Notable Historical Events - 1931
1931 Historical Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
Jan 3 |
Nels Stewart of Montreal Maroons scores 2 goals in 4 sec (record) |
Jan 5 |
1st woman to purchase a baseball team Lucille Thomas purchases Topeka franchise in the Western League |
Jan 6 |
Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. |
Jan 7 |
Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast. |
Jan 8 |
Phila Quakers set then NHL record of 15 straight loses |
Jan 10 |
Phila Quakers defeat Montreal, ends NHL-record 15-game losing streak |
Jan 16 |
Bradman scores 223 Australia v WI, 297 mins, 26 fours |
Jan 22 |
French government of Steeg falls |
Jan 22 |
VARA begins experimental TV broadcast in Diamantbeurs Amsterdam |
Jan 22 |
Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. |
Jan 26 |
Hungary-Austria sign peace treaty |
Jan 26 |
Lynn Riggs' "Green Grow the Lilacs," premieres in NYC |
Jan 28 |
Bradman scores 220 NSW v Victoria, 308 mins, 13 fours |
Jan 30 |
Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" premieres at Los Angeles Theater |
Jan 31 |
NHL's Quebec Bulldogs' Joseph Malone scores a record 7 goals |
Jan 31 |
Philip Barry's "Tomorrow & Tomorrow," premieres in NYC |
Feb 2 |
1st siyyum of Talmud celebrated by Daf Yomi students |
Feb 2 |
1st use of a rocket to deliver mail (Austria) |
Feb 3 |
Arkansas legislature passes motion to pray for soul of H L Mencken after he calls state "apex of moronia" |
Feb 3 |
The Hawke's Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258 |
Feb 4 |
National League adopts a deader baseball |
Feb 5 |
Maxine Dunlap becomes 1st US women to earn a glider pilot license |
Feb 7 |
US opera, "Peter Ibbetson," by Deems Taylor premieres at Met Opera NYC |
Feb 8 |
Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000 |
Feb 10 |
New Delhi becomes capital of India |
Feb 10 |
Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Harts premieres in NYC |
Feb 12 |
Vatican Radio begins broadcasting with the callsign HVJ |
Feb 14 |
Bradman scores 152 Aust v WI, 154 minutes, 13 fours 2 fives |
Feb 14 |
Spanish government of General Damasco Berenguer falls |
Feb 14 |
The original "Dracula", starring Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire, is released |
Feb 15 |
Spring training site of NY Yankees in St Petersburg is renamed Miller Huggins Field in honor of the team's late manager |
Feb 16 |
Extreme right wing Pehr Evind Svinhufvud becomes president of Finland |
Feb 17 |
1st telecast of a sporting event in Japan (baseball) |
Feb 17 |
Hockey's Hershey Bears (now with AHL) 1st game |
Feb 20 |
Congress allows California to build Oakland-Bay Bridge |
Feb 21 |
Alka Seltzer introduced |
Feb 21 |
Chicago White Sox & NY Giants play 1st exhibition night game |
Feb 28 |
Canadian Rugby Union adopts the forward pass |
Feb 28 |
Oswald Mosley founds his New Party |
Mar 3 |
"Star Spangled Banner" officially becomes US national anthem by congressional resolution |
Mar 3 |
Cab Calloway records "Minnie Moocher" (Jazz's 1st million seller) |
Mar 4 |
Bradman bowled by Herman Griffith for a duck as W I win the Test |
Mar 4 |
West Indies beat Australia for the 1st time, by 30 runs at SCG |
Mar 5 |
Gandhi & British viceroy Lord Irwin sign pact |
Mar 10 |
British Labour party removes fascist sir Oswald Mosley |
Mar 11 |
Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union. |
Mar 14 |
1st theater built for rear movie projection (NYC) |
Mar 16 |
Genootschap Onze Taal (Our Language) organizes (Neth) |
Mar 17 |
|
Mar 18 |
1st electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick) |
Mar 18 |
Juan Bautista Aznar becomes premier of Spain |
Mar 19 |
Nevada legalizes gambling |
Mar 20 |
Bishop Schreiber warns against national-socialism in Berlin |
Mar 21 |
KRO-broadcast studio initiated in Hilversum Holland |
