1887 in the United States explained
Events from the year 1887 in the United States.
Incumbents
Events
- January 20 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.
- January 28 - In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the largest snowflakes on record are reported. They are 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
- February 2 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.
- February 4 - The Interstate Commerce Act, passed by Congress, is signed into law, with the intention of regulating the railroad industry.
- February 8 - The Dawes Act is signed into law by President Grover Cleveland.
- February 26 - Troy University is established as Troy State Normal School; an institution to train teachers for Alabama's schools.
- February - The Atlanta Cyclorama is first displayed in Detroit as "Logan's Great Battle".
- March 3 - Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller.
- March 7 - North Carolina State University is established as North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
- March 19 - Cogswell College is established as a high school by Dr. Henry D. Cogswell in San Francisco, the first technical training institution in the West (the school opens in 1888).
- April 4 - Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the U.S.
- May 14 - The cornerstone of the new Stanford University, in northern California, is laid (the college opens in 1891).
- June 28 - Minot, North Dakota is incorporated as a city.
- July 10 - The Grand Hotel opens in Mackinac, Michigan.
- August - The U.S. National Institutes of Health is founded at the Marine Hospital, Staten Island, New York, as the Laboratory of Hygiene.
- October 3 – Florida A&M University is founded as The State Normal College for Colored Students in Tallahassee, Florida.
- October 14 - Pomona College is founded in Claremont, California.
Undated
Ongoing
- Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896)
Sport
Births
- January 22
- February 6 - Ernest Gruening, U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1959 to 1969 (died 1974)
- February 7 - Eubie Blake, African American jazz composer-pianist (died 1983)
- February 11 - H. Kent Hewitt, admiral (died 1972)
- February 26
- March 4 - Violet MacMillan, Broadway theater actress (died 1953)
- March 5 - Harry Turner, American football player (died 1914)
- March 14 - Charles Reisner, silent actor and film director (died 1962)
- March 22 - Chico Marx, comedian (died 1961)
- April 9 - Florence Price, African American classical composer (died 1953)
- April 15 - Mike Brady, golfer (died 1972)
- July 16 - Shoeless Joe Jackson, baseball outfielder (died 1951)
- July 31 - Peter Bocage, jazz musician (died 1967)
- August 27 - Julia Sanderson, actress (died 1975)
- September 3 - Frank Christian, jazz musician (died 1973)
- September 8 - Jacob L. Devers, U.S. Army general (died 1979)
- September 9 - Alf Landon, Republican politician, presidential candidate (died 1987)
- September 13 - Frank Gray, physicist and researcher, known for the Gray code (died 1969)
- September 28 - Avery Brundage, 5th president of the International Olympic Committee (died 1975)
- September 29 - Annie Dove Denmark, music educator and academic administrator (died 1974)
- November 15 - Georgia O'Keeffe, painter (died 1986)
- December 19 - George R. Swift, U.S. Senator from Alabama in 1946 (died 1972)
- date unknown - White Parker, missionary and actor (died 1956)
Deaths
- January 7 - Aaron Shaw, U.S. Representative from Illinois (born 1811)
- March 8 - Henry Ward Beecher, clergyman and reformer (born 1813)
- March 24 - Justin Holland, classical guitarist and civil rights activist (born 1819)
- May 14
- May 19 - Charles E. Stuart, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1853 to 1859 (born 1810)
- June 4 - William A. Wheeler, 19th vice president of the United States from 1877 to 1881 (born 1819)
- June 25 - James Speed, U.S. Attorney General from 1864 to 1866 under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson (born 1812)
- July 18
- July 25 - John Taylor, 3rd president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1808)
- August 14 - Aaron A. Sargent, U.S. Senator from California from 1873 to 1879 (born 1827)
- August 18 - Orson Squire Fowler, phrenologist and leading proponent of the octagon house (born 1809)
- August 23 - Sarah Yorke Jackson, Acting First Lady of the United States (born 1803)
- November 8 - Doc Holliday, gunfighter, gambler and dentist (TB; born 1851)
- November 11 - August Spies, labor activist, newspaper editor and anarchist (executed; born 1855 in Germany)
- December 24 - Daniel Manning, businessman, journalist and politician, Secretary of the Treasury (born 1831)
See also
Notes and References
- Book: Brown, Thomas J.. Dorothea Dix: New England Reformer. Cambridge MA. Harvard University Press. 1998. 978-0-67421-488-0. 1.
