- Flu epidemic in New York kills thousands. It’s the deadliest natural disaster in New York since cholera epidemic in XIX century.
- Steinway & Sons makes approximately $2,700,000 in the United States piano sales. (In the course of the next 6 years the company will increase that yearly profit more than twice.)
- William R. Steinway informs his older cousin Frederick that he will marry his girlfriend Marie Kiesler. Frederick T. Steinway and his wife Julia, aware of the bride’s past as a courtesan, insist that their cousin, groomed to become the next Steinway & Sons president, break off the engagement that may compromise the company’s reputation, and then “come back to NY and marry a nice American girl.” Theodore Ehrlich, a Steinway & Sons employee, stranded in Germany since 1909, receives an instruction to offer Marie Kiesler $1,000,000 for breaking off her engagement with William R. Steinway. Marie accepts the offer, and returns to her home village of Stallupönen in Pomerania, but William R. Steinway follows here there and persuades her to return the money to Steinway family, and to marry him. She agrees, but the wedding will only take place in 1921.
- In Braunschweig, the Grotrians legally change their last name to Grotrian-Steinweg, hoping to cement their trademark and prevent further lawsuits from Steinway & Sons.