In the year 1873, Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar (Jan 1), the world’s first kennel club is founded in the United Kingdom (Apr 4), barbed wire is exhibited at an Illinois county fair, and is soon being mass-produced (May), Levi Strauss and Co. begin manufacturing the famous Levi’s brand of jeans (May 20), Jesse James and his gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West (Jul 21), Heineken Brewery is founded in Amsterdam (Dec 16), the Long Depression that started in October lasts for many years, the American Indian Wars go on - and all these fine people were born:

1873-0102 Thérèse of Lisieux* (b Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin) nun/a.k.a. la petite Thérèse - Alençon, Orne, French Third Republic (1897/24) 1873-0104 Blanche Walsh* actress - New York City, NY USA (1915/42) 1873-0107 Adolph Zukor* founder of Paramount Pictures - Ricse, Austria-Hungary (1976/103) 1873-0109 Thomas Curtis* athlete (hurdler/OG) - San Francisco, CA USA (1944/71) 1873-0112 Spyridon Louis* water carrier/athlete (marathon/OG) - Marousi, KIngdom of Greece (1940/67) 1873-0120 Johannes V. Jensen* author/N - Farsø, Jutland, Denmark (1950/77) 1873-0128 Colette* (b Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette) novelist/actress/journalist - Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, Yvonne, French Third Republic (1954/81) 1873-0131 Melitta Bentz* inventor of coffee filter - Dresden, Germany (1950/77) 1873-0201 1873-0202 Maurice Tourneur* film director/screenwriter - Paris, French Third Republic (1961/88) 1873-0207 Thomas Andrews* naval architect/RMS Titanic/went down with it - Comber, County Down, Ireland (1912/39) 1873-0210 1873-0213 Feodor Chaliapin* opera singer - Kazan, Russian Empire (1938/65) 1873-0213 Red Wing* (b Lilian Margaret St. Cyr) actress - Winnebago Reservation, NE USA (1974/101) alternative YOB 1884 1873-0215 Hans von Euler-Chelpin* German-Swedish biochemist/N - Augsburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire (1964/91) 1873-0222 Florence Kate Upton* cartoonist/ author - Flushing, NY USA (1922/49) 1873-0225 Enrico Caruso* opera singer - Naples, Italy (1921/48) 1873-0228 William McMaster Murdoch* First Officer of the RMS Titanic - Dalbeattie, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland (1912/39) 1873-0301 1873-0303 William Green* trade union leader/Welsh background - Coshocton, OH USA (1952/79) 1873-0305 Olav Bjaaland* ski champion/polar explorer - Morgedal, Telemark, Norway (1961/88) 1873-0311 David Horsley* British-American pioneer of the film industry/to U.S. at age 11 - Stanley, County Durham, England (1933/59) 1873-0315 1873-0319 Max Reger* composer/pianist/conductor - Brand, Bavaria, German Empire (1916/43) 1873-0320 1873-0329 Billy Quirk* actor - Jersey City, NJ USA (1926/53) 1873-0331 1873-0401 Sergei Rachmaninoff* composer - Novgorod Oblast, Russia (1943/70) 1873-0405 1873-0410 Kyösti Kallio* politician/4thP - Ylivieska, GD of Finland (1940/67) 1873-0415 Oskari Tokoi* (b Hirvi) socialist leader/editor of Raivaaja (The Pioneer)/to U.S. at age 48 - Kannus, GD of Finland (1963/89) 1873-0420 Gombojab Tsybikov* explorer of Tibet/educator/statesman - Urdo-Aga, Russian Empire (1930/57) 1873-0422 Ellen Glasgow* novelist - Richmond, VA USA (1945/72) 1873-0425 Félix d’Hérelle* French-Canadian microbiologist - Paris, French Third Republic (1949/75) 1873-0501 1873-0504 Joseph De Grasse* film director - Bathurst, NB Canada (1940/67) 1873-0505 Leon Czolgosz* anarchist/ assassin of William McKinley - Detroit, MI USA (1901/28) 1873-0509 Anton Cermak* politician/ mayor of Chicago - Kladno, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (1933/59) 1873-0510 1873-0517 Dorothy Richardson* journalist/ author - Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England (1957/84) 1873-0520 1873-0521 Hans Berger* psychiatrist/ the inventor of electroencephalography (EEG) - Neuses, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, German Empire (1941/68) 1873-0528 D. D. Sheehan* journalist/ lawyer/politician/MP - Kanturk, County Cork, Ireland (1948/75) 1873-0531 1873-0603 Otto Loewi* German-American pharmacologist/psychobiologist/N - Frankfurt, German Empire (1961/88) 1873-0610 1873-0615 Leonora Cohen* suffragette/trade unionist - Leeds, England (1978/105) 1873-0617 Edwards Davis* poet-preacher/ playwright/actor/ - Santa Clara, CA USA (1936/62) 1873-0624 Hugo Simberg* artist - Hamina, GD of Finland (1917/44) 