Mar 21 |
US Ladies' Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson |
Mar 21 |
US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner |
Mar 23 |
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev embrace the gallows during the Indian struggle for independence. Their request to be shot by a firing squad is refused. |
Mar 25 |
Hal Kemp & his orchestra record Whistles, with Skinnay Ennis |
Mar 25 |
Scottsboro Boys (accused of raping a white woman) arrested in Alabama |
Mar 26 |
Iraq & Trans-Jordan sign peace treaty |
Mar 26 |
Leo Bentley bowls 3 consecutive perfect games in Lorain, Ohio |
Mar 26 |
New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capital of British-Indies |
Mar 27 |
Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor |
Mar 27 |
John McGraw says night baseball will not catch on |
Apr 1 |
Earthquake devastate Managua Nicaragua, kills 2,000 |
Apr 1 |
Jackie Mitchell became 1st female in professional baseball |
Apr 2 |
Teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee |
Apr 6 |
1st Scottsboro (Ala) trial begins - 9 blacks accused of rape |
Apr 6 |
1st broadcast of "Little Orphan Annie" on NBC-radio |
Apr 7 |
Seals Stadium opens in SF |
Apr 8 |
"White Horse Inn" opens in London |
Apr 8 |
Dmitri Shostakovitch's ballet "The Arrow" premieres |
Apr 9 |
Chicago Cy Wentworth beats Mont Canadiens at 13:50 of 6th period |
Apr 12 |
Joe McCarthy debuts as NY Yankee manager |
Apr 12 |
Spanish voters reject the monarchy |
Apr 14 |
Spain becomes republic with overthrow of King Alfonso XIII |
Apr 14 |
Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 3 games to 2 |
Apr 15 |
1st walk across American backwards begins |
Apr 20 |
35th Boston Marathon won by Jim Henigan of Mass in 2:46:45.8 |
Apr 20 |
British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday |
Apr 22 |
Egypt & Iraq sign peace treaty |
Apr 26 |
Lou Gehrig hits a HR but is called out for passing a runner, mistake costs him AL home run crown; he & Babe Ruth tie for season |
Apr 27 |
100°F (38°C), Pahala, Hawaii (state record) |
Apr 28 |
Program for woman athletes approved for 1932 Olympics track & field |
Apr 29 |
Cleve Indian Wes Ferrell no-hits St Louis Browns, 9-0 |
May 1 |
Empire State Building opens in NYC |
May 1 |
Norway claims Peter I Island |
May 1 |
Singer Kate Smith begins her long-running radio program on CBS |
May 4 |
Mustafa Kemal Pasja becomes Turkish president |
May 8 |
Operette "Land of Smiles" premieres in London |
May 9 |
57th Preakness: George Ellis aboard Mate wins in 1:59 |
May 10 |
Golf ball size hail falls in Burlington, NJ |
May 11 |
Credit-Anstalt, Austria's largest bank, fails, beginning financial collapse of Central Europe |
May 13 |
Paul Doumer elected president of France |
May 14 |
Ådalen shootings: five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration. |
May 15 |
Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Quadragesimo anno |
May 16 |
57th Kentucky Derby: Charley Kurtsinger on Twenty Grand wins 2:01.8 |
May 19 |
Cruiser Deutschland launched in Kiel |
May 21 |
Belgian government of Jaspar falls |
May 22 |
Canned rattlesnake meat 1st goes on sale in Florida |
May 23 |
Whipsnade Zoo opens in Bedfordshire, England |
May 24 |
1st air-conditioned train installed-B&O Railroad |
May 27 |
1st full scale wind tunnel for testing airplanes, Langley Field Va |
May 27 |
Piccard & Knipfer make 1st flight into stratosphere, by balloon |
May 30 |
Phillies Chuck Klein homers off Ben Cantwell (Braves) in both ends DH |
May 30 |
Indianapolis 500: Louis Schneider wins in 5:10:27.948 (155.509 km/h) |
May 31 |
7.1 magnitude Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan: 40,000 dead. |
Jun 1 |
Rozenburg soccer team forms in Rozenburg |
Jun 5 |
Jules Renkin becomes premier of Belgium |
Jun 5 |
