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Turn of the Century Timeline

By schrebry
  • Alaska is purchased from Russia

    Alaska is purchased from Russia

    The US bought Alaska for $7.2 million.The tresty was signed by the Secretary of State. William Seward. It was also signed by Russia's Minister.
  • Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

    Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

    The railroad was 1,912. It took 3 years to build. The whole project cost $64.6 million.
  • John D. Rockefeller starts Standard Oil

    John D. Rockefeller starts Standard Oil

    Rockefeller passed away in 1937. In today's money, his net worth would be close to $340 billion. His oil was the largest refinery in the world at its time.
  • Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone

    Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone

    Alexander co-founded AT&T in 1885. The famous first words that went through the phone were "Mr. Watson, come here.". He died in 1992.
  • Thomas Edison brings light to the world with the light bulb

    Thomas Edison brings light to the world with the light bulb

    His lab was in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Edison said "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles". The longest burning Edison bulb is in California and has been on since 1901.
  • Chinese Exclusion Act

    Chinese Exclusion Act

    This was an immigration law. It kept Chinese workers from coming to the US. It was the first immigration law that kept out ethnic groups.
  • Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL)

    Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL)

    They wanted to persuade companies to acknowledge unions and agree to collective bargaining. Gompers served until 1925.
  • Sherman Anti-trust Act

    Sherman Anti-trust Act

    Outlawed monopolies and cartels. It was effective for many years. At first, it had a hard time preventing industrial monopolies.
  • Ellis Island opens

    Ellis Island opens

    It was an immigration station. It was at the mouth of the Hudson River. The island saw millions of new immigrants.
  • Carnegie Steel’s Homestead Strike

    Carnegie Steel’s Homestead Strike

    The goal was to stop wage decreases. It was located in Pennsylvania. The result was a major setback to steel workers unionization.

  • Plessy v Ferguson

  • The U.S. declares war on Spain

  • Hawaii is annexed

  • Rudyard Kipling published “The White Man’s Burden” in The New York Sun

  • The start of the Boxer Rebellion

  • Tenement Act

  • Pres. McKinley is assassinated and Progressive Theodore Roosevelt becomes President

  • The Philippine Insurrection comes to an end

  • The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe doctrine declares the U.S. right to intervene in the Wesern Hem

  • Upton Sinclair releases “The Jungle”

  • Pure Food & Drug Act and The Meat Inspection Act are passed

  • Peak year of immigration through Ellis Island

  • Henry Ford produced his first Model T (car)

  • Creation of the NAACP

  • The Triangle Shirtwaste Fire

  • The Assassination on Austria’s archduke Franz Ferdinand starts WWI

  • The Panama Canal is completed and opened for traffic

  • The United States enters WWI

  • Ratification of the 18th Amendment - Prohibition

  • Women got the right to vote.