1890 in the United States

1890 in the United States
Years:	1887 1888 1889 – 1890 – 1891 1892 1893
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43 stars (1890–91)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1865–1918)

Events from the year 1890 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Benjamin Harrison (R-Indiana)
• Vice President: Levi P. Morton (R-New York)
• Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (Illinois)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Brackett Reed (R-Maine)
• Congress: 51st

Events

January–June

• January 1 – In Michigan, the wooden steamer Mackinaw burned in a fire on the Black River.^[1]
• January 2 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House.^[2]
• January 22 – The United Mine Workers is founded.
• January 25 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
• February 24 – Chicago is selected to host the Columbian Exposition.
• March 2–7 – The Cherry Creek Campaign occurs in Arizona Territory.
• March 3 – The first American football game in Ohio State University history is played in Delaware, Ohio against Ohio Wesleyan University; Ohio State wins 20–14.
• March 8 – North Dakota State University is founded in Fargo, North Dakota.
• March 27 – A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 people and injuring 200.
• March 28 – Washington State University is founded in Pullman, Washington.
• May - National American Woman Suffrage Association established.^[3]
• May 31 – The 5-story skylight Arcade opens in Cleveland, Ohio.
• June 1 – The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to record census returns using punched card input, a landmark in the history of computing hardware. Hollerith's company eventually becomes IBM.
• June 12 – In Michigan, the wooden steamer Ryan is lost near Thunder Bay Island.^[1]
• June 20 – The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde published by Philadelphia-based Lippincott's Monthly Magazine.

July–December

December 29: Wounded Knee Massacre

• July 2 – The Sherman Antitrust Act becomes United States law.
• July 3 – Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. State (see History of Idaho).
• July 10 – Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. State (see History of Wyoming).
• July 13 – In Minnesota, storms result in the Sea Wing disaster on Lake Pepin killing 98.
• August 6 – At Auburn Prison in New York, William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed in the electric chair.
• September 25 – Sequoia National Park created.
• October 1 – Yosemite National Park created.
• October 11 – In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.^[4]
• October 13
  • The Delta Chi Fraternity is founded by 11 law students at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
  • In Michigan, the schooner J.F. Warner is lost at Thunder Bay.^[1]
• November 29 – In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24-0 in the first Army-Navy football game.
• December 24 – The Oklahoma territorial legislature establishes three institutions of higher learning University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and University of Central Oklahoma.
• December 29 – Wounded Knee Massacre: Near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment tries to disarm a Native American camp and shooting starts. 153 Lakota Sioux and 25 troops are killed; about 150 flee the scene.

Undated

• The United States city of Boise, Idaho drills the first geothermal well.
• The corrugated cardboard box is invented by Robert Gair, a Brooklyn printer who developed production of paper-board boxes in 1879.
• The Demarest Building, a commercial building on Fifth Avenue in New York City, is completed as the first with an electric elevator (installed by Otis).
• Brown trout is introduced into the upper Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park.
• High School Cadets is written by John Philip Sousa.

Ongoing

• Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896)
• Gay Nineties (1890–1899)
• Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)

Births

• January 4 – Victor Adamson; director, producer, screenwriter, and actor (died 1972)
• March 21 – C. Douglass Buck, United States Senator from Delaware from 1943 till 1949. (died 1965)
• May 11 – Woodall Rodgers, lawyer and politician, Mayor of Dallas (died 1961)
• August 20 – H. P. Lovecraft, horror fiction author (died 1937)
• September 24 – Allen J. Ellender, United States Senator from Louisiana from 1937 till 1972. (died 1972)
• October 14 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States from 1953 till 1961. (died 1969)
• October 20 – Sherman Minton, United States Senator from Indiana from 1935 to 1941. Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1949 till 1956. (died 1965)

Deaths

• March 2 – James E. English, United States Senator from Connecticut from 1875 till 1876. (born 1812)
• March 19 – John S. Hager, United States Senator from California from 1873 till 1875. (born 1818)
• May 3 – James B. Beck, Scotland-born United States Senator from Kentucky from 1877 till 1890. (born 1822)
• May 15 – Edward Doane, Protestant missionary in Micronesia. (born 1820)
• July 10 – Thomas C. McCreery, United States Senator from Kentucky from 1868 till 1871. (born 1816)
• July 13 – John C. Frémont, soldier and explorer and United States Senator from California from 1850 till 1851. (born 1813)
• September 8 – Isaac P. Christiancy, Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1875 till 1879. (born 1812)

See also

• List of American films of the 1890s

References

External links

• Media related to 1890 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons