Dark Jazz Timeline

For a history of magic and the occult, see Gernsback-9 Timeline: Occult History.

1800s

• 1893 - Nikola Tesla meets Anne Morgan, daughter of J.P Morgan. The two become fast friends and, with investment from Morgan, Tesla is able to save Westinghouse from bankruptcy.

• 1894 - Tesla secures the patent for the radio transmitter and receiver.

• 1895 - Tesla-Westinghouse builds Niagara Falls hydroelectric dam.

• 1897 - Tesla-Westinghouse begins marketing diathermic treatments for a variety of medical conditions.

• 1899 - At his laboratory in Telluride, Colorado, Tesla has his first limited success with broadcast power.

1900s

• 1900 - Count Von Zeppelin invents the dirigible airship.

• 1901 - Tesla begins research into superconductivity.

• 1902 - Wardenclyffe Tower is built on Long Island. The Morgan-Tesla Radio Company is formed, with Tesla as CEO and Anne Morgan leading the board of directors, and begins global radio broadcasts in March.

• 1904 – The New York Subway opens its first line, an electric train running from City Hall to 145th Street.

• 1909 - Tesla receives the Nobel Prize for the invention of radio.

• 1910 - J.P. Morgan Sr. makes a hostile takeover of Consolidated Edison.

• 1912 - Germanenorden (Order of Teutons) founded in Berlin by Theodor Fritsch. Walter Nauhaus, an art student, becomes keeper of pedigrees for the society.

• 1913 - J.P. Morgan Sr. dies, leaving his son J.P. Morgan Jr. in charge. Anne Morgan Tesla takes over the radio broadcasting company, Morgan-Tesla, becoming the first woman executive in business history.

• 1916 - Tesla perfects the fluid diode and the bladeless turbine.

• 1917 – Nauhaus moves to Munich and founds Thule-Gesellschaft, the Thule Society.

• 1918 – Rudolf von Sebottendorf joins the Thule Society, merging the membership of Germaneorden Walvater of the Holy Grail on 18 August 1918.

• 1919 – Morgan-Tesla produces Tesla Steel, which is a third the mass of normal steel, but twice as strong. Munich artist Adolf Hitler, a friend of Walter Nauhaus, joins the Thule Society. Several members of the society are arrested in Bavaria; accused of attempting a coup to overthrow the Soviet government, they are convicted and executed by firing squad.

• 1919 - A sample of the Philosopher’s Stone is discovered in an Egyptian New Kingdom tomb by noted archaeologist Flinders Petrie.

1920s

1920

• 16 January - Prohibition begins in the United States

• 19 January - The United States Senate votes in favor of joining the League of Nations.

• 1 June - Los Angeles Railway opens its first underground lines downtown.

• 19 October - Tesla invents radar by accident while trying to improve submarine detection equipment.

• 25 December - The Ecclesia, a Rosicrucian Temple of Healing, is founded in Oceanside, California.

1921

• 31 May - Thirty-nine people are reported dead from a race riot in Tulsa.

• 11 August - Jacques d'Arsonvale is awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the use of Tesla's diathermic radiation to treat tumors.

• 24 August – Airship ZR 2 explodes during a test flight near Hull, England; 41 are killed.

• 7 September – In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant is held.

• 9 November - Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with the photoelectric effect.

1922

• 11 January – The first successful insulin treatment of diabetes is made.

• 25 January - The Molly Pitcher Club is founded in New York.

• 1 February – American actor William Desmond Taylor is murdered.

• 2 February – Ulysses, by James Joyce, is published in Paris by Sylvia Beach.

• 25 February – Murderer Henri Désiré Landru is beheaded by the guillotine.

• 3 April – Joseph Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party.

• 15 May - Engineers in New York created an electric-powered differential analyzer, while engineers in Los Angeles construct an electrical difference engine.

• 30 May – In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.

• 1 June - The Royal Ulster Constabulary is officially founded.

• 11 July – The Hollywood Bowl opens.

• 23 August – Morocco revolts against the Spanish.

