- Jan 4 1st elected Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, takes office in Idaho
- Jan 4 Trans-Caucausus Russian defeat Turkish troops
- Jan 7 World War I: Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm approves strategic bombing of Britain, but forbids bombing London, fearing his relatives in the royal family might be killed
- Jan 9 Exposition (now Civic) Auditorium dedicated in San Francisco
- Jan 11 Jacob Ruppert and Colonel Tillinghast Huston purchase the New York Yankees for $460,000, Ruppert pays his portion in cash
- Jan 12 US House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women right to vote
- Jan 13 Earthquake in Avezzano, Italy kills 29,800
- Jan 13 Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, presents plan for assault on Dardanelles
- Jan 15 Japan claims economic control of China
- Jan 15 Sydney, Kern & Smith's musical "Love o' Mike" premieres in NYC
- Jan 16 Congress authorizes $1 & $50 Panama-Pacific Intl Expo gold coin
- Jan 17 Antoni van Leeuwenhoek's Hospital in Amsterdam opens
- Jan 17 Russia occupies Bukovina & Western Ukraine
Victory in Battle
Jan 17 Battle of Sarikamish ends with a Russian victory over Ottoman forces led by Enver Pasha with loss of over 30,000 men of the Turkish Third Army during Caucasus Campaign
Enver Pasha
- Jan 18 Train crashes at Colima-Guadalajara Mexico, about 600 die
- Jan 18 Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
- Jan 19 World War I: 4 people in Norfolk are killed in the 1st German Zeppelin air raid attack on the United Kingdom
- Jan 19 Neon Tube sign patented by George Claude
- Jan 21 Kiwanis International founded in Detroit
- Jan 24 German-British sea battle at Dogger Bank & Helgoland
Event of Interest
Jan 25 Alexander Graham Bell in NY calls Thomas Watson in San Francisco
Alexander Graham Bell
- Jan 25 Giordano, Sardou & Moreau's opera "Madame Sans Gêne" premieres in NYC
- Jan 25 Transcontinental telephone service inaugurated (NY to San Francisco)
- Jan 26 Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, is established
- Jan 27 US Marines occupy Haiti
- Jan 28 1st US ship lost in WW I, William P Frye (carrying wheat to UK)
- Jan 28 The United States Coast Guard is created by merging the US Life Saving Service & the US Revenue Cutter Service
Event of Interest
Jan 28 US President Woodrow Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates
Woodrow Wilson