January 1 » The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.
April 2 » "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.
April 18 » The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800–2,000.
May 8 » In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
August 22 » Cadillac Motor Company is founded.
December 10 » The opening of the reservoir of the Aswan Dam in Egypt.
Day of death May 23, 1903
The temperature on May 23, 1903 was between 9.4 °C and 21.2 °C and averaged 14.5 °C. There was 13.3 hours of sunshine (83%). Source: KNMI
February 11 » Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna, Austria.
February 14 » The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).
August 3 » Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists for only ten days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.
August 18 » German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.
August 29 » The Slava, the last of the five Borodino-class battleships, is launched.
September 11 » The first race at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin is held. It is the oldest major speedway in the world.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: F. van Dijk, "Family tree Van Dijk", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom_van_dijk/R4397.php : accessed February 25, 2026), "Jacobus Johannes Erkeland (1902-1903)".
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