On this day: the opening of the Queen Victoria Building

Designed as a marketplace, the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, Australia opened on the 21^st of July, 1898.

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The building was designed in Victorian Romanesque style by Scottish-born architect George McRae, and constructed between 1893 and 1898.

Invitation to the opening. X

More than a thousand guests attended a ball on the night of the building’s opening, where Sydney’s Lord Mayor, Matthew Harris, gave a speech.

The Sydney icon survived twentieth-century discussions of remodelling and even demolition, and today is a popular tourist attraction and shopping destination.

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On this day: a wreck in Australia

The clipper Hereward wrecked on Maroubra Beach, south of Sydney, on the 7th of May, 1898. This photograph of the scene was taken by Arthur Wigram Allen, lawyer and enthusiastic amateur photographer.

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New York’s Easter Parade

Between 1910 and 1915

New York City has hosted an Easter parade on Fifth Avenue since the 19th century. Taking place on Easter Sunday, for decades it was one of the most significant cultural events of the year.

Here are some images of the parade from the late 19th and early 20th centuries:

1898

1899

1900

1905

1912

1914

Joyous Skeleton in the 1890s

Auguste and Louis Lumière, better known as the “Lumière Brothers“, released a film titled Le Squelette Joyeux in 1898. It features a skeleton that dances joyously even as it falls apart and puts itself back together.

On this Day: the invention of Pepsi-Cola

The original Pepsi logo. X

Carbonated soft drink Pepsi, invented by American pharmacist Caleb Bradham, had its official birthday on the 28^th of August, 1898.

Caleb Bradham circa 1900 X

Aged thirty-one at the time, Bradham had been selling the drink under the name “Brad’s Drink” in his North Carolina store. The name was changed to Pepsi-Cola after pepsin and kola nuts, both ingredients in the drink.

 

On this day: the premiere of Thaïs

1895 poster advertising the opera’s original run. X

Thaïs, a opera by Jules Massenet, had its premiere at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on the 16th of March, 1894.

Sibyl Sanderson in 1891

Massenet wrote the title role for American soprano Sibyl Sanderson, who performed in the premiere.

Jules Massenet in 1895

A famously difficult opera to perform, a revised version was presented at the same theatre four years after the first performance, though the production remains reserved for only the most talented singers.

 

On this day: the SS Mohegan sank in 1898

The steamer the SS Mohegan sank off the coast of the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall on the 14^th of October, 1898. 106 of the 197 on board died, including Isadora Duncan’s father, stepmother and sister.

The Mohegan wrecked on the Manacles

Because all of the officers on board died in the wreck, no definite answers were ever given for why they had veered so far off course.

Recovered bodies are buried in a mass grave.