Year 1918 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History Events

This quick read presents a collection of fun facts, trivia, and history events from the year 1918. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, historic firsts, entertainment news, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. In 1918, Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of the United States, and Thomas R. Marshall was the nation’s 28th vice president.
2. The 65th U.S. Congress was in session.
3. The U.S. unemployment rate was 1.4%, and the nation’s inflation rate was a whopping 17.97%.
4. Adjusted for inflation, $1.00 in 1918 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $21.50 today.
5. Federal spending: $12.68 billion
6. Consumer Price Index: $15.1
7. At the grocery store, butter was 49 cents a pound, oranges were 45 cents a dozen, and sugar-cured ham was 24 cents a pound. Fresh Jersey tomatoes were 10 cents a quart, prime rib was 29 cents a pound, and grape juice was 38 cents for a quart bottle.
8. American companies and brands established in 1918 included DiBella’s Old Fashioned Submarines, Hertz, Oberto Snacks Inc., Tuscan Dairy Farms, Timberland, and the Zenith Corporation.
9. In 1918, the average life expectancy at birth in the United States was 47.2 years, a significant drop from previous years. This was likely due to the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, which swept across the U.S.
10. World War I: On January 8, President Wilson outlined his Fourteen Points—a set of principles “designed as guidelines for the rebuilding of the postwar world.”
11. Between February 1918 and April 1920, the Spanish flu infected about 500 million people, equivalent to about one-third of the world’s population. The pandemic caused 50 million deaths worldwide, double the number of deaths recorded during World War I. Individuals donned masks to safeguard themselves from the illness, leading to a surge of infected patients in hospitals.
12. February 21: Incas, the last surviving Carolina parakeet, died at the Cincinnati Zoo.
13. World War I: On March 3, Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, removing Russia from World War I.
14. World War I: On March 4, the first recorded case of the Spanish Flu in the U.S. was Albert Gitchell, an army cook at Camp Funston in Kansas.
15. On March 31, daylight saving time went into effect in the United States.
16. World War I: By April, the Spanish Flu reached the Western Front, “a 400-plus mile stretch of land weaving through France and Belgium from the Swiss border to the North Sea.”
17. On May 2, General Motors acquired the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
18. On May 15, the United States Post Office Department began regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
19. On May 22, the small town of Codell, Kansas, was hit with a destructive tornado for the fifth year in a row.
20. World War I: On May 28, American troops captured the town of Cantigny in northern France, thus depriving the Germans of “an important observation point.”
21. On June 22, more than 100 waiters were taken into custody in Chicago for poisoning bad-tipping restaurant patrons with a lethal powder called Mickey Finn.
22. World War I: On July 17, in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Bolshevik revolutionaries “shot and bayoneted Czar Nicholas II, his wife, and their five children.”
23. World War I: July 18 to August 6: The Aisne-Marne Offensive marked “a major turning point in the fighting on the Western Front” and “significantly shifted the momentum of the war in favor of the Allies.”
24. On August 13, Opha May Johnson of Kokomo, Indiana, became the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.
25. World War I: On September 26, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the largest in U.S. history and played a major role in bringing about an end to World War I.
26. On October 12, a railroad car sparked a fire that destroyed the city of Cloquet, Minnesota, and nearby areas, killing 453. The fire was the worst natural disaster in Minnesota history.
27. World War I: October 24 to November 3: The Battle of Vittorio Veneto saw “a decisive Italian victory against the Austro-Hungarian forces, effectively ending the war on the Italian Front and significantly contributing to the final collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.”
28. World War I: On November 11, Germany signed the armistice with the Allies, thus ending World War I on the Western Front.
29. World War I: On December 4, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson set sail for the Paris Peace Conference, “becoming the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office.”
30. During the 1918 World Series, the Star-Spangled Banner was played for the first time.
31. Irving Berlin wrote the song God Bless America while serving in the U.S. Army at Camp Upton in New York.
32. In 1918, canned foods were a primary food source for many Americans because many homes did not have refrigeration. They were also vital to the American diet during World War I because of chronic shortages of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and bread. Popular canned foods at the time included baked beans, chicken, condensed milk, corn, green beans, peas, soups, tomatoes, and tuna.
33. Velveeta processed cheese appeared in the marketplace for the first time.
34. Famous birthdays: Abigail Van Buren (journalist), Billy Graham (religious leader), Bob Evans (entrepreneur), Leonard Bernstein (composer), Mary Kay Ash (entrepreneur), Rita Hayworth (movie actress), and Sam Walton (entrepreneur).
35. Famous people who died in 1918 were Anna Held (stage actress), Charles W. Fairbanks (U.S. vice president), Claude Debussy (composer), Henry Adams (novelist), Orville Gibson (entrepreneur), and Rose Cleveland (First Lady).
36. America’s most beloved songs were Tiger Rag (the Original Dixieland Jazz Band), Rock-A-Bye Your Baby (Al Jolson), and I’m Always Chasing Rainbows (Charles Harrison).
37. Popular movies for the year included Old Wives for New, The Squaw Man, The Whispering Chorus, We Can’t Have Everything, and Till I Come Back to You.
38. Best-selling fiction books: The U.P. Trail by Zane Grey, The Tree of Heaven by May Sinclair, and The Amazing Interlude by Mary Roberts Rinehart
39. Here are some sports facts from the year 1918: The Boston Red Sox won the World Series, the University of Pittsburgh and Michigan were the NCAA football champions, and the Toronto Arenas clinched the Stanley Cup.
40. In 1918 as well, the words "Armistice Day," "cabin fever," "daily dozen," "delivery boy," "drive-through," "everything but the kitchen sink," "extrovert," "eyewear," "funny paper," "mess around," "Mickey Finn," "processed cheese," "Pulitzer Prize," "radon," "senior citizen," and "silver screen" all appeared in print for the first time.

References:

1. https://www.mclib.info/Research/Local-History-Genealogy/Historic-Prices/Historic-Prices-1910s/Historic-Prices-1918
2. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1916.html
3. https://www.infoplease.com/year/1918
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_in_the_United_States
5. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1918
6. https://popculturemadness.com/1918-history-fun-facts-and-trivia/
7. https://playback.fm/charts/top-100-songs/1918
8. https://www.flickchart.com/charts.aspx?year=1918
9. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1918.html
10. https://www.britannica.com/list/timeline-of-world-war

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor