| January 1 | 1st Rose Bowl game in Pasadena, California, University of Michigan - 49, Sanford - 0 |
| January 1 | Nathan Stubblefield makes 1st public demonstration of radio, Penn |
| January 3 | Reg Duff 104 on Test debut, vs. England at MCG |
| January 4 | Hugh Trumble takes a hat-trick vs. England at the MCG |
| January 8 | 1st National Bowling Championship held (Chicago, Ill) |
| January 10 | Alphons Diepenbrock's "Te Deum" premieres (Amsterdam) |
| January 13 | Textile workers strike in Enschede Netherlands till June 1 |
| January 23 | Winnipeg Victorias sweep Toronto Wellingtons in 2 for Stanley Cup |
| January 24 | Denmark sells Virgin Islands to USA |
| January 25 | Aleksandr Skriabin's 2nd Symphony in C premieres in St. Petersburg |
| January 27 | 5 workers killed on explosion during IRT subway construction (New York City) |
| January 28 | Carnegie Institute founded in Washington D.C. |
| February 1 | China's empress Tzu-hsi forbids binding woman's feet |
| February 1 | Hermann Sudermanns "Es lebe das Leben," premieres in Berlin |
| February 6 | Young Women's Hebrew Association organizes in New York City |
| February 11 | Police beats up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels |
| February 15 | Underground railway (U-Bahn) |
| February 18 | Opera "Hunchback of Notre Dame," premieres in Monte Carlo |
| February 20 | Heavy surf breaks over Seal Rocks and damages Sutro Baths, San Francisco |
| February 21 | Dr. Harvey Cushing, 1st U.S. brain surgeon, does his 1st brain operation |
| February 24 | Battle at Yzer Spruit: Boer general De la Rey beats British |
| February 28 | Jules Massenets opera premieres in Monte Carlo |
| March 2 | Jimmy Collins, leaves Boston Beaneaters (NL) club to manage AL's new Boston Somersets |
| March 4 | American Automobile Association, AAA, founded in Cleveland, Ohio |
| March 6 | Census Bureau forms |
| March 7 | Boers beat British troop in Tweebosch Transvaal |
| March 8 | 1st performance of Jean Sibelius' 2nd Symphony |
| March 9 | Composer Gustav Mahler marries Alma Schindler in Vienna |
| March 10 | Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri |
| March 17 | Stanley Cup: Montreal AAA beat Winnipeg Victorias, 2 games to 1 |
| March 18 | Enrico Caruso becomes 1st well-known performer to make a record |
| March 18 | Schonberg's "Verklarte Nacht," premieres in Vienna |
| March 25 | Irving W. Colburn patents sheet glass drawing machine |
| March 28 | 27.9 cm precipitation at McMinnville, Tennessee (state record) |
| April 2 | 1st motion picture theater opens in Los Angeles |
| April 2 | Soccer team MVV '02 forms in Maastricht |
| April 4 | Cecil Rhodes scholarship fund forms with $10 million |
| April 5 | Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante defunte," premieres in Paris |
| April 5 | Soccer match riot between Scotland and England kills 25 |
| April 7 | Texas Oil Company, Texaco, forms |
| April 11 | Battle at Rooiwal, South Africa |
| April 13 | J C Penney opens his 1st store in Kemmerer, Wyoming |
| April 14 | Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the radioactive element radium |
| April 15 | Pope Leo XIII encyclical "On Church in US" |
| April 18 | Denmark is 1st country to adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals |
| April 19 | 6th Boston Marathon won by Sam Mellor of New York in 2:43:12 |
| April 20 | Marie and Pierre Curie isolate radioactive element radium |
| April 25 | Erwin Harvey becomes 1st Cleveland ballplayer (Cleveland Bronchos) to have six hits in one game |
| April 30 | Debussy's opera "Pelleas et Melissande," premieres in Paris |
| May 2 | 1st science fiction film released, A Trip To The Moon |
| May 3 | 28th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on Alan-a-Dale wins in 2:08.75 |
| May 6 | British SS Camorta sinks off Rangoon; 739 die |
| May 6 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" |
| May 6 | Zulu assault at Holkrantz South Africa |
| May 7 | Soufriere volcano on St. Vincent kills 2-5,000 |
| May 8 | Mount Pelee erupts, wipes out St. Pierre, Martinique, kills 30,000 |
| May 15 | Lyman Gilmore is 1st person to fly a powered craft |
| May 15 | Portugal bankrupt by revolt in Angola |
| May 16 | 2 deaf-mutes face each other for 1st time as Dummy Hoy leads off for the Reds against Dummy Taylor of the Giants, Reds win 5-3 |
| May 19 | Great Britain and Boers resume peace talks in Pretoria |
| May 20 | Cuba gains independence from Spain |
| May 20 | U.S. military occupation of Cuba (since Jan 1, 1899) ends |
| May 22 | 36th Belmont: John Bullman aboard Mastermam wins in 2:22.6 |
| May 24 | Cleveland's Bill Bradley is 1st ALer to hit a HR run in 4 consecutive games, not duplicated until Babe Ruth does it June 25, 1918 |
| May 24 | Empire Day 1st celebrated in Britain |
| May 27 | 27th Preakness: L Jackson aboard Old England wins in 1:45.8 |
| May 29 | Dutch State Mine law forms |
| May 31 | Australia Cricket all out 36 vs. England, Edgbaston, their lowest ever |
| May 31 | Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal |
| June 1 | Blue-White United soccer team of Amsterdam forms |
| June 2 | 2nd statewide initiative and referendum law adopted, in Oregon |
