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April 1900

Month in 1900

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
14 min read
Source updated September 1, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.
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The following events occurred in April 1900:

01April 1, 1900 (Sunday)

  • Bayern Munich played its first game, defeating the MTV 1879 club, 7-1.
  • RWE AG, Germany's largest electrical power company, began supplying electricity, starting with the city of Düsseldorf.
April 30, 1900: "Casey" Jones wrecks train, becomes immortalized in song
April 30, 1900: "Casey" Jones wrecks train, becomes immortalized in song

02April 2, 1900 (Monday)

03April 3, 1900 (Tuesday)

04April 4, 1900 (Wednesday)

05April 5, 1900 (Thursday)

06April 6, 1900 (Friday)

  • World heavyweight boxing champion Jim Jeffries retained his title in a bout that lasted only 55 seconds. In Detroit, challenger Jack Finnegan was TKO'd less than a minute into the first round, a record that still stands. Finnegan, who was outweighed by Jeffries 250 pounds to 180, got up after each of three knockdowns before the towel was thrown in. In 1988, Mike Tyson would KO Michael Spinks in 91 seconds, the last heavyweight title fight to be decided in the first round.
  • The city of Havana, Cuba banned the playing of African drums, a prohibition that remained in effect until 1940, when conga drums again became part of Cuban music.
  • Kentucky's highest court declared J. C. W. Beckham to be the Governor, ruling against William S. Taylor. Taylor had been sworn in as Governor earlier in the year after being certified the winner of the 1899 state election, but a lower court ruled William Goebel to be the winner. Goebel was assassinated, and Lt. Governor Beckham was sworn in during February.
April 3, 1900: Admiral Dewey runs for president, says he is convinced that the job "is not a very difficult one"
April 3, 1900: Admiral Dewey runs for president, says he is convinced that the job "is not a very difficult one"

07April 7, 1900 (Saturday)

  • More than 100 people were killed near Austin, Texas, when the McDonald Dam burst at 11:15 in the morning and sent a torrent of waters from the Colorado River rushing through the state capital. The dam had been constructed only seven years earlier, and burst following four days of rain. The town of Circleville was reported to have been washed away. Flooding of the Concho River had destroyed the town of Watervalley the day before.
  • At Thomas Edison's laboratory, an agent of the Goldschmidt Chemische-Thermo Industrie of Essen, Germany, demonstrated a process to melt iron in five seconds. "Louis Dreyfus of Frankfort-on-Main ... showed Mr. Edison his new process for attaining an enormous degree of heat in an incredibly short period of time by the combustion of a certain chemical compound which the inventor keeps a secret," The New York Times reported, "then placed a six-inch long iron wrench in a crucible and created a fire that reached 3,000 degrees centigrade."
  • General Arthur MacArthur was named to replace General Elwell Stephen Otis as military governor of the Philippines.
  • The gunboat USS Wheeling arrived at Taku Forts to reinforce the American military presence in China.

08April 8, 1900 (Sunday)

  • In the first major event associated with the introduction of Buddhism to the United States, The Buddha's birthday was celebrated in an elaborate ceremony in San Francisco. The Buddhist mission had begun its outreach to European-Americans in weekly lectures beginning on January 4.

09April 9, 1900 (Monday)

10April 10, 1900 (Tuesday)

11April 11, 1900 (Wednesday)

  • King Leopold of Belgium, by declaration made on April 9, turned over to the nation all of his properties "which contribute to the charms and beauty of the localities in which they are situated" on condition that they be preserved as park land, creating the Royal Trust of Belgium. More were turned over in 15 November 1900.
  • The United States Navy purchased its first submarine, the USS Holland, for $150,000. Commissioned on October 12, the sub was 50 feet (15 m) long, held a crew of six, and ran on electric batteries when submerged.
April 11, 1900: U.S. Navy acquires its first submarine, USS Holland
April 11, 1900: U.S. Navy acquires its first submarine, USS Holland

12April 12, 1900 (Thursday)

13April 13, 1900 (Friday)

  • For the fourth time since 1893, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution to provide that U.S. senators be elected by popular vote rather than by the individual state legislatures, by a margin of 242-15. As with the previous resolutions, the measure failed in the Senate. It was not until 1913 that the law changed, by the amendment of the United States Constitution.
  • At Knossos, workmen first excavated the royal palace of Minos.

14April 14, 1900 (Saturday)

15April 15, 1900 (Sunday)

  • American troops in the Philippines sustained their heaviest one-day loss of the year as 19 soldiers in the 43rd Infantry were killed at the Siege of Catubig on the first day of battle. The United States Department of War reported that 200 insurgents were killed on the same day.
  • At or near Easter, the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient computer used to calculate astronomical positions, was found by Elias Stadiatos, a sponge fisherman.
  • Milan played its first official football match, losing to Torino, 3-0. The club had won a warmup game against Mediolanum on March 11, 3-0.