66th British Golf Open: Tommy Armour shoots a 296 at Carnoustie Golf Links |
Jun 6 |
"There Ought To Be A Moonlight Saving Time" by Guy Lombardo hits #1 |
Jun 6 |
Yanks turn triple-play but lose 7-5 to Indians |
Jun 8 |
Duke of Kent wed Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark |
Jun 8 |
Suriname Work Committee under Louis Doedel forms in Paramaribo |
Jun 9 |
1st rocket-powered aircraft design patented (Robert Goddard) |
Jun 9 |
1st showing of a Donald Duck cartoon |
Jun 10 |
Norway occupies East Greenland |
Jun 12 |
Al Capone is indicted on 5,000 counts of prohibition & perjury |
Jun 13 |
63rd Belmont: Charley Kurtsinger aboard Twenty Grand wins in 2:29.6 |
Jun 14 |
French "St Philbert" overturns off St Nazaire France, drowns 450 |
Jun 14 |
Reinhard Heydrich's 1st meeting with Himmler |
Jun 15 |
Eddie Collins & Harry Heilmann retire from baseball |
Jun 15 |
Poland & USSR sign friendship & trade treaty |
Jun 16 |
Austrian government of Ender falls |
Jun 19 |
1st photoelectric cell installed commercially West Haven Ct |
Jun 20 |
Karl Buresch becomes chancellor of Austrian |
Jun 22 |
RVU, Radio-Volks-University, forms |
Jun 23 |
Wiley Post & Harold Catty took off for flight around world |
Jun 24 |
USSR & Afghanistan sign neutrality treaty |
Jun 27 |
3rd Ryder Cup: US wins, 9-3 at Scioto Country Club (Columbus, Ohio, US) |
Jun 29 |
109°F (43°C), Monticello, Florida (state record) |
Jun 29 |
Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical on Nun abbiamo bisogno (We do not need fascism and Mussolini) |
Jul 1 |
Cleveland Municipal Stadium is completed |
Jul 1 |
Ice vending machines introduced in LA 25 lbs, 15 cents |
Jul 1 |
Phillies Chuck Klein hits for cycle vs Chicago Cubs |
Jul 1 |
Trans African Railway in use (Benguela, Angola-Jadotville, Congo) |
Jul 3 |
51st Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Sid Wood Jr beats F X Shields (walkover) |
Jul 3 |
Max Schmeling TKOs Young Stribling in 15 for heavyweight boxing title |
Jul 3 |
44th Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Cilly Aussem beats H Sperling (6-2 7-5) |
Jul 4 |
1st fireworks are held at Cleveland Stadium |
Jul 4 |
1st trailside museum opens in Cleveland Metroparks |
Jul 6 |
35th US Golf Open: Billy Burke shoots a 292 at Inverness Club Ohio |
Jul 11 |
NY Giants beat Phillies 23-8 |
Jul 12 |
45,715 fans in 35,000 seat Sportsman Park St Louis, help cause many ground ruled doubles, 11 in 1st game & 21 in 2nd game for 32 |
Jul 18 |
1st air-conditioned ship (Mariposa) launched |
Jul 21 |
Reno race track, becomes 1st in US to use daily double wagering |
Jul 23 |
Ashmore & Cartier Is in Indian Ocean transferred to Australia |
Jul 23 |
France announces it can't afford to send a team to 1932 LA olympics |
Jul 24 |
George Gunn gets 183 & son of a gunn George Vernon 100* same innings |
Jul 24 |
Paavo Nurmi runs world record 2 mile (8:59.6) |
Jul 24 |
A fire at a home for the elderly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania kills 48 people. |
Jul 26 |
26th Davis Cup: France beats Great Britain in Paris (3-2) |
Jul 27 |
Chilean president Carlos Ibáñez forced out |
Jul 27 |
Grasshoppers in Iowa, Nebr & SD destroyed thousands of acres of crops |
Jul 28 |
White Sox score 11 in 8th to beat Yankees 14-12 |
Jul 28 |
Mob hitman Mad Dog Coll allegedly participates in a kidnapping attempt that results in the shooting death of a child, which earns him the nickname "Mad Dog" |
Aug 2 |
Spanish Catalonia agrees (99+%) for autonomous status |
Aug 5 |
Det Tiger Tommy Bridges perfect game is broken up with 2 outs in 9th |
Aug 8 |
Wash Senator Bob Burke no-hits Boston Red Sox, 5-0 |
Aug 12 |
Yangtzee River floods after heavy rain crumbles dikes in China |
Aug 13 |
Cin Red Tony Cuccinello goes 6 for 6 |
Aug 15 |
Ernest Lassy completes longest canoe journey without port (6,102 mi) |
Aug 15 |
