The 1900s in five headlines

1900

A powerful hurricane struck Galveston, Texas on September 8, 1900 with a storm surge of up to 15 feet, killing between 6,000 and 12,000 people in what remains the deadliest natural disaster in American history. The prosperous island city was largely destroyed. The disaster prompted the construction of a massive sea wall and the elevation of the city's grade.

1902

The eruption of Mount Pelée on the Caribbean island of Martinique on 8 May 1902 generated a pyroclastic flow that destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre within minutes, killing an estimated 30,000 people — almost the entire population of the town. It remains the deadliest volcanic disaster of the twentieth century. Only two people in Saint-Pierre survived, one of them sheltered in the town's dungeon.

1905

The Battle of Mukden, fought in Manchuria from late February to 10 March 1905, was the decisive land engagement of the Russo-Japanese War. Japanese forces under Field Marshal Oyama Iwao defeated the Russian Imperial Army under General Kuropatkin after nearly three weeks of fighting across a 70-mile front, forcing a Russian withdrawal northward. The battle, involving over 600,000 men, shocked Western observers and confirmed Japan as a major military power.

1906

In the early morning of April 18, 1906, a catastrophic earthquake estimated at magnitude 7.9 struck San Francisco, triggering fires that burned for three days and devastated the city. Approximately 3,000 people were killed and over half of the city's population of 400,000 were left homeless. The disaster remains one of the deadliest in United States history and prompted major reforms in urban planning and fire safety across the country.

1909

Harry Gordon Selfridge opened his grand department store on Oxford Street, London in March 1909, transforming the British retail experience. Selfridge introduced the radical idea that shopping should be enjoyable rather than merely transactional, with open displays, restaurants, and a roof garden. His store, and his maxim that the customer is always right, helped create the template for the modern department store.