The Year 1909 in Review: 100+ Fun Facts and Historic Highlights

This quick read is a mix of fun facts, trivia, and historic events from the year 1909. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, sports facts, grocery prices, noteworthy inventions, Nobel Prize winners, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. Until March 4, Theodore Roosevelt (R-New York) was the 26th president of the United States, and Charles W. Fairbanks (R-Indiana) was the nation’s 26th vice president. On that day, William Howard Taft (R-Ohio) was inaugurated as the 27th U.S. president, and James S. Sherman (R-New York) became the nation’s 27th vice president.
2. United States population: 90,490,000
3. Federal spending: $0.69 billion
4. Consumer Price Index (CPI): $9.10
5. U.S. agricultural exports: About $917 million
6. U.S. unemployment rate: 5.1%
7. Inflation rate: -1.09%
8. Average inflation rate between 1909 and 2026 for apparel: 1.97%
9. Average inflation rate between 1909 and 2026 for food and beverages: 3.94%
10. Average annual inflation rate between 1909 and 2026 for housing: 4.22%
11. Average annual inflation rate between 1909 and 2026 for medical care: 4.56%
12. Average annual inflation rate between 1909 and 2026 for transportation: 3.28%
13. $100.00 in 1909 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,591.04 today. In other words, the U.S. dollar has lost about 97% of its value since 1909.
14. At the grocery store, apples cost 15 cents for a six-quart basket, cocoa was 17 cents for a two-pound tin, and lemons were 10 cents a dozen. Roasting chickens were 22 cents a pound, flour cost $1.75 for a 49-pound sack, and eggs were 26 cents a dozen. Finally, butter was 39 cents a pound, ice cream was 35 cents a quart, and white or sweet potatoes were 10 cents for a six-quart basket.
15. Cost of a first-class stamp: Two cents
16. Nobel Peace Prize: Auguste M. F. Beernaert (Belgium) and Baron Paul H. B. B. d'Estournelles de Constant de Rebecque (France)
17. Nobel Prize in Literature: Selma Lagerlöf (Sweden)
18. Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Wilhelm Ostwald (Germany)
19. Nobel Prize in Physics: Guglielmo Marconi (Italy) and Ferdinand Braun (Germany)
20. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Theodor Kocher (Switzerland)
21. On February 12, on the 100th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth, W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey, Ida B. Wells, Lillian Wald, and Henry Moskowitz formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Today, the NAACP is one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the United States.
22. On April 6, American explorer Robert Peary, his assistant, Matthew Henson, and four Inuits believed that they had finally reached the North Pole. However, decades after Peary’s death, “navigational errors in his travel log surfaced, placing the expedition in all probability a few miles short of its goal.”
23. On April 12, Philadelphia’s Shibe Park—later renamed Connie Mack Stadium—opened in South Philadelphia. Shibe Park, the home of the Philadelphia Athletics, was baseball’s first steel and concrete stadium.
24. On June 30, the Pittsburgh Pirates hosted their first game at Forbes Field, which was named after British general John Forbes, who fought in the French and Indian War. The Pirates lost, 3-2, to the Chicago Cubs in front of 30,338 fans in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood.
25. Passed by Congress on July 2, 1909, and ratified on February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment “established Congress's right to impose a Federal income tax.”
26. On July 29, the newly formed General Motors Corporation (GM) purchased America’s leading luxury automaker, the Cadillac Automobile Company, for $4.5 million.
27. In August, Congress passed the controversial Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act in response to a request from Republican President William Howard Taft for lower tariffs. In the end, Taft’s “acceptance of a bill that failed to significantly decrease rates caused him to lose the support of the progressive wing of his party.” Overall, the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act reduced tariff rates by about five percent but also increased rates on specific goods like iron ore and coal.
28. On August 2, the U.S. Mint issued the first Lincoln penny, featuring a portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the front and wheat stalks on the reverse.
29. On August 12, the first automobile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway took place. Bob Burman, driving a Buick, won the inaugural race, beating racing driver Louis Chevrolet.
30. On August 18, Yukio Ozaki, the mayor of Tokyo, Japan, gifted 2,000 cherry trees to the United States as a “symbol” of friendship between the two countries.
31. On October 2, American playwright Eugene O’Neill married Kathleen Jenkins.
32. On November 11, the United States Navy established a naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
33. On December 19, the “new” Palace Hotel opened on Market Street in downtown San Francisco. It replaced the original Palace Hotel, which was destroyed during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.
34. In 1909, the 50-story Metropolitan Life Insurance Building, located at 11 Madison Avenue in New York City, was the tallest building in the world.
35. Frank Shailor, an engineer at General Electric, received a U.S. patent for the first commercially successful electric toaster.
36. Leo Hendrik Baekeland, a Belgian chemist, was issued a patent for Bakelite, “the first plastic that did not soften when heated.”
37. Fritz Hofman, a German chemist, received the world's first patent for synthetic rubber.
38. George Constant Louis Washington, a Belgian inventor and businessman, began to mass-produce Red E coffee, the world’s first widely used instant coffee.
39. Søren Sørensen, a Danish chemist, developed the pH scale while working at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen. (Just so you know, the pH scale measures the acidity or alkalinity of a solution.)
40. Paul Ehrlich, a German bacteriologist, developed a cure for syphilis).
41. General Electric first used the name “Mazda” on their lamps. GE chose the name Mazda because it is derived from Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian god of light.
42. In 1909, popular baby names included John, William, James, George, Robert, Mary, Helen, Margaret, Ruth, and Dorothy.
43. Famous people born in 1909 included Ann Sothern (movie actress), Benny Goodman (clarinet player), Leo Fender (entrepreneur), Mike Todd (film producer), and Vivian Vance (TV actress).
44. According to the Social Security Administration, the “cohort life expectancy” of American men at age 30 in 1909 was 40.76 years. For women, it was 47.77 years. The SSA also reports that the “cohort life expectancy” of American men at age 30 in 2009 was 52.31 years. For women, it was 55.81 years. Two reasons for the increase in life expectancy between 1909 and 2009 include “improved healthcare and advances in medicine” and “improved hygiene and living conditions.”
45. Famous people who passed away in 1909 were E. H. Harriman (entrepreneur), Geronimo (war hero), John Clarkson (baseball player), Sarah Orne Jewett (novelist), and Whitcomb L. Judson (inventor).
46. Popular music artists and groups: Ada Jones, Arthur Collins, Billy Murray, Byron Harlan, Cal Stewart, Elizabeth Wheeler, Frank C. Stanley, Henry Burr, and Will Oakland
47. America’s favorite songs were I Wish I Had a Girl (Billy Murray), Down Among the Sugar Cane (Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan), and Beautiful Eyes (Ada Jones).
48. Popular movies included A Corner in Wheat, Custody of the Child, Edgar Allen Poe, Spring, The Country Doctor, The Curtain Pole, The Devilish Tenant, The Fairy of the Surf, The Lonely Villa, and The Sealed Room.
49. In 1909, the New York Times published the first movie review—a “report on D. W. Griffith’s Pippa Passes.”
50. Noteworthy books published in 1909: Gertrude Stein’s Three Lives, Jack London’s Martin Eden, and L. Frank Baum’s The Road to Oz
51. Here are some sports facts from 1909: The Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup, Wintergreen was the winning horse in the Kentucky Derby, and the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series.
52. In 1909, popular slang expressions included "bunk" (nonsense), "double-cross" (to betray), "dragnet" (a widespread search), "gouser" (a complainer), "humdinger" (something outstanding), "in the bag" (something assured), "loaded" (rich or wealthy), "nut" (a crazy person), "read the riot act" (to scold), and "snarky" (irritable).
53. In 1909 as well, the words "air raid," "attaboy," "boondocks," "bouillon cube," "cinema," "cold war," "color wheel," "empathy," "form letter," "funnel cloud," "holy day of obligation," "joy ride," "lie detector," "mentalist," "microwatt," "orthodontics," "paddy wagon," "socialite," "sound effects," and "Tom Collins" all appeared in print for the first time.
54. Baby crib: $2.98 to $4.75
55. Coal for home heating: $5.25 to $6.75 a ton
56. Daily newspaper: One cent
57. Dinnerware (100-piece set of fine Austrian china): $14.00
58. Mason jars (quart size): 48 cents a dozen
59. Memorial Day clambake: $1.00 per ticket
60. Oriental rug: $1.00 per square foot
61. Piano (Ruckstuhl brand): $225.00 to $275.00
62. Round trip train fare from New York City to Chicago: $27.00
63. Shoe shine: Five cents a person
64. Six-room house for rent in Morristown, New Jersey: $28.00 per month
65. Teapot (enamel, three-quart size): 29 cents