• 23 August – The Turkish large-scale attack opened against Greek forces in Afyon.

• 13 September – Fire started by Turkish troops destroys most of Smyrna, killing an estimated 100,000.

• 1 October – G.I. Gurdjieff opens his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at Fontainebleau in France.

• 30 October – Benito Mussolini becomes the youngest Premier in the history of Italy.

• 4 November – In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

• 26 November – Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3,000 years.

• 5 December – The British Parliament enacts the Irish Free State Constitution Act, by which it legally sanctions the new Constitution of the Irish Free State.

1923

• 1 January - The Rosewood Massacre begins. It ends six days later on 7 January when the town is burned to the ground.

• 30 January - Tesla-Morgan announces the construction of factories in Berlin and Munich. This causes a boom to the German economy and strengthens the Weimar Republic.

• 23 February – Albert Einstein visits Barcelona, Spain, at the invitation of scientist Esteban Terradas i Illa.

• 1 March - The USS Connecticut is decommissioned. Nikola Tesla later arranges to purchase the ship for his experiments.

• 9 March - Lenin is bedridden by a stroke.

• 18 April - Yankee Stadium opens in the Bronx.

• 24 May - The Irish Civil War ends.

• 18 June - Mount Etna erupts in Italy.

• 1 September - An earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama.

• 4 September - In Lakehurst, New Jersey, the first American airship, the USS Shenandoah, takes to the sky for the first time.

• 10 September - Ireland joins the League of Nations.

• 17 September - A major fire in Berkeley, California erupts, consuming some 640 structures, including 584 homes in the densely built neighborhoods north of the campus of the University of California.

• 18 September – 26 September – Newspaper printers strike in New York. President Cox, a former journalist, personally negotiates the settlement.

• 16 October – Roy and Walt Disney Founded The Walt Disney Company.

1924

• January 21 – Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin immediately begins to purge his rivals to clear the way for his leadership.

• January 23 - The body of Rhonda Mathers is discovered at Echo Park in Edendale.

• January 26 – Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) is renamed Leningrad.

• January 27 – Lenin is buried in a mausoleum (Lenin's Tomb) in Moscow's Red Square.

• February 20 - Drakusz House in historic Bunker Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles is destroyed. The body of Sonja Vero is found at La Placita Olvera in Sonoratown.

• March 21 - Roberta Mendez is found murdered in Echo Park.

• April 6 – Fascists win the elections in Italy with a ⅔ majority.

• April 16 – American media company Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) is founded in Los Angeles, California.

• April 21 - The body of Josefina Martín is found on Angels Knoll.

• April 26 – Harry Grindell Matthews demonstrates his "death ray" in London but fails to convince the British War Office.

• May 4 – The 1924 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies are held in Paris, France.

• May 10 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

• May 11 – Mercedes-Benz is formed by the merging companies owned by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz.

• May 21 – University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a thrill killing.

• May 21 - A group of armed ranchers seized control of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and dynamite part of the system.

• May 24 – The Immigration Act of 1924 is signed into law in the United States, including the Asian Exclusion Act.

• June 2 – President Cox signs the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.

• June 10 - Calvin Coolidge receives the Republican Party nomination for President, with Hiram Johnson selected as his running-mate.

• June 25 - Rioting erupts outside the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden, New York City, as Ku Klux Klan demonstrators gather to denounce Democratic candidate Al Smith, who is Catholic.

• June 27 - After days of contentious and unproductive voting, Democratic party delegates from several Southern states leave the convention, vowing to form a separate political party.

• June 30 - President Cox announces he will not seek re-election and is withdrawing from the nomination process. Vice-president Roosevelt delivers a stirring speech in recognition of President Cox and calls for a floor vote to determine the top three nominees and then commence to a run-off election for final decision.

• July 1 - Vice-president Franklin D. Roosevelt receives the Democratic Party nomination, with Al Smith selected as his running-mate.

• August 11-16 - A series of strange storms occurs over Griffith Aerodrome, culminating in a violent thunderstorm on the final night.