Roy Wilkins joined NAACP as asst secretary |
Aug 15 |
Spakenburg soccer team forms |
Aug 18 |
Lou Gehrig hitless in Detroit, his 1,000th consecutively played game |
Aug 19 |
Lefty Grove wins AL record tying 16th consecutive game |
Aug 20 |
45th US Women's Tennis: Helen Moody beats Eileen Whitingstall (6-4 6-1) |
Aug 21 |
Babe Ruth hits his 600th HR, off George Blaeholder of Browns |
Aug 23 |
45th US Women's Tennis: Helen Moody beats Eileen B Whitingstall (6-4 6-1) |
Aug 23 |
Count Gyula Károlyi becomes premier of Hungary |
Aug 23 |
Phila A's Lefty Grove, loses 1-0 (Browns) after winning 16 straight |
Aug 24 |
France & USSR sign neutrality/no attack treaty |
Sep 1 |
Gehrig hits his 3rd grand slam in 4 days & his 6th HR in consec games |
Sep 10 |
Lord Cecil of British government says War was never so improbable |
Sep 11 |
Salvatore Maranzano is murdered by Charles Luciano's hitmen. |
Sep 12 |
51st US Mens Tennis: H E Vines beats George M Lott Jr (7-9 6-3 9-7 7-5) |
Sep 13 |
Capt G H Stainworth flies world speed record (655 kph) |
Sep 13 |
Right-radical coup of Dr Pfrimer fails in Austria |
Sep 15 |
British naval fleet mutinies at Invergordon over pay cuts |
Sep 15 |
Phila A's clinch pennant, beating Cleveland |
Sep 16 |
Blimp is moored to Empire State Building (NYC) |
Sep 16 |
St Louis Cards repeat as NL champions with a 6-3 win over Phillies |
Sep 17 |
1st LP record demonstrated (RCA Victor, NYC), venture failed |
Sep 17 |
Operetta "Victoria & Her Husband," premieres in London |
Sep 17 |
Red Sox Earl Webb sets record with 65 en route to 67 doubles |
Sep 18 |
Japan takes Manchuria, renames it Manchukuo |
Sep 18 |
To create a pretext for the invasion of Manchuria, China, a railway explosion is faked by the Japanese. |
Sep 19 |
14th PGA Championship: Tom Creavy at Wannamoisett CC Rumford RI |
Sep 19 |
Japanese troops conquer Mukden, South Manchuria |
Sep 19 |
Lefty Grove wins his 30th game of season over White Sox, 2-1 |
Sep 20 |
Lou Gehrig's 4 RBIs break his old RBI mark of 175 en route to 184 |
Sep 21 |
Britain abandons gold standard; pound devalues 20% |
Sep 22 |
In New Zealand, the Coalition Government forms to combat the Depression (their lack of success led to the election of the First Labour Government in 1935) |
Sep 24 |
Round-robin playoff among NYC's 3 major league teams, to raise money for unemployed, concludes with Brooklyn losing to both Giants & Yanks |
Sep 27 |
Lou Gehrig completes his 6th straight season, playing in every game (.3486) Jim Bottomley (.3481) |
Sep 27 |
Closest NL batting race ends Chick Hafey (.3488) beats Bill Terry's |
Sep 28 |
Peking (200,000 demonstrators demand declaration of war on Japan) |
Sep 30 |
Start of "Die Voortrekkers" youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa. |
Oct 1 |
Spanish Cortes accept general female suffrage |
Oct 1 |
World Series is a rematch as A's seek 3rd straight title vs Cards |
Oct 1 |
The second (and current) Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is opened in New York. |
Oct 2 |
Pope Pius XI encyclical On economic crisis |
Oct 4 |
Dick Tracy comic strip by Chester Gould debuts |
Oct 4 |
Juan Esteban Montero becomes president of Chile |
Oct 5 |
1st nonstop transpacific flight, Japan to Wash (Herndon & Pangborn) |
Oct 5 |
Paul Green's "House of Connelly," premieres in NYC |
Oct 6 |
Js Van Severen forms Verdinaso (Union of Flemish Natl Solidarists) |
Oct 7 |
1st infra-red photograph, Rochester, NY |
Oct 10 |
A J Bennett hits H Garbarino for 1st scoring pass in Canada's Big 4 |
Oct 10 |
St Louis Cards beat Phila A's, 4 games to 3 in 28th World Series |
Oct 10 |
William Waltons "Belshazzar's Feast" premieres in Leeds |
Oct 11 |
100,000 extreme-right Germans form "Harzburger Front" |
Oct 12 |
1st International Conference on Calendar Reform |
Oct 13 |
