John Wesley Romine III

Personal History

Significant Events of 1914

  • The beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip.
  • The first airline to provide scheduled regular commercial passenger services with heavier-than-air aircraft, with the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line. Also, first airplane flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco. First air flight out of sight of land (Scotland to Norway).
  • American engineer Robert Goddard is granted the first patent for liquid-fueled rocket design.
  • First transcontinental phone link made between New York City and San Francisco.
  • Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition sets sail on the Endurance from leaves Plymouth, England, in an attempt to cross Antarctica.
  • The Panama Canal is inaugurated with the passage of the SS Ancon.
  • The Signal Corps of the United States Army establishes an Aviation Section, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
  • In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
  • Belgian surgeon Albert Hustin makes the first successful non-direct blood transfusion, using anticoagulants. Also, Dr. Harry Plotz isolates the bacteria that causes Typhus Fever (Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City).
  • Colorado Coalfield War – Ludlow Massacre: The Colorado National Guard attacks a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners in Ludlow, Colorado, killing 24 people.
  • The Afrikaans language receives official recognition.
  • Baseball legend Babe Ruth makes his major league debut, with the Boston Red Sox.
  • In Massachusetts, the new Cape Cod Canal opens; it shortens the trip between New York and Boston by 66 miles, but also turns Cape Cod into an island.
  • The first electric traffic light is installed between Euclid Avenue and East 105 Street, in Cleveland, Ohio. Also, Greyhound Bus Company begins in Minnesota.
  • The last known passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in the Cincinnati Zoo from old age.
  • Stock brokerage firm of Merrill Lynch founded.