Timeline of T.R.'s Birthdays
Follow Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday from a brownstone on East 20th Street in 1858 to the first Navy Day in 1922. Read the full story at Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthday.
The Early Years
October 27, 1858
THEODORE ROOSEVELT IS BORN IN NEW YORK CITY
Theodore Roosevelt was born at 28 East 20th Street in Manhattan, the second of four children of Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt.
October 28, 1869
SNOW ON THE WAY TO COLOGNE
On the family's grand tour of Europe, T.R. turned 11 in Berlin and boarded a night train that evening. The family celebrated the next day in Cologne. "It is my birthday and the first of my birthdays that it snowed on," he wrote in his diary.
October 27, 1872
FOURTEEN IN LIVERPOOL
At the start of a second family trip abroad, T.R. spent his 14th birthday in Liverpool, England. He went to church and had dinner with relatives, and opened his presents the next day.
October 27, 1877
NINETEEN AT HARVARD
"19 years old today," the Harvard sophomore wrote in his diary. "Rode over and spent night with Minot Weld."
October 27, 1880
A WEDDING ON HIS 22ND BIRTHDAY
T.R. married Alice Hathaway Lee at the First Parish Church in Brookline, Massachusetts.
October 27, 1886
RUNNING FOR MAYOR
On his 28th birthday, the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City spoke at a packed meeting at Cooper Union. He finished third in the election on November 2.
October 27, 1898
FORTY, AND A GOLD-HEADED CANE
Campaigning across upstate New York by train in the race for governor, Colonel Roosevelt was presented a gold-headed ebony cane in honor of his 40th birthday. Chauncey Depew made the presentation for the speakers and reporters on the train. He spoke in Syracuse that night and won the election on November 8.
1900 and After
A BIRTHDAY PARTY ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIN
Campaigning for Vice President, Governor Roosevelt crossed into Pennsylvania, where his fellow speakers gave him gold cuff buttons in the dining car.
THE FIRST BIRTHDAY AS PRESIDENT
Six weeks after taking office, T.R. marked his 43rd birthday at the White House.
FLOWERS AND CALLERS
With the White House under renovation, the President received birthday flowers and callers at the temporary White House on Jackson Place, including members of the Hungarian Club of New York, who had called on his birthday for several years.
A BIRTHDAY AT SEA
After a tour of the South, T.R. spent his 47th birthday aboard the cruiser USS West Virginia in the Gulf of Mexico, bound from New Orleans for Virginia.
FIFTY, ON HORSEBACK
In African Game Trails (Scribner, 1910), T.R. wrote that he had "celebrated my fiftieth birthday by riding my jumping horse, Roswell, over all the jumps in Rock Creek Park, at Washington."
ON SAFARI IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Marching toward the 'Nzoi River in what is now Kenya, T.R. wrote that he "would have liked to take a hunt, because it was my birthday," but had no chance.
CAMPAIGNING FOR STIMSON
The former President spent his 52nd birthday campaigning in Utica and upstate New York for Henry L. Stimson, the Republican candidate for governor, and was given a birthday cake at Gloversville.
THIRTEEN DAYS AFTER THE BULLET
Recovering at Sagamore Hill from the October 14 assassination attempt in Milwaukee, T.R. spent his 54th birthday quietly, resting while his wound healed. Three days later he spoke at Madison Square Garden.
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL
On the South American tour that led to the River of Doubt, T.R. arrived in São Paulo by special train and lectured that evening on "Character and Civilization."
ON THE STUMP IN PENNSYLVANIA
T.R. spent his 56th birthday campaigning across western Pennsylvania for Gifford Pinchot's run for the U.S. Senate.
FOUR MILES IN A ROWBOAT
T.R. spent his 57th birthday at Oyster Bay, where he rowed four miles with Edith and took a long walk, the New-York Tribune reported.
THE LAST BIRTHDAY
T.R. turned 60 at Sagamore Hill, three and a half months after the death of his son Quentin in France. The Sun reported a quiet day with family. He answered his sister Corinne's birthday message and signed it "Methusaleh's Understudy." He died on January 6, 1919.
THE FIRST NAVY DAY
The first Navy Day was held on T.R.'s birthday, and a new 5-cent stamp bearing his portrait was issued the same day.
From the Archives
Letters, telegrams and cartoons about T.R.’s birthdays from the Theodore Roosevelt Center.