1897 in the United States

1897 in the United States
Years:	1894 1895 1896 – 1897 – 1898 1899 1900
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45 stars (1896–1908)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1865–1918)

Events from the year 1897 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Grover Cleveland (Democratic) (until March 4), William McKinley (Republican) (starting March 4)
• Vice President: Adlai E. Stevenson I (Democratic) (until March 4), Garret Hobart (Republican) (starting March 4)
• Chief Justice: Melville Fuller
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Brackett Reed (R-Maine)
• Congress: 54th (until March 4), 55th (starting March 4)

Events

March 4: William McKinley becomes President

April–June

• April 27 – Grant's Tomb is dedicated in New York.
• May 1 – The Tennessee Centennial Exposition opens in Nashville, for 6 months, illuminated by many electric lights.
• June 1 – American miners begin a strike, which successfully establishes the United Mine Workers Union and brings about the 8-hour work day to mines.
• June 2 – Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he is dead, is quoted by the New York Journal as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

President McKinley as Old Mother Hubbard finds the Federal Treasury cupboard bare

July–September

• July 17 – The Klondike Gold Rush begins when the first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle.
• July 31 – Mount Saint Elias, the second highest peak in the United States and Canada, is first ascended.
• August 21 – Oldsmobile is founded in Lansing, Michigan by Ransom E. Olds.
• September 1 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.
• September 10 – Lattimer Massacre: A sheriff's posse kills more than 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.

October–December

• October 12 – The USS Baltimore (Cruiser # 3, later CM-1) is recommissioned, since 1890, for several months of duty in the Hawaiian Islands.
• October 23 – The Kappa Delta Sorority is founded.
• Undated - The Auburn University Marching Band is created at Auburn University (then known as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama) in Auburn, Alabama.

Ongoing

• Gay Nineties (1890–1899)
• Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)
• Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)

Births

• March 8 – Charles W. Brooks, United States Senator from Illinois from 1940 till 1949. Died in 1957.
• March 31 – Mississippi Winn, last living child of former American slaves (died 2011)
• May 6 – William A. Purtell, United States Senator from Connecticut in 1952 and from 1953 till 1959. Died in 1978.
• June 6 – Homer E. Capehart, United States Senator from Indiana from 1945 to 1963. Died in 1979.
• November 2 – Richard Russell, Jr., United States Senator from Georgia from 1933 till 1971. Died in 1971.

Deaths

• April 10 – Daniel W. Voorhees, United States Senator from Indiana from 1877 to 1897. (born 1827)
• August 14 – James Z. George, United States Senator from Mississippi from 1881 till 1897. (born 1826)
• October 3 – Samuel J. R. McMillan, United States Senator from Minnesota from 1875 till 1887. (born 1826)
• October 11 – Charles W. Jones, Ireland-born United States Senator from Florida from 1875 till 1887. (born 1834)
• November 3 – Thomas Lanier Clingman, North Carolina congressman, senator, and confederate general (born 1812)

External links

• Media related to 1897 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons