1899 in the United States explained
This article is intended to provide an overview of notable events from the year 1899 in the United States.
Incumbents
Garret Hobart (R-New Jersey) (until November 21)
vacant (starting November 21)
Thomas Brackett Reed (R-Maine) (until March 4)
David B. Henderson (R-Iowa) (starting December 4)
Events
January
- January 1 - Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City.
- January 4 - The American Society of Landscape Architects, still in existence 125 years later, is founded.
- January 9 - George F. Hoar, a U.S. Senator for Massachusetts, speaks out in the Senate against American expansion into the Philippines. The text of Hoar's speech is sent by cable to Hong Kong at a cost of $4,000 and is later cited by Ambassador John Barrett on January 13, 1900, as an incitement to Filipino attacks on U.S. troops.[1]
- January 10 - The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity is founded at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.
- January 11 - The Steel Plate Transferrers' Association, the first labor union for workers skilled in siderography (the engraving and mass reproduction of steel plates for newspaper printing) is established. After changing its name to the International Association of Siderographers, it will have 80 members at its peak. It dissolves in 1991, with only eight members left.[2]
- January 15 - The name of Puerto Rico is changed by the new U.S. military government to "Porto Rico".[3] It will not be changed back until May 17, 1932.
- January 17 - The United States takes possession of Wake Island.
- January 18 - The General Assembly of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania begins the task of filling the U.S. Senate seat of Matthew Quay, who resigned after being indicted on criminal charges. After 79 ballots and three months, no candidate has a majority, and the General Assembly refuses to approve the governor's appointment of a successor, so the seat remains vacant for more than two years. The Pennsylvania experience later leads to the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to provide for U.S. Senators to be directly elected by popular vote, rather than by the state legislatures.
- January 19 - Future film producer Samuel Goldwyn, born in Poland and later a resident of Germany and England, arrives in the United States at the age of sixteen as Szmuel Gelbfisz.
- January 20 - The Schurman Commission is created by President William McKinley to study the American approach to the sovereignty of the Philippines, ceded to the U.S. on December 10 by Spain. The five-man group, chaired by Cornell University President Jacob Schurman, later concludes that the Philippines will need to become financially independent before a republic can be created.
- January 25 - The city of Ponce, Puerto Rico is saved from disaster by seven firemen and one volunteer civilian who disobey orders and stop "El Polverin", a fire near the U.S. Army's store of explosive artillery. A "Monument to the Heroes of El Poverin" is later erected in their honor.
- January 26 - U.S. Representative George Henry White of North Carolina, the only African-American in Congress at this time, delivers his first major speech, speaking out against disenfranchisement of black voters and proposing that the number of representatives from a U.S. state should be based on the number of persons of voting age who actually cast ballots, rather than population.[4]
- January 28 - At a time when U.S. Senators are elected by the state legislature rather than by ballot, wealthy businessman William A. Clark is elected senator by the Montana state legislature after offering bribes to most of its members. The U.S. Senate refuses to seat him after evidence of the bribery is revealed.[5]
- January 29 - A lawyer for the estate of John W. Keely, an inventor who had persuaded investors in his Keely Motor Company that an automobile could be created that would operate from Keely's "induction resonance motion motor" which had achieved perpetual motion, reveals that the late Mr. Keely's motor has been a fraud, and that the widow knew nothing of it.[6]
- January 31 - Cherokee Nation voters in the Indian Territory (later the U.S. state of Oklahoma) approve a proposition to allot Cherokee lands and to dissolve the Cherokee government, but the U.S. Congress never ratifies the results.
February
- February 3 – Kansas University's new college basketball team, coached by the game's inventor, Dr. James Naismith, plays its first game, and is defeated by the YMCA team of Kansas City, Kansas, 16 to 5.[7]
- 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 9 – The Dodge Commission exonerates the U.S. Department of War from responsibility in the United States Army beef scandal. While War Secretary Russell Alger is not accused of criminal negligence, the Commission implies that he was incompetent and he is later forced to resign.[8]
- February 10
- Spanish–American War: The U.S. receives the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico as a result of the Treaty of Paris.
