William Caleb McBride (1835 - 1915)

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

In 1835, in the year that William Caleb McBride was born, on January 30th, the first known attempt to kill a sitting President of the United States occurred just outside the United States Capitol Building. President Andrew Jackson was leaving the building after the funeral of South Carolina Representative Warren R. Davis. An Englishman, Richard Lawrence - who was unemployed and possibly mentally ill - stepped out and attempted to shoot. His gun misfired so he pulled out another gun - which also misfired. He was immediately caught.

In 1883, when he was 48 years old, on July 4th, the first rodeo in the world was held in Pecos, Texas - according to its citizens. In the towns of Prescott and Payson Arizona, the same claim is made. All of these were gatherings of local cowboys, showing off their skills - no matter who was first.

In 1890, by the time he was 55 years old, on July 3rd, Idaho became the 43rd state in the United States. On July 10th, Wyoming became the 44th state.

In 1906, William was 71 years old when Finland became the first European country to give women the vote and to allow them to run for political office. (Women in Australia and New Zealand already had that right but couldn't run for office.) Although Finland belonged to the Russian Empire, there was great unrest and the Tsar wanted to broker a quick peace. As a part of the brokered peace, women got the vote.

In 1915, in the year of William Caleb McBride's passing, Audrey Munson, playing a model for a sculptor in the film "Inspiration", became the first actress to shed her clothes on screen. Fearing that banning the film would mean that censors would also have to "ban Renaissance art" the film was released, with Munson in the nude scenes and a stand-in doing the acting. (Munson had previously been "America's First Supermodel" and posed nude as the model for many famous artworks.) The film was a hit with audiences.