by Kira and Danny

1900   1901   1902   1903   1904   1905   1906   1907   1908   1909

1902 is a pretty exciting year. There were many new inventions in this year including automobiles, crayons, and stuffed bears. New laws were passed and immigration increased from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. The new arrivals set new records for United States immigration. There was a shortage of coal all over the United States because of a coal strike and many other interesting events occurred.

• The first Rose Bowl football game is played January 1, 1902 in Pasadena California. It is part of the Tournament of Roses that began in 1890. Michigan won the game over Stanford 49-0.
• Cecil Rhodes died on March 26, 1902 at the age of 49. He left a bequest to give out 3-year Rhodes Scholarships to Oxford University.
• The J.C. Penney Company is started with the Golden Rule store in Kemmerer, Wyoming on April 14^th. James Cash Penney is the founder. The first day, J.C. Penney sold $466.59 worth of merchandise.
• Leader of the United Mine Workers John Mitchell led his 147,000 coal workers out of the mines on May 12 to begin a 5-month strike.
• On May 22, Crater Lake became a National Park. It is established on 160,290 acres of Oregon wilderness.
• Congress revises the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The exclusion is now permanent and doesn’t allow Asians to emigrate from the U.S. territories like Hawaii and the Philippines.
• The first electric Studebaker motorcar is introduced in South Bend, Indiana.
• Robert C. Reanor completes Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park.
• Cyrus McCormick, Jr. founds International Harvester. The company controls 85% of all U.S. reaper production.
• New York’s Algonquin Hotel opens at 59 West 44th Street. Actors, painters, musicians and many others will stay at the hotel.
• The Hart-Parr Company builds the first gasoline tractors.
• The Binney and Smith firm introduces Crayola crayons.
• A Russian-American candy store operator introduces the Teddy Bear.
• The National Biscuit Company introduces Barnum's Animal Crackers.
• Caleb Bradham, a North Carolina pharmacist, applies to the patent office for a trademark for the Pepsi-Cola name. Pepsi is a drink he created to serve in his drug store.
• History of the Standard Oil Company by Ida Minerva Tarbell, at age 44, appears in McClure’s magazine installments. It changed public opinion about Rockefeller.
• Juvenile Just So Stories For Little Children by Rudyard Kipling and The Tale of Peter Rabbit by English artist-writer-naturalist Beatrix Potter were written in this year.

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last updated 12/04/05