1896 in the United States

1896 in the United States
Years:	1893 1894 1895 – 1896 – 1897 1898 1899
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45 stars (1896–1908)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1865–1918)

Events from the year 1896 in the United States.

The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court who decided Plessy v. Ferguson.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Grover Cleveland (D-New York)
• Vice President: Adlai E. Stevenson I (D-Illinois)
• Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (Illinois)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Brackett Reed (R-Maine)
• Congress: 54th

Events

January–March

• January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state (see History of Utah).
• February 5 - August 12 – Yaqui Uprising in Arizona and Mexico.
• March 23 – The New York State Legislature passes the Raines Law, restricting Sunday alcoholic beverage sales to hotels.

April–June

• April 9 – The National Farm School (later Delaware Valley College) is chartered in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
• May 18 – Plessy v. Ferguson: The U.S. Supreme Court introduces the "separate but equal" doctrine and upholds segregation.
• May 26 – Eleven years after its foundation, a group of 12 purely industrial stocks were chosen to form the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The index was composed entirely of industrial shares for the first time.^[1]
• May 27 – The costliest and third deadliest tornado in U.S. history levels a mile wide swath of downtown St. Louis, Missouri, incurring $2.9 billion (1997 USD) in normalized damages, killing more than 255 and injuring over 1,000 people.
• June 4 – The Ford Quadricycle, the first Ford vehicle ever developed, is completed, eventually leading Henry Ford to build the empire that "put America on wheels".
• June 28 – An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston City, Pennsylvania resulted in a massive cave-in that killed 58 miners.^[2][3][4]

July–September

• July 9 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech at the Democratic National Convention, which nominates him for President of the United States.
• July 30 – Shortly after 6:30 pm, at a crossing just west of Atlantic City, New Jersey, two trains collide, crushing five loaded passenger coaches, killing 50 and seriously injuring approximately 60, in the 1896 Atlantic City rail crash.
• September 15 – The Crash at Crush train wreck stunt is held in Texas.

October–December

• October 30 – Augusta, Kentucky: The Augusta High School cornerstone is laid, marking the end of the Augusta Methodist College.
• November 3 – U.S. presidential election, 1896: Republican William McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan. This is later regarded as a realigning election, starting the Fourth Party System in which Republicans dominate politics until about 1932.
• November 30 – The St. Augustine Monster, a large carcass later postulated to be the remains of a gigantic octopus, is found washed ashore near St. Augustine, Florida.
• December 7 – The 54th United States Congress began its second session.
• December 25 – John Philip Sousa composes his magnum opus, the "Stars and Stripes Forever".

Undated

• The New York Telephone Company is formed.

Ongoing

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

Births

• January 4 – Everett Dirksen, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1951 to 1969 (died 1969)
• January 21 – J. Carrol Naish, actor (died 1973)
• February 25 – John Little McClellan, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1943 to 1977 (died 1977)
• April 8 – Yip Harburg, lyricist (died 1981)
• April 26 – Edward John Thye, 26th Governor of Minnesota from 1943 to 1947 and United States Senator from Minnesota from 1947 to 1959 (died 1969)
• July 19 – Percy Spencer, inventor of the microwave oven (died 1969)
• July 20 – Eunice Sanborn, supercentenarian (died 2011)
• July 21 – Bourke B. Hickenlooper, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1945 to 1969 (died 1971)
• September 24 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, author known for the novel The Great Gatsby (died 1940)
• September 29 – George H. Bender, U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1954 to 1957 (died 1961)
• October 22 – Earle C. Clements, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1950 to 1957 (died 1985)
• November 14 – Mamie Eisenhower, wife of Dwight D. Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States (died 1979)
• December 6 – Ira Gershwin, lyricist (died 1983)

Deaths

• January 11 – George G. Wright, United States Senator from Iowa from 1871 till 1877. (born 1820)
• January 15 – Mathew B. Brady, early American photographer (born 1822)
• February 23 – George Davis, Confederate States Senator from North Carolina, 4th and last Confederate States Attorney General (born 1820)
• April 19 – Arthur I. Boreman, United States Senator from West Virginia from 1869 to 1875. (born 1823)
• May 31 – Homer V.M. Miller, United States Senator in Georgia from 1871. (born 1814)
• June 2 – Ozora P. Stearns, United States Senator from Minnesota in 1871. (born 1831)
• June 13 – Alpheus Felch, 5th Governor of Michigan from 1846 till 1847 and United States Senator from Michigan from 1847 till 1853. (born 1804)
• June 25 – Lyman Trumbull, United States Senator from Illinois from 1855 till 1873. (born 1813)
• July 1 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist and author best known for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (born 1811)
• July 22 – George W. Jones, United States Senator from Iowa from 1848 till 1859. (born 1804)
• August 9 – Alonzo J. Edgerton, United States Senator from Minnesota in 1881. (born 1827)
• October 13 – Thomas W. Ferry, United States Senator from Michigan from 1871 till 1883. (born 1827)
• Date Unknown – Asahel C. Beckwith, United States Senator from Wyoming in 1893. (born 1827)

See also

• List of American films of the 1890s

References

External links

• Media related to 1896 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons