Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time on March 12, 1894 when a candy merchant in Vicksburg, Mississippi, began bottling the fountain drink to make it accessible to customers in the rural areas. The straight bottles were significantly different from the contour bottles which became famous later
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What Happened in March?
The first Olympic games, the founding of dynasties, and legendary battles. Explore historic milestones from March that influenced today's world. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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French scientist Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity on March 1, 1896, while working on a series of experiments on phosphorescent materials. During his experiments, Becquerel observed that uranium compounds produced a photographic image on a plate wrapped in black paper.
This indicated the emission of radiation independent of sunlight or external stimulation; an event he later termed "radioactivity". His accidental discovery led to further investigations by the Curies and others, eventually earning Becquerel the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for his work on natural radioactivity.
William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th President of the United States on March 4, 1897.McKinley emphasized the need for tariff reform and financial stability following the economic distress of the Panic of 1893. The Spanish American War took place during his term in office.
Aspirin, probably the best known brand in medicine is entered in the trademark register of the Kaiserliches Patentamt (Imperial Patent Office) in Berlin on March 6, 1899, by the German company Bayer, after being first successfully synthesized.
Salicin, which is converted into salicylic acid in the body, is found in the bark of willows. Its therapeutic effect has been known since time immemorial. The progenitor of all physicians, Hippocrates of Kos, described it around 400 B.C. as a medicine against fever and pain; Teutons and Celts cooked a broth from willow bark as medicine. More
Ferdinand, Graf von Zeppelin, was granted a U.S. Patent for his "navigable balloon" on March 14, 1899. The first Zeppelin airship, the LZ-1, made its maiden flight on July 2, 1900, lasting about 20 minutes over Lake Constance in Germany.
The Inventor: Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was a retired German Brigadier General who and devoted his efforts to creating the dirigible, after his retirement in 1891
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Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition team begins their ascent of Mt. Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano on March 5, 1908, reaching Mt. Erebus's summit on March 10. The journey, which came to an end in 1909) was one of the most successful Antarctic expeditions of the time, locating the South Magnetic Pole and reaching 88° 23′ S (just 112 miles from the Geographic South Pole).
The British Antarctic expedition had sailed from England on the 200-ton Nimrod, determined to map previously uncharted territories. The expedition was based at Cape Royds after sea ice prevented them from reaching the planned site at Hut Point. The Shackleton’s Hut, built by Sir Ernest Shackleton for his 1907–1909 Nimrod expedition at Cape Royds still stands today, as a preserved, iconic, and historic, timber-prefabricated, Antarctic base camp, containing original supplies, crates, and artifacts, is maintained by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and accessible to visitors. There is also a nearby Adélie penguin colony. maintained by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and accessible to visitors.
The U.S. first lady Helen Herron Taft and the Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, plant the first two cherry trees from a gift of 3,020 trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to Washington, D.C. on March 27, 1912. The two first trees were planted on the northern bank of the Potomac River Tidal Basin.
The ceremonial event is now commemorated at the annual Washington’s National Cherry Blossom Festival. After the end of the 2024 spring’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, the National Park Service will cut down 158 cherry trees from the nearly 3,700 total to reconstruct a seawall around the Tidal Basin, fortifying the area against sea level rise and extreme precipitation events. More
Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated as the 28th President of the United States on March 4, 1913. The Federal Reserve Act, the Child Labor Reform Act, and legislation supporting unions were passed during his term. However, he also allowed Jim Crow laws to be put into place in Washington D.C., segregating the Treasury and Postal Service departments.
Wilson was elected to a second term in office in 1916, running on the slogan “He Kept us Out of War”. However, the United States of America declared war on Germany in April 1917 and entered WWI.
Mary Mallon, Irish born American domestic, better known as Typhoid Mary, and believed to be responsible for infecting up to 57 people with Typhoid and three confirmed deaths, is placed under a quarantine on March 27, 1915 at North Brother Island, New York City, which lasted until her death in 1938. She was the first person in the U.S. to be identified as an asymptomatic carrier of Salmonella Typhi bacteria.
