1907 Archives | HISTORY

Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American to be elected to the United States Senate on January 23, 1907. His tenure later as Herbert Hoover's vice president made him the highest-ranking Native American ever to serve in the federal government.

On May 12, 1907, Katharine Hepburn, who due to her performances in such films as The Philadelphia Story and On Golden Pond, will become one of the most celebrated actresses of the 20th century, is born in Hartford, Connecticut.

John Wayne, an actor who came to epitomize the American West, is born in Winterset, Iowa.

On September 8, 1907, avant-garde writer and cultural icon Gertrude Stein meets the love of her life, Alice B. Toklas, an American expatriate on her first day in Paris. At a time when women could not marry, the two would go on to become lifetime housemates (for nearly four decades), with Stein often referring to Toklas as "wifey" and "baby precious."

Gene Autry, perhaps the greatest singing cowboy of all time, is born on September 29, 1907, in Tioga, Texas.

Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory collectively enter the United States as Oklahoma, the 46th state.

In West Virginia’s Marion County, an explosion in a network of mines owned by the Fairmont Coal Company in Monongah kills 361 coal miners. It was the worst mining disaster in American history.