1873-0628 Alexis Carrel* surgeon/biologist/N - Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, French Third Republic (1944/71) 1873-0629 Monroe Dunaway Anderson* cotton trader/banker/philanthropist- Jackson, TN USA (1939/66) 1873-0630 1873-0701 Alice Guy-Blaché* (b Guy) pioneering filmmaker/first woman to direct a film/to U.S. at age 34 - Saint-Mandé, French Third Republic (1968/94) 1873-0706 Dimitrios Maximos* banker/ politician/PM - Patras, Kingdom of Greece (1955/82) 1873-0710 1873-0712 Oscar von Sydow* politician/PM - Kalmar, Sweden (1936/63) 1873-0720 Alberto Santos-Dumont* aviation pioneer - Palmira, Empire of Brazil (1932/59) 1873-0722 James Cousins* writer/ playwright/actor - Belfast, Ireland (1956/82) 1873-0731 1873-0801 1873-0805 Joseph R. Knowland* newspaper publisher/politician - Alameda, CA USA (1966/92) 1873-0810 William Ernest Hocking* philosopher - Cleveland, OH USA (1966/92) 1873-0817 John A. Sampson* gynecologist - near Troy, NY USA (1946/73) 1873-0820 Eliel Saarinen* Finnish-American architect/to U.S. at age 50 - Rantasalmi, GD of Finland (1950/76) 1873-0826 Lee de Forest* inventor/pioneer in the development of sound-on-film recording used for motion pictures - Council Bluffs, IA USA (1961/87) 1873-0831 1873-0901 Felicija Bortkevičienė* (b Povickaitė) Lithuanian politician - Linkaučiai, Russian Empire (1945/72) 1873-0901 Guy Standing* actor/to U.S. in the 1930s - London, England (1937/63) 1873-0902 Bessie Van Vorst* (b McGinnis) journalist/author - New York, City, NY USA (1928/54) 1873-0905 Cornelius Vanderbilt III* military officer/inventor - New York, NY USA (1942/68) 1873-0908 Alfred Jarry* symbolist writer - Laval, Mayenne, French Third Republic (1907/34) 1873-0920 Sidney Olcott* screenwriter/ director/film producer - Toronto, ON Canada (1949/76) 1873-0920 Ferenc Szisz* race car driver - Szeghalom, Kingdom of Hungary (1944/70) 1873-0921 Papa Jack Laine* drummer/ pioneering band leader - New Orleans, LA USA (1966/92) 1873-0930 1873-1001 1873-1008 Ma Barker* (b Arizona Donnie Clark) crime matriarch - Ash Grove, MO USA (1935/61) 1873-1009 Karl Schwarzschild* physicist/ astronomer - Frankfurt am Main, German Empire (1916/42) 1873-1009 Charles Rudolph Walgreen* son of Swedish immigrants/ founder of Walgreens - Knoxville, IL USA (1939/66) 1873-1013 Georgios Kafantaris* politician/PM - Anatoliki Fragkista, Kingdom of Greece (1946/72) 1873-1014 Frans Engström* film director and producer/active in Finland - Kalmar, Sweden (1940/66) 1873-1019 Jaap Eden* speed skater/bicycle racer/WG - Groningen, Netherlands (1925/51) 1873-1019 Bart King* cricketer - Philadelphia, PA USA (1965/91) 1873-1024 Jesse Ancil Walsingham* citrus grower/Pinellas County community leader - Pasco County, FL USA (1961/87) Find A Grave 1873-1026 Thorvald Stauning* politician/PM - Copenhagen, Kingdom of Denmark (1942/68) 1873-1030 1873-1031 Frederic Thompson* architect/ engineer/creator of amusement rides - Ironton, OH USA (1919/45) 1873-1101 1873-1109 Fritz Thyssen* industrialist - Mülheim, Germany (1951/77) 1873-1116 W. C. Handy* blues composer/songwriter - Florence, AL USA (1958/84) 1873-1120 1873-1127 Mike Grant* hockey player/referee - Montreal, QC Canada (1955/81) 1873-1128 Frank Phillips* oil industrialist - Scotia, NE USA (1950/76) 1873-1130 William Boyle* nobleman/ navy officer - Farnham, Surrey, England (1967/93) 1873-1204 Adam Halme* (b Möykkynen) construction worker/trade union functionary/politician - Nilsiä, GD of Finland (1933/59) 1873-1207 Willa Cather* writer - Gore, VA USA (1947/73) 1873-1211 Josip Plemelj* Slovene mathematician - Bled, Austria-Hungary (1967/93) 1873-1217 Ford Madox Ford* novelist/ poet/editor - Merton, Surrey, England (1939/65) 1873-1220 Kan’ichi Asakawa* Japanese historian/peace advocate/to U.S. in his 20s - Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, Japan (1948/74) 1873-1221 A. E. Rautavaara* (b Jernberg) jurist/civil servant/a Signer of the Declaration of Independence - Ilmajoki, GD of Finland (1941/67) 1873-1225 Otto Frederick Hunziker* Swiss-American dairy industry pioneer - Zürich, Swtzerland (1959/85) 1873-1226 Thomas Wass* bowler - Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England (1953/79) 1873-1230 Al Smith* politician/Governor of New York - New York City, NY USA (1944/70) 1873-1231 Konstantin Konik* Estonian surgeon/politician - Dorpat, Estonia (1936/62) 1873-0 1873-0 1873-0 Updated 2025-0128 Helsinki Search for another year here