16April 16, 1900 (Monday)

A mercury-vapor lamp
A mercury-vapor lamp

17April 17, 1900 (Tuesday)

18April 18, 1900 (Wednesday)

  • In British India, the organization Nagari Pracharini Sabha succeeded in its mission to promote the official recognition of the Devanagari script in official documents. Sir Antony Macdonald, Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh issued an executive order providing that the Devanagari and Persian scripts be used for government documents, summons and notices.
  • In American law as of October 31, 1988, "the term 'Native American Samoan' means a person who is a citizen or national of the United States and who is a lineal descendant of an inhabitant of the Samoan Islands on April 18, 1900. For purposes of this section, Swains Island shall be considered part of the Samoan Islands."

19April 19, 1900 (Thursday)

  • In China, the Empress Dowager Cixi issued an imperial edict to all Chinese viceroys and governors, directing them to in turn issue warnings to the Boxers and other armed groups to refrain from "hostile and lawless acts toward native Christians", subject to severe punishment. However, the Empress issued another edict prohibiting soldiers from firing on Boxers.
  • The first anti-Japanese meeting was held in the United States, taking place in Seattle.
  • The 1900 National League baseball season opened, with all eight teams playing. For the first time, home plate was a five-sided base, pointing toward the pitcher's mound.

20April 20, 1900 (Friday)

21April 21, 1900 (Saturday)

Sapho
Sapho

22April 22, 1900 (Sunday)

23April 23, 1900 (Monday)

  • King Chulalongkorn of Siam (now Thailand) decreed an end to the phrai system, a form of serfdom in rural provinces.
  • The United States Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections unanimously approved a report to the Senate recommending that the election of Senator William A. Clark of Montana be declared null and void. Clark would resign on May 11, bringing an end to debate in the Senate.
  • According to one source, the word "hillbilly" was introduced on this date, appearing in the New York Journal.
  • The town of Pánuco, Veracruz in Mexico was destroyed by fire, leaving more than 2,000 homeless.

24April 24, 1900 (Tuesday)

  • By a vote of 33 to 32, the United States Senate refused to allow Matthew Quay to take office as Senator from Pennsylvania. The roll was called at 4:00 in the afternoon, with Senator Wellington of Michigan casting the deciding vote.
  • The Daily Express, an afternoon tabloid newspaper in London, published its first issue and would become, during part of the 20th century, "the biggest selling newspaper in the world". Founded by Sir Arthur Pearson, the Express was the first British newspaper to use the front page for news headlines instead of advertisements.

25April 25, 1900 (Wednesday)

26April 26, 1900 (Thursday)

  • The city of Hull, Quebec, and the western side of Ottawa, were destroyed by a kitchen fire that broke out in a Bank Street restaurant during the morning and by 11:30, and swept north towards Hull's Main Street and through the lumber mills. By 1:00 in the afternoon, the flames spread over the Ottawa River to the Chaudiere Flats section of the Canadian capital. The property loss was estimated at $15,000,000 (c. $300 million in 2008 monies) and twelve thousand people were left homeless, though only seven people were killed.
  • Guglielmo Marconi was awarded British patent No. 7,777 for wireless radio.
  • President Manuel Antonio Sanclemente of Colombia extended the deadline for completion of the Panama Canal from October 31, 1904, to October 31, 1910. The executive decree was granted without consent of the Colombian Congress.
  • Born:
The Antikythera mechanism (main fragment), an early analog computing device.
The Antikythera mechanism (main fragment), an early analog computing device.

27April 27, 1900 (Friday)

28April 28, 1900 (Saturday)

  • The wife of Major General James H. Wilson, Military Governor of the Matanzas-Santa Clara Department of Cuba, was killed in a freak accident in Havana. Mrs. Wilson alighted from a carriage and stepped on a match that had been burning in the street, and her dress caught fire. She died shortly thereafter of her burns.
  • Alfred M. Jones, a noted 70-year-old engraver who had attained worldwide fame, was killed when a cab struck him on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Jones was walking to a dinner engagement at the Century Club at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. He died at the New York Hospital of a fractured skull.
  • Born:

29April 29, 1900 (Sunday)

30April 30, 1900 (Monday)

  • "On April 30, 1900, that rainy morn, Down in Mississippi near the town of Vaughn, Sped the Cannonball Special only two minutes late, Traveling" 70 miles (110 km) "an hour when they saw a freight." Songwriter Wallace Saunders would immortalize "a relatively minor disaster on the Illinois Central" in "The Ballad of Casey Jones". John Luther "Casey" Jones, driving a passenger train from Memphis, Tennessee, to Canton, Mississippi, was speeding when he encountered two stalled freight trains on the main track at Vaughan, Mississippi. Although he was unable to avoid a collision, Jones slowed the train sufficiently that he was the only fatality of the accident, which happened at 3:42 a.m.
  • At 12:40 in the afternoon, U.S. President William McKinley signed into law "An act to provide a government for the Territory of Hawaii". All persons who had been citizens of Hawaii as of April 12, 1898, were declared to be citizens of the United States. By its terms, the law was to take effect on June 14, 1900.
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “April 1900”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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