What happened in 1913
38 entries recorded for 1913, listed by date. That was 113 years ago.
1913 at a glance
- Years ago
- 113 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1910s
- Generation born
- Greatest Generation
- Entries here
- 38
- Breakdown
- 38 historical events
January
- January 24
Michael Moutoussis
Greek military aviators Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis performed the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.
February
- February 2
Grand Central Terminal
New York City's Grand Central Terminal, the world's largest train station by number of platforms, opened immediately after midnight.
- February 5
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi's last opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea, was performed theatrically for the first time in more than 250 years.
- February 9
Meteor procession
A meteor procession was observed along a great circle arc from Canada to Brazil, leading astronomers to conclude that its source was a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.
- February 17
Armory Show
The Armory Show (commemorative button pictured), the first large modern-art exhibition in the United States, opened at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City.
March
- March 3
Woman Suffrage Procession
Thousands of women marched in Washington, D.C., "in a spirit of protest" against the exclusion of women from American society.
- March 6
First Balkan War
First Balkan War: The Greek army captured Bizani Fortress, near Ioannina, from the Ottomans.
- March 12
Capital Hill, Australian Capital Territory
At a ceremony at Kurrajong Hill, Lady Denman, wife of the governor-general Lord Denman, announced that the future capital of Australia would be called Canberra.
- March 21
Great Dayton Flood
More than 360 were killed and 20,000 homes were destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
- March 22
Phan Xích Long
Phan Xích Long, the self-proclaimed emperor of Vietnam, was arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the following day.
- March 26
First Balkan War
First Balkan War: After a five-month siege, Bulgarian and Serbian forces captured the Ottoman city of Adrianople.
- March 31
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg conducted the Vienna Concert Society in a concert of expressionist music that so shocked the audience that they began to riot.
April
- April 11
Cricket pavilion
The cricket pavilion at the Nevill Ground was destroyed in an arson attack (damage pictured) that was attributed to militant suffragettes as part of a country-wide campaign co-ordinated by the Women's Social and Political Union.
- April 24
Woolworth Building
The Woolworth Building in New York City officially opened; at the time, it was the tallest building in the world, with a height of 792 ft (241 m).
May
- May 3
Raja Harishchandra
Raja Harishchandra, the first Indian feature-length film, was released.
- May 13
Igor Sikorsky
The Russian inventor Igor Sikorsky flew the self-designed Russky Vityaz, the world's first four-engine fixed-wing aircraft.
- May 24
Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia
Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia married Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover; the occasion was one of the last great social events of European royalty before World War I began.
- May 29
The Rite of Spring
During the premiere of the ballet Le Sacre du printemps by Igor Stravinsky at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a near-riot in the audience (report pictured).
June
- June 4
Emily Davison
Emily Davison, an activist for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, was fatally injured after being trampled by a horse owned by King George V at the Epsom Derby.
- June 10
1913 Ipswich Mills strike
During a labor strike in Ipswich, Massachusetts, police opened fire into a crowd of strikers, killing one and injuring several others.
- June 17
Detroit
In Detroit, autoworkers for car manufacturer Studebaker went on strike in the American auto industry's first major strike action.
- June 29
Union army
More than 50,000 Union and Confederate veterans gathered at the Gettysburg Battlefield, the largest combined reunion of American Civil War veterans ever held.
July
- July 3
Confederate States of America
Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.
- July 10
Furnace Creek, California
The air temperature in Furnace Creek, California, reached 134 °F (56.7 °C), recognized by the World Meteorological Organization as the highest recorded on Earth.
- July 12
Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War: The Serbian Army began the Siege of Vidin, which they abandoned six days later when an armistice between the Serbs and Bulgarians was signed.
- July 13
Second Balkan War
While on a campaign in Bulgaria, the Romanian Army suffered a cholera outbreak that led to around 1,600 deaths.
August
- August 3
Wheatland, California
An agricultural workers' strike in Wheatland degenerated into a riot, becoming one of the first major farm-labor confrontations in California.
September
- September 23
United Mine Workers of America
The United Mine Workers of America begin a strike against the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, sparking the Colorado Coalfield War.
October
- October 2
Shubert Theatre (Broadway)
The Shubert Theatre opened on Broadway with a production of Hamlet.
- October 9
SS Volturno (1906)
Carrying a cargo hold full of highly flammable chemicals, the ocean liner SS Volturno caught fire in the north Atlantic and sank, resulting in 136 deaths.
- October 14
Mining accident
The worst mining accident in the United Kingdom's history took place when an explosion resulted in 440 deaths at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, Wales.
- October 27
General strike
A rail workers' strike in Chile escalates into a general strike, organized by the Regional Workers' Federation of Chile.
- October 31
Indianapolis
Public-transportation workers in Indianapolis went on strike (pictured), shutting down mass transit in the city.
November
- November 9
Great Lakes Storm of 1913
A severe blizzard reached its maximum intensity in the Great Lakes Basin of North America, destroying 19 ships and 68,300 tons of cargo, and killing more than 250 people.
December
- December 14
Japanese battleship Haruna
Haruna (pictured), the fourth and last Japanese battlecruiser of the Kongō class, was launched and went on to serve in both world wars.
- December 18
The Jew's Christmas
The Jew's Christmas, the first American film to include a rabbi as a character, was released.
- December 24
Italian Hall disaster
Seventy-three people were crushed to death in a stampede after someone falsely yelled "fire" at a crowded Christmas party in Calumet, Michigan, U.S.
- December 29
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille started filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man (featured).
Questions about 1913
What happened in 1913?
This site records 38 entries for 1913, including Michael Moutoussis on January 24. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1913?
113 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1913 turns 113 this year.
Which century is 1913 in?
1913 falls in the 20th century, in the 1910s.
Which generation was born in 1913?
Greatest Generation (1901–1927). Grew up in the Depression and fought in the Second World War.
Text adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 and from Wikidata (CC0). Images come from Wikimedia Commons; credit and licence are shown with each image. Editorial entries are © What's On This Date. Sources & licensing · How this site works.