1899 in the United States

Events from the year 1899 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

* President: William McKinley ( R-Ohio)
* Vice President: Garret Hobart ( R-New Jersey) (until November 21), ''vacant'' (starting November 21)
* Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (Illinois)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Brackett Reed ( R-Maine) (until March 4), David B. Henderson ( R-Iowa) (starting December 4)
* Congress: 55th (until March 4), 56th (starting March 4)

Events

January

* January 1 – Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City.
* January 10 – The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity is founded at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.
* January 17 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island.

February

* February 4 – The Philippine–American War begins as hostilities break out in Manila.
* February 6 – Spanish–American War: A peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.
* February 10 – Spanish–American War: The U.S. receives the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico as a result of the Treaty of Paris.
* February 12–14 – Great Blizzard of 1899: Freezing temperatures and snow extend well south into North America, including southern Florida. It is the latest in a series of disasters to Florida's citrus industry.
* February 14 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.

March

* March 2 – In Washington state, Mount Rainier National Park is established.
* March 24 – George Dewey is made Admiral of the Navy.

April

* April 13 – Tahoe National Forest is established in California.
*April 15 – Students at the University of California, Berkeley steal the Stanford Axe from Stanford University yell leaders following a baseball game, thus establishing the Axe as a symbol of the rivalry between the schools.

May

* May 31 – The launch of the Harriman Alaska Expedition.

June

* June 7 – Temperance movement crusader Carrie Nation enters a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas, and proceeds to destroy all the alcoholic beverages with rocks.
* June 12 – New Richmond Tornado: A tornado completely destroys the town of New Richmond, Wisconsin, killing 117 people and injuring more than 200.
* June 25 – Three Denver, Colorado newspapers publish a story (later proved to be a fabrication) that the Chinese government under the Guangxu Emperor is going to demolish the Great Wall of China.
* June 30 – ''Mile-a-Minute Murphy'' earns his famous nickname this day, after he becomes the first man to ride a bicycle for one mile in under a minute on Long Island.

July

* July 17 – America's first juvenile court is established in Chicago.
* July 19 – The Newsboys Strike takes place when the Newsies of New York City go on strike (strike lasts until August 2).
* July 30 – The Harriman Alaska Expedition ends successfully.

August

* August 3 – The John Marshall Law School is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
* August 10 – Major Taylor wins the world 1-mile professional cycling championship in Montreal, securing his place as the first African American world champion in any sport.
* August 17 – A hurricane makes landfall in North Carolina's Outer Banks, completely destroying the town of Diamond City.

September

* September 6 – Open Door Policy is a term in foreign affairs initially used to refer to the United States policy established in the late-nineteenth century and the early-twentieth century, as enunciated in Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door Note,
* September 14 – Henry H. Bliss becomes the first person to be killed by a motor vehicle in the United States. Upon disembarking from a streetcar in New York City, an electric-powered taxicab strikes and crushes him and he dies from his injuries the following morning.

October

* October 30 – The Augusta High School Building is completed in Augusta, Kentucky; Augusta Methodist College shuts down.

November

* November 4 – The Alpha Sigma Tau sorority is founded in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
* November 8 – The Bronx Zoo opens in New York City.
* November 21 – Vice President Garret Hobart dies of heart failure.

December

* December 2 – Philippine–American War – Battle of Tirad Pass: ("The Filipino Thermopylae") General Gregorio del Pilar and his troops are able to guard the retreat of Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo before being wiped out.
* December 25 – The 6.7 San Jacinto earthquake shook the Inland Empire area of Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''), causing six deaths and $50,000 in damage.

Undated

* The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the town of Manteo, which was originally laid out as the Dare county seat in 1870.
* Gold is discovered in Nome, Alaska.
* Public Archives Commission established.

