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Top Song(s)
• Haydn Quartet - Bedelia
• Cal Stewart - Uncle Josh & the Insurance Company
• Enrico Caruso - Aida - Celeste Aida
• Billy Murray - Navajo
• Byron G Harlan - All Aboard for Dreamland
Top Film(s)
• An Impossible Voyage
• The Mermaid
• The Wonderful Living Fan
• The Cook in Trouble
• Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjuror
Best Selling Book(s)
• Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie
• The Cherry Orchard - Anton Chekhov
• The Sea Wolf - Jack London
• The Napoleon of Notting Hill - G.K. Chesterton
• The Golden Bowl - Henry James
Famous Deaths
• January 2 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (1st Corps, ANV).
• January 11 - Mary Ellen Pleasant, American entrepreneur, financier, real estate magnate, abolitionist.
• February 2 - William C. Whitney, American financier and 31st United States Secretary of the Navy.
• April 9 - Isabella II, Queen of Spain.
• May 10 - Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh journalist and African explorer (discovered source of the Nile).
• July 3 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian journalist and father of modern political Zionism (World Zionist Organization).
• July 14 - Paul Kruger, 3rd President of South African Republic and face of Boer resistance during the Second Boer War.
• September 21 - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce leader who tried to lead his people to Canada.
• October 4 - Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor (designed the Statue of Liberty).
• December 21 - George L. Shoup, American politician, Senator and 1st Governor of Idaho.
Medical/Science/Technology
• Notable asteroid 522 Helga is discovered by Max Wolf in Heidelberg.
• An early study on the relationship between alcohol and cardiovascular disease is published in the United States.
• The sixth moon of Jupiter, later called Himalia, is discovered at Lick Observatory.
• Vacuum tube invented by John Ambrose Fleming.
• Epinephrine first artificially synthesized by Friedrich Stolz.
• Piero Ginori Conti demonstrates the use of geothermal power to generate electricity.
• The first diesel engined submarine, the Z, is built in France.
• Lucien Bull produces the first successful chronophotography.
• The distress signal CQD is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by SOS.
• A continuous track tractor is demonstrated by the Holt Manufacturing Company in the United States.
Political Events
• February 1 - Elihu Root, then Secretary of War, resigns from the cabinet of President William McKinley.
• February 29 - Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7-man Panama Canal Commission to proceed with completing a canal at the Isthmus.
• March 3 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany the first person to make a recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.
• March 14 - Northern Securities Company v United States, the US Supreme Court finds the company has violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
• April 8 - The Entente Cordiale is signed between the UK and France.
• April 13 - US Congress authorizes Lewis and Clark Exposition $1 gold coin.
• April 24 - President Loubet of France visits King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and pointedly ignores the Pope.
• April 27 - The Australian Labor Party under Prime Minister Chris Watson becomes the first Labor government in the world.
• October 28 – Panama and Uruguay establish diplomatic relations.
• November 8 – Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt defeats Democrat Alton B. Parker.
National Events
• January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
• January 28 - 1st college sports letters given to Seniors who played on University of Chicago's football team.
• February 7 – The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, Maryland, destroys over 1,500 buildings in 31 hours.
• February 23 – For $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
• March 12 - Andrew Carnegie establishes Carnegie Hero Fund.
• April 8 - New York City changes the name of Longacre Square to Times Square.
• May 4 - United States Army engineers begin work on the Panama Canal.
• June 15 – A fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1,021.
• October 27 – The first underground line of the New York City Subway opens.
• December 30 – The East Boston Tunnel opens, for streetcars.
Worldwide Events
• January 8 - Pope Pius X banned low cut dresses in the presence of churchmen.
• January 23 – A fire destroys most buildings in the town of Alesund, Norway, leaving about 10,000 people without shelter
• February 23 - Having occupied Korea, Japan signs a treaty with Korea under which it becomes a Japanese protectorate.
• March 12 - 1st main line electric train in UK (Liverpool to Southport).
• April 4 – 1904 Kresna earthquakes: two earthquakes strike near Kresna, Bulgaria, killing at least 200 people.
• May 4 - Charles Rolls and Henry Royce meet for the first time, to agree production of Rolls-Royce motor cars.
• June 3 – The International Alliance of Women is founded.
• June 28 - Danish ocean liner SS Norge runs aground and sinks close to Rockall, killing approximately 627 people.
• August 17 – Russo-Japanese War: A Japanese infantry charge fails to take Port Arthur.
• December 27 - The stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premieres in London.