1901 - June 11 Music Hall Star, Norman Evans, was born. The family lived at 5 Ventnor Street, Castlemere
1903 - River Roch covered through the centre of Rochdale
1903 - Art Gallery and Museum opened on April 3
1904 - Tram lines laid in Drake Street
1905 - The last steam tram ran May 8
1905 - First electric tram reached Littleborough
1905 - Falinge Park opened
1906 - Rochdale celebrates Municipal Jubilee
1906 - General Booth, then 77, visited Rochdale
1906 - March 11, a steam valve burst at John Bright and Brother's Fieldhouse Mill, killing 3 people
1907 - Rochdale's Boer War Memorial unveiled on June 29
1908 - Foundation stone for the Hippodrome Theatre laid on June 6.
1908 - The Old Circus, Rochdale's first static cinema closed. Gracie Fields gave her first stage performance
          here in 1905. Two years later Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel performed there.

1916 - Coal Bank Mill in Norden destroyed by fire
1916 - The Dunlop Rubber Company opened the world's largest factory under one roof employing 3200 people

1922 - Cenotaph completed - designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens
1922 - 40,000 people greet Rochdale Hornets returning to the town after winning
           the Northern Union Cup, beating Hull 10 - 9
1923 - In March the Empire cinema showed "The Shiek" starring Rudolph Valentino
1929 - On July 8 the Pavilion cinema showed the first full length "talking and singing" film,
           "Lucky Boy" starring George Jessel

1933 - Jock McAvoy, the Rochdale Thunderbolt, won the British Middleweight Championship
1935 - Jock McAvoy won the Lonsdale Belt
1935 - Work began on Watergrove Reservoir
1935 - Fire destroys Hornets' main grandstand
1937 - Gracie Fields granted Freedom of the Borough
1938 - Gracie Fields received C.B.E.
1938 - Royal Cinema built
1939 - Grandstand at the Athletics Ground collapses during Cup semi-final between Salford
           and Wigan killing 1 person and injuring 14

1941 - Air raid wrecked shops and offices in Sudden. Two high explosive bombs were dropped
          during a raid on Thursday, January 9.
1947 - Passenger service between Bacup and Rochdale ended June 16