Lena Fitzsimmons (1886 - 1975)

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

In 1886, in the year that Lena Fitzsimmons was born, on June 13th, the "Great Vancouver Fire" destroyed most of Vancouver, British Columbia. A small brush fire got out of control and spread to the rest of the city. Dozens of people died and it was only after the fire that money was raised for a fire hall. The local Squamish tribe rescued people who had jumped into bodies of water to escape the conflagration.

In 1913, at the age of 27 years old, Lena was alive when Henry Ford installed the first moving assembly line for the mass production of an entire automobile. It had previously taken 12 hours to assemble a whole vehicle - now it took only two hours and 30 minutes! Inspired by the production lines at flour mills, breweries, canneries and industrial bakeries, along with the disassembly of animal carcasses in Chicago’s meat-packing plants, Ford created moving belts for parts and the assembly line was born.

In 1942, she was 56 years old when due to World War II, automobile production in the United States was stopped on February 1st. A tire rationing program had begun the month before. Detroit - the main hub of car manufacturing - was ordered to free up assembly lines for military production. The president of the Automobile Manufacturers Association said “The automotive industry is in this war all the way". Some dealerships had to close and others expanded their repair shops. The used car market boomed (as did a black market in used cars).

In 1969, she was 83 years old when one hundred countries, along with the United States and the Soviet Union signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT). It called for stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and the goal of nuclear disarmament.

In 1975, in the year of Lena Fitzsimmons's passing, on September 5th, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme tried to assassinate President Ford in Sacramento, California. She failed when her gun wouldn't fire. President Ford escaped a second assassination attempt 17 days later on September 22 when Sarah Jane Moore tried to shoot him in San Francisco. A bystander saw her raise her arm, grabbed it, and the shot went wild.