• August 19 - The Maxfield Building, designed by architect John M. Cooper, is completed. Located in downtown at 819 Santee Street, it is the first 'modern' skyscraper in Los Angeles.

• August 25 - The seventh in a series of daring daytime robberies occurs in Los Angeles. A gang of four men wearing brown clerical robes armed with submachine guns have robbed six banks and a downtown jewelry store. The Angel City Times dubs them "the Mad Monks."

• September 17 - A statue known as the Golden Raccoon is stolen from a private collection in New York City.

• September 20 - The artifact known as Zimmerman's Golem is stolen from a private auction at Ausperg House in London.

• September 23 - German steel heiress Greta Stark is found mutilated in London's Whitechapel district. Her murder is believed to be connected with the earlier robbery at Ausperg House.

• October 31 - Whitfield Manor, a stately mansion outside Pasadena, burns to the ground, killing Ramsey Parsons, noted psychic and occultist

• November 4 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected 30th President of the Untied States.

1925

• January 1 – Gerhard Thuringer is killed in a fire at Ryan Keaton's laboratory.

• January 3 - Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.

• January 5 - Nellie Tayloe Ross is inaugurated as the first woman governor of the United States in Wyoming.

• June 29 - A 6.8 earthquake destroys downtown Santa Barbara, CA.

• July 4 - Tesla announces the perfection of broadcast power and his intent to being it immediately to market.

• July 18 - Self-proclaimed "black magician" Adolf Hitler publishes his "magickal confession," Mein Kampf, in Austria.

• December 24 - Christmas stock market panic of 1925.

1926

• High-speed electrified railroads laid across North America.

• January 1 - Vice-president Hearst is put in charge of the Safe Banks Initiative, a plan to improve banking practices and secure the stock market.

• January 3 - Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator of Greece.

• May 12 - Roald Amundsen flies over the North Pole.

• May 18 - Aimee Semple Macpherson disappears in Venice, CA.

• August 11 - Nonstop high-speed train between Los Angeles and New York enters service.

• September 25 - League of Nations abolishes slavery.

• December 31 - Magic Moe's, a famous pub in downtown Los Angeles, is completely destroyed in a mysterious conflagration that damages none of the surrounding structures.

1927

• Accused anarchist bombers Sacco and Vanzetti are executed in Boston.

• Saudi Arabia becomes independent from the United Kingdom and declines invitation to join the League of Nations.

• Werner Heisenberg formulates his uncertainty principle, which is later accepted at the 5th Solvay Conference.

• Grauman’s Chinese Theatre opens. Fritz Lang's Metropolis, featuring a newly developed "super-audio" system, is the premiere film.

• 12-year old Marion Parker is murdered and mutilated in Los Angeles, CA.

• Kulik expedition to Tunguska discovers metal debris scattered about the destroyed area.

1928

• Roosevelt defeats challenger Calvin Coolidge in a narrow and hotly contested race. Nearly two weeks passes before the final vote is known, prompting calls for nationwide electoral reform.

• With support from Russia, the People's Republic of Manchuria is nominated to the League of Nations, with former warlord Zhang Zhuolin recognized as the first leader of the new nation.

• Frederick Griffith confirms the existence of DNA.

• Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie.

• Josemaria Escriva founds Opus Dei in Spain.

• Fire destroys the library at Miskatonic University, including the infamous "special collections" containing a number of nefarious magical texts.

1929

• Early November panic on Wall Street is contained by actions from Morgan and Westinghouse. Critics accuse Vice-president Hearst of organizing a secret cabal to control America's economy.

• After receiving a commanding majority at the polls, due mainly to the "flapper vote," the Liberal Party takes what will be a multi-decade dominance of the British Government.

• Tesla Industries produces the first color televisor.

• The Museum of Modern Art opens in New York City.

• Tintin debuts in Belgium.

• The Grand Teton National Park is established in Wyoming by the US Congress.

1930s

See Gernsback-9 Timeline: 1930 - 1949

1950s

See Gernsback-9 Timeline: 1950 - 1964