), born in Portsmouth, Ohio (d. 1967)
  • Aug 15 Raymond O'Malley, English teacher
  • Aug 16 Paul Smith Callaway, American organist, conductor and composer (Great Organ of Washington Cathedral), born in Atlanta, Illinois (d. 1995)
  • Aug 17 Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985)
  • Aug 18 Miliza Korjus, Polish actress (Great Waltz), born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1980)
  • Aug 19 Jerzy Andrzejewski, Polish writer (Ashes and Diamonds), born in Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland (d. 1983)
  • Aug 20 Alby Roberts, New Zealand cricket fast bowler (5 Tests, 7 wickets; Canterbury, Otago), born in Christchurch, New Zealand (d. 1978)
  • Aug 20 André Morell [Cecil André Mesritz], British actor (Ben-Hur, The Message, Hound of the Baskervilles), born in London, England (d. 1978)
  • Aug 21 C. Dillon Douglas, US Secretary of Treasury (1961-65), born in Geneva, Switzerland (d. 2003)
  • Aug 21 John William Haussermann Jr., American composer, born in Manila, Philippines (d. 1986)
  • Aug 21 Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician, born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia (d. 1992)

Person of interestMel Hein

Aug 22 Mel Hein, American NFL center (NY Giants), born in Redding, California (d. 1992)

American Football Player Mel Hein
American Football Player
Mel Hein
  • Aug 22 Sergius Kagen, American pianist and composer, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 1964)
  • Aug 22 Stojan Daskalov, Bulgarian writer (A Farm), born in Liljac, Vraca, Bulgaria (d. 1985)
  • Aug 22 Julius J. Epstein, American screenwriter (Casablanca), born in NYC, New York (d. 2000)
  • Aug 23 Syd Buller, English first-class cricketer and cricket umpire, born in Wortley, Leeds, Yorkshire (d. 1970)
  • Aug 24 Ronnie Grieveson, South African cricket wicket-keeper/batsman (2 Tests v Eng 1939), born in Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa (d. 1998)
  • Aug 25 Arwel Hughes, Welsh composer, born in Rhosllannerchrugog, Wales (d. 1988)
  • Aug 25 Michael Rennie, English actor (Day the Earth Stood Still), born in Idle, West Yorkshire, England (d. 1971)
  • Aug 25 Ruby Keeler, Canadian actress, singer, and dancer (Dames, 42nd Street), born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (d. 1993)
  • Aug 26 Eric Davies, South African cricket fast bowler (5 Tests, 7 wickets; East Province, Transvaal), born in King William's Town, South Africa (d. 1976)
  • Aug 26 Frank Gasparro, US chief engraver (1965-81), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Aug 26 Jim Davis, American actor (Dallas), born in Edgerton, Missouri (d. 1981)
  • Aug 26 Gene Moore, baseball player (d. 1978)
  • Aug 27 Lester Young, American jazz saxophonist, born in Woodville, Mississippi (d. 1959)
  • Aug 27 Sidney R. Yates, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2000)
  • Aug 27 Sylvère Maes, Belgian cyclist (Tour de France 1936, 39), born in Gistel, Belgium (d. 1966)
  • Aug 29 Roy Reuther, American labor leader, born in Wheeling, West Virginia (d. 1968)
  • Aug 30 Barry Appleby, British cartoonist (The Gambols), born in Birmingham (d. 1996)
  • Aug 31 Marie-Louise Grog-Carven, French fashion designer (Ma Griffe perfume), born in Châtellerault, Poitou-Charentes (d. 2015)

Famous Deaths

  • Aug 8 William Miller, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 89
  • Aug 15 Euclides da Cunha, Brazilian writer and sociologist (b. 1866)
  • Aug 17 Richard Hoffman, English-American composer, dies at 78
  • Aug 19 Rembt THPLA of Boneval Faure, lawyer/1st-Member of parliament, dies
  • Aug 29 Emil Christian Hansen, Danish physiologist, dies at 67