- Future U.S. President Herbert Hoover and his fiancée Lou Henry, both 24, are married at her parents' home in Monterey, California, and depart the next day for a 14-month stay in China, where Hoover works as a mining engineer.
- February 11 – The coldest temperature recorded up to this time in the continental United States is set as Fort Logan, Montana, records a low of .[9]
- 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 13 – In New York, the White Star ocean liner SS Germanic, already laden with ice and snow during its voyage from Liverpool, becomes even more weighed down after disembarking its passengers when the New York City blizzard strikes. With of added weight, the ship begins to list sideways and additional weight enters cargo doors that have been opened for refuelling. Germanic remains on the bottom of New York Harbor for more than a week while salvaging goes on, then requires refurbishing for three months, but becomes operational again.[10]
- February 14 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
- February 22 – Convention Hall, which later hosts two national political conventions, opens in Kansas City, Missouri, with a concert by the band of John Philip Sousa. The building burns down less than 14 months later.
March
April
May
June
July
August
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
November
December
Undated
Ongoing
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 2 - Herbie Faye, actor (d. 1980)
- February 4 - Virginia M. Alexander, African-American physician (died 1949)[13]
- February 7 - Earl Whitehill, baseball player (died 1954)[14]
- February 22
- February 27 - Charles Best, medical scientist (died 1978 in Canada).
- March 4 - Harry R. Wellman, academic (died 1997)
- April 11 - Percy Lavon Julian, African American research chemist (died 1975).
- April 28 - Mary Loveless, née Hewitt, immunologist (died 1991).
- April 29 - Duke Ellington, jazz musician and composer (died 1974).
- May 10 - Fred Astaire, né 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
- 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
- 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)[16]
- 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).[17]
- October 5 - James Harlan, U.S. Senator from Iowa 1865 - 1866 (born 1820).
- October 14 - Anna Cabot Quincy Waterston, writer of poems, novels, hymns, and a diary (born 1812).
- 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
Further reading
- . (Covers events May 1898-June 1905)
Notes and References
- News: Mr. Hoar's Part in the Filipino War . The New York Times . January 15, 1900 . 1.
- Book: Stewart, Estelle May. Handbook of American trade-unions: 1936 edition. United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. United States Government Printing Office. 1936.
- William Dinwiddie, Puerto Rico, its Conditions and Possibilities (Harper & Brothers, 1899) p. 261
- George Henry White", in Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007, ed. by Robert A. Brady (U.S. Government Printing Office, 2008) p. 260
- Joseph Kinsey Howard, Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome (University of Nebraska Press, 2003) p. 67
- Arthur W. J. G. Ord-Hume, Perpetual Motion (Adventures Unlimited Press, 2015) p.146
- Kenneth N. Johnson, Kansas University Basketball Legends (Arcadia Publishing, 2013)
- "War Department Investigating Commission", by Joseph Smith, in The War of 1898, and U.S. Interventions, 1898–1934: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Benjamin R. Beede (Taylor & Francis, 1994) pp. 582-584
- https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/climate-history-great-arctic-outbreak-february-1899 "Climate History: The Great Arctic Outbreak of February 1899"
- Ian Collard, The British Cruise Ship An Illustrated History 1844-1939 (Amberley Publishing, 2013)
- Web site: Professional Information. The Major Taylor Society. January 23, 2012. February 11, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120211172824/http://www.majortaylor.com/page3.html. dead.
- Web site: Milestones of the U.S. Archival Profession and the National Archives, 1800-2011 . U.S. National Archives and Records Administration . August 22, 2016 .
- Web site: Dr. Virginia M. Alexander. U.S. National Library of Medicine. October 18, 2017.
- https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whiteea01.shtml Earl Whitehill
- Web site: Hart Crane American poet . Encyclopedia Britannica . July 27, 2021 . en.
- Web site: Gertrude Berg American actress, producer, and screenwriter . Encyclopedia Britannica . January 25, 2021 . en.
- News: Abbreviated Telegrams. October 6, 1899. Rock Island Argus. April 3, 2015. Chronicling America. 1.
