1897 Calendar

January 23, 1897 – Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.

May 22, 1897 – The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is officially opened

July 26, 1897 – Anglo-Afghan wars: The Pashtun fakir Saidullah leads an army of more than 10,000 to begin a siege of the British garrison in the Malakand Agency of the North West Frontier Province of India.

August 31, 1897 – Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.

September 12, 1897 – Tirah Campaign: Battle of Saragarhi.

November 1, 1897 – The first Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public. The Library had been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S. Capitol.

December 6, 1897 – London becomes the world’s first city to host licensed taxicabs.

December 9, 1897 – Activist Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde, in Paris.

December 12, 1897 – Belo Horizonte, the first planned city in Brazil, is founded.

December 30, 1897 – The British Colony of Natal annexes Zululand.

March 2, 1897 – Minor Hall, American jazz musician (d. 1959)

March 24, 1897 – Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-born psychotherapist (d. 1957)

April 4, 1897 – Dina Manfredini, Italian supercentenarian living in the United States currently. She is the 2nd oldest living person in the world.

April 7, 1897 – Walter Winchell, American broadcaster and journalist (d. 1972)

April 18, 1897 – Ardito Desio, Italian topographer (d. 2001)

June 22, 1897 – Edmund A. Chester, American broadcaster and journalist (d. 1973)

August 2, 1897 – Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1974)

September 29, 1897 – Herbert Agar, American journalist and historian (d. 1980)

November 26, 1897 – Wim Hesterman, Dutch boxer (d. 1971)

December 14, 1897 – Kurt Schuschnigg, Austrian politician (d. 1977)