Ongoing

* Gay Nineties (1890–1899)
* Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)
* Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)
* Philippine–American War (1899–1902)
* Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) Boxer Rebellion#Allied intervention.2C the Boxer War.2C and the aftermath

Births

* January 9 – John A. Danaher, U.S. Senator from Connecticut 1939–1945 (died 1990).
* January 17 – Al Capone, gangster and crime boss (died 1947).
* February 4 – Virginia M. Alexander, African American physician (died 1949)
* February 22
**Dwight Frye, actor (died 1943).
** George O'Hara, silent film actor and screenwriter (died 1966).
* February 27 – Charles H. Best, medical scientist (died 1978 in Canada).
* April 11 – Percy Lavon Julian, African American research chemist (died 1975).
* April 28 РMary Loveless, n̩e Hewitt, immunologist (died 1991).
* April 29 – Duke Ellington, jazz musician and composer (died 1974).
* May 10 РFred Astaire, n̩ Austerlitz, dancer and singer (died 1987).
* May 15 – Leonard B. Jordan, U.S. Senator from Idaho 1962–1973 (died 1983).
* June 4 – Arthur Barker, son of Ma Barker and a member of the Barker-Karpis gang (died 1939)
* July 7
** Anna Baetjer, toxicologist (died 1984).
** Claude P. Dettloff, photographer (died 1978 in Canada).
* July 6 – Susannah Mushatt Jones, African American supercentenarian, oldest (confirmed) living person 2015–2016 (died 2016).
* July 17 – James Cagney, film actor (died 1986).
* July 21
** Hart Crane, poet (died 1932)
** Ernest Hemingway, fiction writer and journalist (died 1961).
* July 23 – Carl G. Fenner, botanist (died 1991).
* September 9 – Neil Hamilton, actor (died 1984).
* September 11 – Jimmie Davis, country and gospel singer-songwriter and politician (died 2000).
* October 3 – Gertrude Berg, American actress, screenwriter and producer (died 1966)
* November 5 – Margaret Atwood Judson, historian and author (died 1991).
* November 22 – Hoagy Carmichael, composer and singer (died 1981).
* December 20 – John Sparkman, U.S. Senator from Alabama 1946–1979 (died 1985).
* December 25 – Humphrey Bogart, film actor (died 1957).
* Caroline F. Ware, historian and New Deal activist (died 1990).

Deaths

* January 23 – Daniel O'Connell, journalist, poet and writer (born 1849)
* January 26 – Augustus Hill Garland, U.S. Senator from Arkansas 1885–1889 (born 1832).
* March 1 – Philip W. McKinney, 41st Governor of Virginia (born 1832).
* March 18 – Othniel Charles Marsh, paleontologist (born 1831).
* March 19 – Patrick Walsh, Irish-born U.S. Senator from Georgia 1894–1895 (born 1840).
* April 10 – Horace Tabor, U.S. Senator from Colorado in 1883 (born 1830).
* April 22 – Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., founder of the Kentucky Derby (born 1846)
* April 24 – Richard J. Oglesby, U.S. Senator from Illinois 1873–1878 (born 1824).
* June 7 – Augustin Daly, dramatist and theater manager (born 1838).
* July 18 – Horatio Alger, Jr., Unitarian minister and author (born 1832).
* August 8 – Lucy Pickens, socialite, known during and after her lifetime as the "Queen of the Confederacy" (born 1832)
* August 22 – Caspar Buberl, Bohemian-born sculptor (born 1834).
* September 9 – James B. Eustis, U.S. Senator from Louisiana 1876–1879 and 1885–1891 (born 1834).
* September 12 – Cornelius Vanderbilt II, businessman (born 1843).
* October 4 – Jimmy Logue, Philadelphia based burglar (born 1837).
* October 5 – James Harlan, U.S. Senator from Iowa 1865–1866 (born 1820).
* October 18 – Gussie Davis, African American songwriter (born 1863).
* October 28 – Ottmar Mergenthaler, German-born inventor (born 1854).
* October 30 – William H. Webb, shipbuilder and philanthropist (born 1816).
* November 21 – Garret Hobart, 24th Vice President of the United States from 1897 to 1899 (born 1844).
* November 25 – Robert Lowry, Baptist minister and hymn writer (born 1826).
* December 22 – Dwight L. Moody, preacher and publisher (born 1837).

See also

* List of American films of the 1890s
* Timeline of United States history (1860–1899)

References

Further reading

* . (Covers events May 1898-June 1905)

External links

{{Year in North America, 1899

1890s in the United States
United States
United States
Years of the 19th century in the United States