| June 9 | 1st Automat restaurant opens, 818 Chestnut St, Philadelphia |
| June 10 | Patent for window envelope granted to H F Callahan |
| June 13 | Prussian Upper house gives 350 million marks to Poland |
| June 15 | Canada's Maritime Provinces switch from Eastern to Atlantic time |
| June 15 | Minor League's most lopsided baseball game: Corsicana 51; Texarkana 3 Justin Clark of Corsicana, Texas minors hits 8 home runs in 1 game |
| June 23 | Gioacchino Rossini's unveils monument to Santa-Croce |
| June 26 | Order of Merit instituted by King Edward VII |
| June 26 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of 3 Garidebs" |
| June 28 | Congress authorizes Louisiana Purchase Expo $1 gold coin |
| June 28 | U.S. buys concession to build Panama canal from French for $40 million |
| June 30 | Cleveland is 1st AL team to hit 3 consecutive home runs in same inning |
| July 1 | Ranji (230) and Newham (153) add 344 for 7th wkt, Sussex vs. Essex |
| July 1 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" |
| July 2 | John J McGraw becomes manager of New York Giants (stays for 30 years) |
| July 3 | Excelsior soccer team forms in Rotterdam |
| July 5 | Australia won the one and only Test Cricket played at Sheffield |
| July 8 | John McGraw, accused by Ban Johnson of trying to wreck Baltimore and Washington clubs, negotiates his release from the Orioles |
| July 11 | British premier Lord Salisbury resigns |
| July 12 | Australian parliament agrees to female suffrage |
| July 15 | Ranjitsinhji scores 180 before lunch, for Sussex vs. Surrey |
| July 16 | John McGraw named manager of New York Giants |
| July 16 | Test Cricket debut of K S Ranjitsinhji vs. Australia, at Old Trafford |
| July 17 | Orioles forfeit to St. Louis having only 5 players available to play they then forfeit their franchise back to the AL |
| July 19 | New York Giants lose their 1st game under new manager John McGraw |
| July 24 | Trumper a century before lunch 4th Test Cricket vs. England |
| July 25 | James J. Jeffries KOs Bob Fitzsimmons in 8 for heavyweight boxing title |
| July 26 | Australia beat England by 3 runs at Old Trafford |
| July 29 | Union of Orthodox Rabbis of U.S. and Canada forms |
| July 30 | Anti-Jewish rioters attack funeral procession of Rabbi Joseph (New York City) |
| August 1 | Building begins on Dutch public housing |
| August 1 | Mine accident in Wollongong, Australia, 100 die |
| August 8 | 2nd Davis Cup: USA beats British Isles in New York (3-2) |
| August 9 | Edward VII of England crowned after death of his mother Victoria |
| August 13 | England beat Australia by one wicket at The Oval Famous victory |
| August 22 | President Teddy Roosevelt became 1st U.S. chief executive to ride in a car |
| August 31 | Split skirt 1st worn by Mrs. Adolph Landeburg (horse rider) |
| September 1 | Tinker, Evers, and Chance appear together for 1st time |
| September 3 | Pittsburgh Pirates, win earliest pennent (full season) |
| September 3 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Illustrious Client" |
| September 10 | Utrecht soccer team UVV forms |
| September 17 | U.S. protests anti-semitism in Romania |
| September 20 | Chicago White Sox Jim Callahan no-hits Detroit Tigers, 3-0 |
| September 24 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Red Circle" |
| September 29 | Impresario David Belasco opens his 1st Broadway theater |
| October 10 | S Afr's president Paul Kruger visits Utrecht |
| October 11 | 8th U.S. Golf Open: Laurie Auchterlonie shoots a 307 at Garden City NY |
| October 11 | Commencement of 1st Test Cricket between South Africa and Australia |
| October 11 | Lawrence Auchterlonie wins U.S. Open golf tournament |
| October 13 | Arna W. Bontemps noted poet and librarian of Fisk University |
| October 25 | Maksin Gorki's "Na dne," premieres in Moscow |
| October 25 | Santa Maria Guatemala hit by Earthquake; about 6,000 die |
| November 15 | Leopold II, King of Belgium almost assassinated by Italian anarchist |
| November 18 | Brooklyn toymaker Morris Michton names teddy bear after Teddy Roosevelt |
| November 20 | Geo Lefevre and Henri Desgrange create Tour de France bicycle race |
| November 21 | 1st night football game, Philadelphia Athletics beats Kanaweola AC, 39-0 |
| November 21 | Baseball's Philadelphia Athletics and Phillies form pro football teams, joining Pitts Stars in 1st attempt at a National Football League |
| November 25 | Franz Lehars opera "Wiener Fraueen," premieres in Vienna |
| November 29 | Gerhart Hauptmanns "Der arne Heinrich," premieres in Vienna |
| December 2 | Soccer team Go Ahead forms in Deventer |
| December 8 | Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. became Associate Justice on Supreme Court |
| December 9 | AL announces purchase of grounds for a stadium in NY |
| December 17 | Frank Wedekind's "Der Erdgeist," premieres in Berlin |
| December 25 | Clyde Fitch' "Girl with Green Eyes," premieres in New York City |
| December 26 | Most knock downs in a fight, Oscar Nelson (5) and Christy Williams (42) |
| December 28 | 1st indoor pro football game, Syracuse beats Philadelphia 6-0 (MSG, New York City) |
| December 28 | Trans-Pacific cable links Hawaii to US |
| December 31 | Boers and British army sign peace treaty |