Musical "Everybody's Welcome" with T/J Dorsey premieres in NYC |
Oct 13 |
Noel Cowards "Cavalcade" premieres in London |
Oct 14 |
1st broadcast of Dutch Radio Peoples University |
Oct 14 |
Spanish Cortes agrees to separation of Church & State |
Oct 16 |
Trunk murderess Winnie Ruth Judd chops 1st |
Oct 17 |
Al Capone convicted of tax evasion, sentenced to 11 years in prison |
Oct 20 |
Frankie Frisch of the Cards named MVP |
Oct 24 |
George Washington Bridge linking New York City and New Jersey dedicated, opens the next day |
Oct 24 |
Gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion |
Oct 26 |
Eugene O'Neill's "Mourning Becomes Electra" premieres in NYC |
Oct 27 |
Chuhei Numbu of Japan, sets then long jump record at 26' 2½" |
Oct 29 |
Lefty Grove, A's pitcher who won 31 games, is named the AL's MVP |
Oct 30 |
W2XB TV channel 1 in NYC, NY (NBC) begins broadcasting |
Nov 1 |
Dupont introduces synthetic rubber |
Nov 2 |
Warren, Dixon & Young's musical "Laugh Parade" premieres in NYC |
Nov 3 |
First commercially produced synthetic rubber manufactured |
Nov 4 |
Jean Genet's "Judith" premieres in Paris |
Nov 7 |
Chinese People's Republic proclaimed by Mao Zedong |
Nov 10 |
4th Academy Awards - "Cimarron", Lionel Barrymore & Marie Dressler win |
Nov 11 |
Cornerstones laid for Opera House & Veteran's Building |
Nov 12 |
Maple Leaf Gardens opens in Toronto - Chic Blackhawks beat Leafs, 2-1 |
Nov 12 |
Sibelius/Ashton's ballet "Lady of Shalott" premieres in London |
Nov 13 |
Hattie Caraway (D-AK) appointed first US woman senator |
Nov 14 |
Ottawa Mint Act is proclaimed in Britain |
Nov 17 |
Bradman scores 135 NSW v South Africa, 128 mins, 15 fours |
Nov 20 |
Commercial teletype service begins (AT&T) |
Nov 22 |
Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite" premieres |
Nov 23 |
Nationally Crisis Committee forms in Hague |
Nov 27 |
1st Test Cricket match at the Gabba Bradman scores 200 on 1st day |
Nov 28 |
Bradman scores 226, the 1st Test Cricket century at Gabba, v South Africa |
Nov 30 |
His Master's Voice & Columbia Records merge into EMI |
Dec 1 |
Ottawa branch of Royal Mint begins operation as Royal Canadian Mint |
Dec 3 |
Alka Seltzer goes on sale |
Dec 4 |
"Frankenstein" opens at Mayfair |
Dec 5 |
CFL Grey Cup: Mtl AAA beats Regina, 22-0 at Montreal |
Dec 7 |
Bradman scores 219 NSW v South Africa, 234 mins, 15 fours |
Dec 8 |
Coaxial cable patented |
Dec 9 |
Benn W Levy's "Springtime for Henry" premieres in NYC |
Dec 9 |
Japanese army attacks Chinese province of Jehol |
Dec 9 |
Spain becomes a republic |
Dec 9 |
Baseball cuts squad from 25 to 23 players & NL continues to prohibit uniform numbers |
Dec 10 |
Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize |
Dec 10 |
Manuel Azaña becomes premier/Niceto Zamora president of Spain |
Dec 11 |
Japan leaves the Gold Standard |
Dec 11 |
Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Ireland, Newfndlnd |
Dec 12 |
Japanese government of Imukai forms |
Dec 14 |
1st assembly of Anton Musserts NSB in Utrecht |
Dec 16 |
German SPD begins Iron Front against fascism |
Dec 19 |
Bradman scores 112 Australia v South Africa at cricket SCG |
Dec 19 |
Joseph A Lyons (C) becomes premier of Australia |
Dec 25 |
Albert Lonergan scores 137 SA v Qld at Adelaide before 5,697 |
Dec 25 |
Fleetwood-Smith takes 5-69 Victoria v Tas at Hobart |
Dec 25 |
NY's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio |
Dec 26 |
George/Ira Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing," premieres in NYC |
Dec 26 |
Pulitzer Prize-winning musical play "Of Thee I Sing" opens on Bdwy |
Dec 28 |
Lin-Sen succeeds Chiang Kai-shek as president of Nanjing-China |
Dec 29 |
Identification of heavy water publicly announced, HC Urey |
Dec 29 |
Victoria score 7 for 435 in second innings to beat NSW |
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