Broadway & Union Square 1901

August 19, 1901. American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. Camera: G.W. "Billy" Bitzer Electric trolley's pick up and drop off passengers on Broadway near Union Square. The area was originally part of Elias Brevoort's farm in the early eighteenth century. It eventually contained the intersection of the Bowery and Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) and in 1811 was known as Union Place. Between 1860 and 1910 retail stores such as Tiffany's and Brentano's moved to the area, which became the midpoint in the fashionable shopping district later known as the Ladies' Mile. The United States in 1901: On September 6, U.S. President William McKinley spent the morning visiting Niagara Falls with his wife before returning to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in the afternoon to spend a few minutes greeting the public. By about 3:30 p.m., President McKinley stood inside the Temple of Music building at the Exposition, ready to begin shaking the hands of the public as they streamed into the building. President McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was a popular president who had just started his second term in office and the people seemed clearly glad to get a chance to meet him. However, at 4:07 p.m. Leon Czolgosz had made it into the building and it was his turn to greet the President. In Czolgosz's right hand, he held a .32 caliber Iver-Johnson revolver, which he had covered by wrapping a handkerchief around the gun and his hand. When Czolgosz reached the President, President McKinley reached out to shake his left hand (thinking Czolgosz's right hand was injured) while Czolgosz brought up his right hand to President McKinley's chest and then fired two shots. Czolgosz was brought to trial on September 23, 1901. He was quickly found guilty and sentenced to death. On October 29, 1901, Leon Czolgosz was electrocuted. First Nobel Prizes Awarded: A pacifist at heart and an inventor by nature, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite. Not wanting to go down in history for creating such a deadly device, Nobel created a will that left the bulk of his fortune to the establishment of five prizes (physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace). On the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, December 10, 1901, the first set of Nobel Prizes were awarded. Chemistry: Jacobus H. van't Hoff Physics: Wilhelm C. Röntgen Physiology or Medicine: Emil A. von Behring Literature: Rene F. A. Sully Prudhomme Peace: Jean H. Dunant and Frédéric Passy The United States occupied Cuba for five years after the Spanish-American War in 1898. In 1901 Secretary of War Elihu Root drafted a set of articles (later known as the Platt Amendment) as guidelines for future United States-Cuban relations. Despite considerable Cuban resistance, they became a part of the 1902 Cuban Constitution. In following years the United States used the amendment several times to send troops to maintain or place friendly governments in power and to protect investments. The amendment was abrogated in 1934. On November 29th East 182nd Street in The Bronx is paved and opened.