January 10, 1901. Spindletop, the biggest oil well to date in the world, erupts, spewing a tower of oil nearly 200 feet into the air. The well will go on to produce 75,000 barrels of oil a day.

January 22, 1901. Queen Victoria of England dies at the age of 82. She was Queen of England and the British Empire from 1837 to the time of her death, for approximately sixty-four years. Her son Edward VIII becomes King of England.

January-July, 1901. Filipinos rebel against the U.S. occupation and annexation of the Philippine Islands, but on July 4th, William Howard Taft is installed as Civil Governor of the islands. General Arthur MacArthur, Military Governor since May 1900, sets sail for Japan.

Abraham Kuyper, b. 1837. Dutch pastor and theologian, he also becomes prime minister of the Netherlands in 1901: “Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”

September 7, 1901. The Peking Treaty ends the Boxer Rebellion and gives huge commercial advantages to European and American interests.

September 14, 1901. William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States, dies eight days after being shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. His death was probably the direct result of a botched operation to remove the bullet(s) rather than being caused by the shooting itself. Vice-President Teddy Roosevelt becomes president.

December 10, 1901. The first Nobel prizes are awarded. Wilhelm Roentgen of Germany wins the Physics Prize for his discovery of X-rays.

December 12, 1901. Guglielmo Marconi sends the first ever telegraphic message across the Atlantic Ocean from the coast of England to Newfoundland, Canada.

Ping Pong fever swept Europe and the United States as families converted their tables into indoor tennis courts. The game, known as wiff-waff or Gossima at first, only caught on at about the same time that the name was changed by the manufacturer to Ping Pong. The first Ping Pong tournament was held in December, 1901.

PB&J: “The first located reference to the now immortal peanut butter and jelly sandwich was published by Julia Davis Chandler in 1901. This sandwich became a hit with America’s youth, who loved the double-sweet combination, and it has remained a favorite ever since…During the early 1900s peanut butter was considered a delicacy and as such it was served at upscale affairs and in New York’s finest tearooms.”