- The U.S. population was 101,961,000.
- A loaf of bread cost about $0.07.
- A postage stamp cost $0.02.
- Coffee was about $0.15 per pound.
- Sugar was about $0.04 per pound.
- The average price of a U.S. house was $5,000.
- The average price of a car was $400.
- The tallest building in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
- Only 8% of homes had a telephone.
- The Chicago Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park (Wrigley Field).
- World War I was in its third year. The Battles of Verdun and the Somme River, both in France, were notable battles during 1916.
- Claude Monet began work on his masterpiece Waterlilies.
- On Easter Monday a small group of Irish nationalists attempted to declare independence from France. They were defeated less than a week later.
- Newscaster Walter Cronkite was born.
- New in 1916 were windshield wipers, lipstick in metal cartridges, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA), Keds sneakers, Lincoln Logs, and the National Park Service.
- The Boston Red Sox defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-1 in the World Series.
- Woodrow Wilson was reelected President of the United States.
- Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity.
- The United States purchased the Danish West Indies (U.S. Virgin Islands) from Denmark for $25 million. This was a military move to keep Germany from occupying a location so close to the Panama Canal had Germany absorbed Denmark in World War I.
- Following a brush arbor meeting, thirty people chartered a new church on the north end of Etowah, TN, naming it North Etowah Baptist Church.