The New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra has performed every year since 1905. During that time, the world has experienced sweeping changes, none of which have been strong enough to stop the music. We thought you might enjoy a review of some of the world events which have accompanied the seasons of the NHPO.

1905 The Russian Revolution begins; Albert Einstein proposes his Theory of Relativity; Isadora Duncan establishes the first school of modern dance; and the cost of a first class stamp is 2¢.

1906 Over 500 people die in the San Francisco earthquake; and Finland is the first European country to give women the right to vote.

1907 46 nations meet at the second Hague Peace Conference; a fall in the US stock market caused financial panic; and the Ziegfeld Follies were introduced.

1908 The Middle East started producing petroleum; Henry Fold developed the first Model T and sold it for $850; and a horse named Stone Street won the Kentucky Derby.

1909 Robert Peary reached the North Pole; and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was established.

1910 The Boy Scouts of America was founded; Thomas Edison introduced the kinetophone — making talking movies a reality, and Halley’s comet was photographed for the first time.

1911 Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry; the structure of an atom was discovered; and the Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup.

1912 The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage; New Mexico and Arizona were admitted as the 47th and 48th states; and the Girl Scouts of America was founded.

1913 The Sixteenth Amendment, authorizing income taxes, was adopted; the first crossword puzzle appeared in the New York World; and Henry Ford developed the moving assembly line.

1914 World War 1 began; the world first red and green traffic lights were installed in Cleveland, Ohio; the Panama Canal was officially opened; and the first-class postage stamp was still 2¢.

1915 Germany sank Britain’s Lusitania; Ford made its one-millionth automobile; the Boston Red Sox won the World Series; but due to the war, Wimbledon was not held.

1916 Charlie Chaplin signed a contract for $10,000 a week; The U.S. National Park Service was created; and Montana elected the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress.

1917 The U.S. declared war on Germany, Uncle Sam’s “I Want You” poster was introduced to recruit troops for WWI duty; and the first op-ed page appeared in the New York Times.

1918 Daylight Savings Time was introduced; the allied troops intervened in Russia; and the price of a first-class stamp increased to 3¢.

1919 The Treaty at Versailles was signed (but rejected by the U.S. Senate); the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages, was adopted, and the price of a first-class postage stamp dropped back to 2¢.

1920 U.S. Women got the right to vote with the 19th Amendment; the first commercial radio broadcast was aired; and Speakeasies replaced saloons as the center of social activity.

1921 The U.S. Congress declared an end to WWI; the country’s first resident professional theater opened in Cleveland, Ohio; and Vitamins D and E were discovered.

1922 Mussolini formed the Fascist Government; the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.; and coal miners went on strike for nearly six months. The stamp? Still 2¢.

1923 An earthquake destroyed one-third of Tokyo; President Warren Harding died suddenly, making Calvin Coolidge the new president; and Rin Tin Tin became film’s first canine star.

1924 Walt Disney created his first cartoon: “Alice’s Wonderland”; Macy’s held it’s first Thanksgiving Day parade; and George Gershwin introduced Rhapsody in Blue.

1925 Adolph Hitler published Volume I of Mein Kampf; John Scopes was arrested for teaching the theory of evolution; and Al Capone took over the Chicago bootlegging racket.

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