The German Empire, formally declares war on Portugal, on March 9, 1916, during WWI. Portugal had supported its alliance with Great Britain, seizing German ships which were anchored in Lisbon’s harbor. The declaration of war drew Portugal into World War I alongside the Allied powers.
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Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the throne on March 15, 1917 (March 2 O.S), amid the chaos, protests and demonstrations of the Russian Revolution, ending the 300 year Romanov dynasty. More
The first major, documented cases of the1918 influenza pandemic (often called the "Spanish Flu") occurred on March 4, 1918, at Camp Funston, Fort Riley in Kansas. Within days, over 1,100 soldiers were hospitalized and went on to spread rapidly through U.S. military bases and then to Europe, causing 50–100 million deaths worldwide (Roughly 675,000 in the U.S.)
The total worldwide number of infections is estimated to have been 500 million people. (one-third of the world's population at the time). The "Spanish Flu" name is a misnomer. Major WW I powers like the U.S., UK, France, and Germany suppressed news of the illness to maintain morale. However, Spain was a neutral country and its press reported freely on the outbreak, leading to the false perception that the disease originated there
The USS Cyclops (AC-4) was a massive U.S. Navy collier (coal ship) which was last seen on March 4, 1918, departing Barbados for Baltimore on a trip originating in Brazil.
It was carrying 309 people including officers crew and passengers and a heavy cargo of Manganese ore, which was heavier and denser than coal. The ship was never seen again and its wreck has never been found. It remains the largest non-combat loss of life in U.S. Navy history.
A new French labor law was passed on March 28, 1919, restricting bakers from working from 10 pm to 4 am. The new labor law had an unintended consequence, it forced a cultural shift away from the traditional French boule, which took hours to prepare, to the baguette, a long, narrow, bread that could be prepared in a fraction of the time.
The new law, “la fabrication du pain” made the French baguette eventually become commonplace, and today the baguette is protected as a part of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage list.
The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time, on March 19, 1920, preventing U.S. entry into the League of Nations.
The opposition, was led by Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, citing fears that joining the League would force the U.S. into foreign conflicts and undermine Congress’s constitutional power to declare war, particularly through Article 10 of the League's covenant.
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Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th President of the United States on March 4, 1921. He focused on reducing taxes and promoting business growth, limiting government involvement in the economy. Harding died in office on August 2, 1923 and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge.
His administration was marred by the "Teapot Dome scandal" a major government corruption scandal where President Harding's Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall secretly leased government oil reserves (like Wyoming's Teapot Dome) to private oil companies taking bribes from Oil men Harry Sinclair and Edward Doheny in exchange for these deals. He became the first cabinet member to go to prison for such crimes.
British India arrests Mohandas Gandhi in Bombay for organizing resistance against British rule on March 10, 1922, for sedition due to his writings advocating non-cooperation, leading to a six-year prison sentence although he served two.
He faced repeated arrests for defying British rule through nonviolent civil disobedience, like the Salt March, inspiring widespread movements for India's independence.
American Physicist Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket on March 16, 1926, in Auburn, Massachusetts. The 10-foot rocket used gasoline and liquid oxygen to reach an altitude of 41 feet and flew for 2.5 seconds, proving the feasibility of liquid propulsion for future space travel.
Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States on March 4, 1929. He presided during the Great depression/ His policies to combat it were broadly seen as too conservative and inadequate. and overly conservative. He lost his reelection bid to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.
President Herbert Hoover signed a Public Law that mking the "Star-Spangled Banner” the official U.S. national anthem of the United states. The words are from a poem written by Francis Scott Key in 1814.
During the War of 1812, on September 13, 1814, Key watched a night-time battle between Great Britain and America that took place in Baltimore, Maryland at Fort McHenry. When he saw the American flag still flying in the morning, he wrote a poem that tells the story of his experience. More