References:

1. https://millercenter.org/president
2. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/04/this-day-in-politics-march-4-1909-1198775
3. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/other-people/vice-presidents
4. https://www.infoplease.com/year/1900
5. https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1909
6. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1906.html
7. https://www.mclib.info/Research/Local-History-Genealogy/Historic-Prices/Historic-Prices-1900s/Historic-Prices-1909
8. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1909
9. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1909
10. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/16th-amendment
11. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Payne-Aldrich-Tariff-Act
12. https://www.onthisday.com/weddings/date/1909
13. https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-new-york-city-skyscrapers#:~:text=The%20Singer%20Tower%20is%20built,the%20world%20from%201908-1909.&text=The%20Singer%20Tower%20is%20surpassed,in%20the%20world%20until%201914.
14. https://www.johndesmond.com/blog/products/the-history-of-toasters/
15. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/baekeland_hi.html
16. https://www.coruba.co.uk/blog/wwi-the-development-of-synthetic-rubber/
17. https://www.thatscoffee.com/blog/tt-george-washington-was-an-inventor/?srsltid=AfmBOoon1CLET_7ZGB49SbLywP0RaBdv8RjWYqsnmy5EQiYk7H6-hriU
18. https://www.reagent.co.uk/blog/who-invented-the-ph-scale-in-chemistry/
19. https://oldchristmastreelights.com/2006_site/the_mazda_lamp_story.html
20. https://www.babycenter.com/baby-names/most-popular/top-baby-names-1909
21. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1909.html
22. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/as120/LifeTables_Tbl_11.html
23. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2022/09/15/4-reasons-life-expectancy-has-increased-in-the-past-200-years/
24. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1909.html
25. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/62SDPvnWgKAEiJng6TIs
26. https://www.flickchart.com/charts.aspx?year=1909
27. https://www.goodreads.com/book/popular_by_date/1909
28. https://www.alphadictionary.com/slang/?beginEra=1900&endEra=1915&clean=false&submitsend=Search
29. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1909

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor