Katherine Cohan (1903 - 1968)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Katherine's lifetime.

In 1903, in the year that Katherine Cohan was born, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated in June after Henry Ford left another car company he founded in 1901 (which became the Cadillac Motor Company). He began Ford Motor Company with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, two of whom (the Dodge brothers) later began their own car company. Henry Ford improved on assembly line techniques and has been so successful that his family still controls a very popular Ford line of cars and trucks.

In 1917, when she was merely 14 years old, Russian government offices were seized and the Romanov's Winter Palace was stormed in the Russian February and October Revolutions. The February revolution resulted in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas and a coalition of the Parliament and workers parties taking control of the government. The October revolution resulted in Lenin and the Bolsheviks taking complete control.

In 1926, by the time she was 23 years old, on October 31st, Harry Houdini died in Michigan. Houdini was the most famed magician of his time and perhaps of all time, especially for his acts involving escapes - from handcuffs, straitjackets, chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, and more. He was president of the Society of American Magicians and stringently upheld professional ethics. He died of complications from a ruptured appendix. Although he had received a blow to the area a couple of days previously, the connection between the blow and his appendicitis is disputed.

In 1957, Katherine was 54 years old when on September 24th, the "Little Rock Nine" (nine African-American students) entered Little Rock High School. Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus had previously prevented the students from entering the school at the beginning of the term with the Arkansas National Guard - they blocked the door. President Eisenhower ordered federal troops - the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army - to guard the students and allow them entry.

In 1968, in the year of Katherine Cohan's passing, on April 4th, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the civil rights leader, was shot and killed by an assassin in Memphis. James Earl Ray was apprehended and plead guilty to shooting Dr. King. Ray died in jail in 1998.