1908 -        
   1919

The eleven years from 1908 to 1919 were certainly exciting. The early 1900s were a changing of the guard. Sometimes change can take quite a long time but during this period rapid advances were made in medicine, politics, sports and of course the automobile. Here are just a few of the events that took place during this time.

​

1908

-The Oakland Motor Car Company officially began production in 1908 with its first car, a Model A, rolling off the assembly line in April of that year. Five models were offered the first year with prices ranging from $1,300 for the Model A Runabout to $2,150 for the Model E four passenger Landaulet. First year production was approximately 275 cars.

1910

-Boy Scouts of America is incorporated. Following a visit to England in 1909 and a meeting with British General Robert Baden-Powell who founded the Scouting movement in England, Chicago publisher W. D. Boyce incorporates the Boy Scouts of America.

​

1911

-First Auto Electric Start. The First Electric Self Start was installed in a Cadillac By GM. Up until this time, all cars needed to be started by cranking a starting handle which was hard work and caused multiple minor injuries when the car backfired during the starting process.

​

-First Indianapolis 500. The first ever running of the Indianapolis 500 is won by Ray Harrounat at an average speed of 74.59 miles an hour.

​

1912

-Sinking of the Titanic. The Titanic sets sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York. The Titanic had been described as the worlds most luxurious floating hotel which is unsinkable, and was only 5 days out when she hit an iceberg and sank in the Atlantic with the loss of many lives.

​

1913

-The 16th Amendment. The 16th Amendment was ratified on February 3rd 1913, and said that Congress had been given the power to collect taxes on income without regard for a census or enumeration.

​

1914

-Ford announced his $5-per-day program. Henry Ford raises minimum daily pay from $2.34 to $5 for qualifying workers.

​

-Start Of World War I in Europe.

​

-The Panama Canal Opens. The Panama Canal which took 34 years to build, opens and connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

​

1915

-First Transcontinental Telephone Call. First U.S. coast-to-coast long-distance telephone call, facilitated by a newly-invented vacuum tube amplifier, was ceremoniously inaugurated by A.G. Bell in New York City and his former assistant Thomas Augustus Watson in San Francisco, California.

​

1917

-America enters World War I.  US President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany.

​

1918

-Influenza Epidemic. The first cases of one of the worst influenza epidemic in history were reported at Fort Riley, Kansas. It would eventually kill more than 1/2 million Americans and more than 20 million people worldwide. In the world's worst flu epidemic (Called the Spanish Flu because the first major outbreak causing multiple deaths was in Spain) in history an estimated 30 million people died worldwide.

​

1919

-First Pop Up Toaster. Charles Strite invents the Pop-Up Toaster which used heated electrical coils to toast bread. However, it took awhile for it to catch on. Back then all bread was cut by hand so it was different thicknesses and did not toast well in the toaster. But ten years later when bread slicing machines gained in popularity so would the Electric Pop Up Toaster.

​

-Volstead Act Passed Creating "Prohibition". The United States Congress overrides President Woodrow Wilson’s veto of the Volstead Act, officially beginning the era of prohibition.

​

-And the Oakland Motor Company in Pontiac Michigan produced some great cars.