1892 in the United States explained

Events from the year 1892 in the United States.

Incumbents

• President: Benjamin Harrison (R-Indiana)
• Vice President: Levi P. Morton (R-New York)
• Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (Illinois)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Charles Frederick Crisp (D-Georgia)
• Congress: 52nd

Events

January–March

• January 1  - Ellis Island begins receiving immigrants to the United States.^[1]
• January 15  - James Naismith's rules for basketball are published for the first time in the Springfield YMCA International Training School's newspaper, in an article titled "A New Game".
• January 20  - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
• February 1  - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill is established in Rico, Colorado.
• February 12  - Former President Abraham Lincoln's birthday is declared a national public holiday in the United States.
• February 18  - Pennsauken Township, New Jersey is incorporated.
• February 23  - The 7.1–7.2 Laguna Salada earthquake shakes Southern California and northern Mexico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).
• March 15  - Jesse W. Reno patents the first working escalator, used at Old Iron Pier, Coney Island, New York City.

April–June

• April  - The Johnson County War breaks out between small farmers and large ranchers in Wyoming.
• April 15  - The General Electric Company is established through merger of the Thomson-Houston Company and the Edison General Electric Company.
• April 19  - The 6.4 M_La Vacaville–Winters earthquake shakes the North Bay are of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). This first event in a doublet earthquake results in one death and is followed two days later by a 6.2 M_La shock. Total damage from the events is $225,000–250,000.
• April 28  - Redondo Beach, California, is founded.
• April 30  - Lynching of Ephraim Grizzard, an African American, in Nashville, Tennessee.
• May 10  - Glen Ellyn, Illinois is incorporated.
• May 11  - The 18th Kentucky Derby is run in Louisville, Kentucky; Azra finishes first, Huron second and Phil Dwyer third in a race with only three horses.
• May 28  - The Sierra Club is organized by John Muir in San Francisco, California.
• June 6  - The Chicago "L" elevated railway opens.
• June 7  - Homer Plessy, who is one-eighth African heritage with light skin, is arrested for sitting (deliberately) on the whites-only car in Louisiana, leading to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson court case.
• June 30  - The Homestead Strike begins in Homestead, Pennsylvania, culminating in a battle between striking workers and private security agents on July 6.

July–September

• July 4  - Samoa changes its time zone to being 3 hours behind California, such that it crosses the international date line and July 4 occurs twice.
• July 6  - Homestead Strike: The arrival of a force of 300 Pinkerton detectives from New York City and Chicago results in a fight in which about 10 men are killed.
• August 1  - Thomas G. Jones is reelected the 28th governor of Alabama defeating Reuben Kolb.
• August 4
  • The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found violently murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home; she will be acquitted of their murder.
  • Franklin Park, Illinois is incorporated as a village.
• August 9  - Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
• August 13  - The Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, the country's longest-running African American family owned newspaper business, publishes its first issue (publisher, John H. Murphy, Sr.).

October–December

• October 5  - The Dalton Gang, attempting to rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas, is shot by the townspeople; only Emmett Dalton, with 23 wounds, survives to spend 14 years in prison.
• October 12  - To mark the 400th anniversary Columbus Day holiday, the "Pledge of Allegiance" is first recited in unison by students in U.S. public schools.
• October 24  - Boston Beaneaters win their Fifth National League Pennant by defeating Cleveland Spiders 5 games to 0.
• November 8
  • 1892 U.S. presidential election

Grover Cleveland is elected over Benjamin Harrison and James B. Weaver to win the second of his non-consecutive terms.

• • The four-day New Orleans General Strike begins.
• November 12  - Pudge Heffelfinger is paid $525 by the Allegheny Athletic Association, becoming the first professional American football player on record.
• December 17  - Vogue magazine launched.

Undated

• Shredded wheat breakfast cereal first sold to restaurants by Henry Perky.
• Ithaca College founded as Ithaca Conservatory of Music in New York (state) by William Grant Egbert.
• Lowell High School is founded in Lowell, Indiana.
• Aberdeen, Maryland, is founded.
• The Cadet Band (modern-day Highty-Tighties) of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (modern-day Virginia Tech) is established in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets.
• Andrew Carnegie combines all of his separate businesses into the Carnegie Steel Company, allowing him to gain a monopoly in the United States steel industry.

