On This Day

Historical Events in February 1909

  • Feb 1 US Assay Office in Salt Lake City, Utah, opens
  • Feb 1 US forces withdraw from Cuba after liberal Jose Miguel Gomez becomes president; ensuing political instability will bring a threat of US intervention in 1912
  • Feb 2 Italian writer Marinetti publishes Futurist Manifest in Paris
  • Feb 8 France & Germany sign treaty about Morocco
  • Feb 9 1st US federal legislation on narcotics prohibits importation, possession, and use of "smoking opium"

Historic Event

Feb 12 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) forms

Lillian Wald
Nurse and Social Activist Lillian Wald
Ida B. Wells
Civil Rights Leader, Journalist and Suffragist Ida B. Wells
  • Feb 12 Netherlands' SDAP suspends Marxist Tribune group (Gorter & Wijnkoop)
  • Feb 12 American James Clark runs world record marathon (2:46:52.6) in NYC

Music Premiere

Feb 12 Symphony in B minor "Polonia", by Polish composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski has its public premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Pianist, Composer and Polish Prime Minister Ignacy Jan Paderewski
  • Feb 16 1st subway car with side doors goes into service (NYC)
  • Feb 16 Serbia mobilizes against Austria-Hungary

Sports History

Feb 18 Boston Red Sox trade Cy Young, at 41, to Cleveland Naps

Cy Young
MLB Pitcher Cy Young
  • Feb 20 Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal "Le Figaro"
  • Feb 20 The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded in Detroit, Michigan by retail titan Joseph L. Hudson and other investors [1]
  • Feb 21 John Galsworthy's "Strife" premieres in London

Great White Fleet

Feb 22 Great White Fleet, 1st US fleet to circle the globe, returns to Virginia

American naval ships leave Virginia on December 16, 1907, the first day of their two-year voyage

Historic Event

Feb 23 Russian Tsar Nicholas II dissolves Finnish Diet

Nicholas II
Tsar of Russia Nicholas II
  • Feb 26 Austria and Turkey conclude an agreement in which Turkey recognizes Austria's 1908 annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is to receive compensation
  • Feb 28 1st National Woman's Day is observed in the United States. Organized by the Socialist Party of America in honor of the 1908 garment workers' strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions.

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