Ongoing

• Garza Revolution in Texas and Mexico (1891–1893)
• Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896)
• Gay Nineties (1890–1899)
• Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)

Births

• January 9  - Eva Bowring, U.S. Senator from Nebraska in 1954 (died 1985)
• January 14  - Hal Roach, film and television producer, director and actor (died 1992)
• January 16
  • Homer Burton Adkins, chemist (died 1949)
  • Charles W. Ryder, general (died 1960)
  • William A. Stanfill, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1945 to 1946 (died 1971)
• January 26  - Zara Cully, actress (died 1978)
• February 19  - Scott W. Lucas, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1939 to 1951 (died 1968)
• February 29
  • Ed Appleton, baseball player (died 1932)
  • Augusta Savage, African American sculptor (died 1962)
• March 9  - Arthur Caesar, screenwriter (died 1953)
• March 26  - Paul Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1949 to 1967 (died 1976)
• April 8  - Rose McConnell Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1936 to 1937 (died 1970)
• May 5  - Rajarsi Janakananda, millionaire and disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda (died 1955)
• May 10  - Arthur E. Nelson, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1942 to 1943 (died 1955)
• May 16  - Osgood Perkins, actor (died 1937)
• May 19  - Pops Foster, jazz bass player (died 1969)
• May 20  - Harry J. Anslinger, 1st Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (died 1975)
• May 24  - Joe Oeschger, baseball pitcher (died 1986)
• June 6  - Donald F. Duncan, Sr., toymaker and businessman, founder of Duncan Toys Company (died 1971)
• June 15  - Wallace Wade, American football coach, University of Alabama, Duke University (died 1986)
• July 4  - Henry M. Mullinnix, admiral (d. 1943)
• July 10  - Spessard Holland, U.S. Senator from Florida from 1946 to 1971 (died 1971)
• July 24 - Alice Ball, American chemist who developed the "Ball Method", for treating leprosy (died 1916)
• July 26  - Sad Sam Jones, baseball player (died 1966)
• July 29  - William Powell, film actor (died 1984)
• August 6  - Edith Achilles, psychologist (died 1989)
• August 16  - Otto Messmer, cartoonist (died 1983)
• August 20  - George Aiken, U.S. Senator from Vermont from 1941 to 1975 (died 1984)
• August 23  - Alexander G. Barry, U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1938 to 1939 (died 1952)
• October 6  - Jackie Saunders, silent film actress (died 1954)
• October 13  - Malcolm McGregor, silent film actor (died 1945)
• October 28  - Dink Johnson, jazz musician (died 1954)
• November 10  - Frank A. Barrett, U.S. Senator from Wyoming from 1953 to 1959 (died 1962)
• December 15  - J. Paul Getty, industrialist (died 1976)

Deaths

• January 2  - Montgomery C. Meigs, career U.S. Army officer and civil engineer, Quartermaster General of the United States Army during and after the American Civil War (born 1816)
• February 28  - Elias Nelson Conway, 5th Governor of Arkansas from 1852 to 1860 (born 1812)
• March 26  - Walt Whitman, poet, author of Leaves of Grass (born 1819).
• April 6  - Willard Saulsbury, Sr., U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1873 to 1892 (born 1820)
• May 14  - John S. Barbour, Jr., U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1889 to 1892 (born 1820)
• June 8  - Robert Ford, outlaw, killer of Jesse James (born 1862)
• July 14  - Newton Booth, U.S. Senator from California from 1875 to 1881 (born 1825)
• August 16  - Thomas H. Watts, 18th Governor of Alabama, 3rd Confederate States Attorney General (born 1819)
• September 23  - John Pope, career U.S. Army officer and Union general in the Civil War (born 1822)
• October 5  - outlaw members of Dalton Gang (shot)
  • Bob Dalton (born 1869)
  • Grat Dalton (born 1861)
• October 18  - William W. Chapman, politician and lawyer (born 1808)
• October 25  - Caroline Harrison, First Lady of the United States as wife of President Benjamin Harrison (born 1832)
• November 29  - Graham N. Fitch, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1857 to 1861 (born 1809)
• December 2  - Jay Gould, railroad developer and speculator (born 1836)
• December 15  - Randall L. Gibson, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1883 to 1892 (born 1832)
• December 31  - Henry P. Baldwin, Governor of Michigan from 1869 to 1873 and U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1879 to 1881 (born 1814)
• Zenas King, bridge builder (born 1818)

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Book: Harlan D. Unrau. Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York-New Jersey. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. 1984. 208.