1887 in the United States

1887 in the United States
Years:	1884 1885 1886 – 1887 – 1888 1889 1890
Flag
38 stars (1877–90)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1865–1918)

Events from the year 1887 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Grover Cleveland (D-New York)
• Vice President: vacant
• Chief Justice: Morrison Waite (Ohio)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: John G. Carlisle (D-Kentucky)
• Congress: 49th (until March 4), 50th (starting March 4)

Governors and Lieutenant Governors

Governors Governor of Alabama: Thomas Seay (Democratic) Governor of Arkansas: Simon Pollard Hughes, Jr. (Democratic) Governor of California: until January 8: George Stoneman (Republican) January 8-September 12: Washington Bartlett (Democratic) starting September 12: Robert Waterman (Republican) Governor of Colorado: Benjamin Harrison Eaton (Republican) (until January 11), Alva Adams (Democratic) (starting January 11) Governor of Connecticut: Henry B. Harrison (Republican) (until January 7), Phineas C. Lounsbury (Republican) (starting January 7) Governor of Delaware: Charles C. Stockley (Democratic) (until January 18), Benjamin T. Biggs (Democratic) (starting January 18) Governor of Florida: Edward A. Perry (Democratic) Governor of Georgia: John B. Gordon (Democratic) Governor of Illinois: Richard J. Oglesby (Republican) Governor of Indiana: Isaac P. Gray (Democratic) Governor of Iowa: William Larrabee (Republican) Governor of Kansas: John A. Martin (Republican) Governor of Kentucky: J. Proctor Knott (Democratic) (until August 30), Simon B. Buckner (Democratic) (starting August 30) Governor of Louisiana: Samuel D. McEnery (Democratic) Governor of Maine: until January 5: Frederick Robie (Republican) January 5-December 15: Joseph R. Bodwell (Republican) starting December 15: Sebastian Streeter Marble (Republican) Governor of Maryland: Henry Lloyd (Democratic) Governor of Massachusetts: George D. Robinson (Republican) (until January 6), Oliver Ames (Republican) (starting January 6) Governor of Michigan: Russell Alger (Republican) (until January 1), Cyrus G. Luce (Republican) (starting January 1) Governor of Minnesota: Lucius F. Hubbard (Republican) (until January 5), Andrew R. McGill (Republican) (starting January 5) Governor of Mississippi: Robert Lowry (Democratic) Governor of Missouri: John S. Marmaduke (Democratic) (until December 28), Albert P. Morehouse (Democratic) (starting December 28) Governor of Nebraska: James W. Dawes (Republican) (until January 6), John Milton Thayer (Republican) (starting January 6) Governor of Nevada: Jewett W. Adams (Democratic) (until January 3), Charles C. Stevenson (Democratic) (starting January 3) Governor of New Hampshire: Moody Currier (Democratic) (until June 2), Charles H. Sawyer (Democratic) (starting June 2) Governor of New Jersey: Leon Abbett (Democratic) (until January 18), Robert Stockton Green (Democratic) (starting January 18) Governor of New York: David B. Hill (Democratic) Governor of North Carolina: Alfred Moore Scales (Democratic) Governor of Ohio: Joseph B. Foraker (Republican) Governor of Oregon: Z. F. Moody (Republican) (until January 12), Sylvester Pennoyer (Democratic) (starting January 12) Governor of Pennsylvania: Robert E. Pattison (Democratic) (until January 18), James A. Beaver (Republican) (starting January 18) Governor of Rhode Island: George P. Wetmore (Republican) (until May 29), John W. Davis (Democratic) (starting May 29) Governor of South Carolina: John Peter Richardson III (Democratic) Governor of Tennessee: William B. Bate (Democratic) (until January 17), Robert Love Taylor (Democratic) (starting January 17) Governor of Texas: John Ireland (Democratic) (until January 20), Lawrence Sullivan Ross (Democratic) (starting January 20) Governor of Vermont: Ebenezer J. Ormsbee (Republican) Governor of Virginia: Fitzhugh Lee (Democratic) Governor of West Virginia: Emanuel Willis Wilson (Democratic) Governor of Wisconsin: Jeremiah McLain Rusk (Republican) Lieutenant Governors Lieutenant Governor of California: until January 8: John Daggett (Democratic) January 8-September 13: Robert Whitney Waterman (Republican) starting September 13: Stephen M. White (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Peter W. Breene (Republican) (until January 11), Norman H. Meldrum (Democratic) (starting January 11) Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Lorrin A. Cooke (Republican) (until January 8), James L. Howard (Republican) (starting January 8) Lieutenant Governor of Florida: Milton H. Mabry (no political party) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John Smith (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: vacant Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: John A. T. Hull (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Alexander P. Riddle (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: James R. Hindman (Democratic) (until August 30), James William Bryan (Democratic) (starting August 30) Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Clay Knobloch (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Oliver Ames (Republican) (until January 4), John Q. A. Brackett (political party unknown) (starting January 4) Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Archibald Buttars (Republican) (until month and day unknown), James H. MacDonald (Republican) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Charles A. Gilman (Republican) (until January 4), Albert E. Rice (Republican) (starting January 4) Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: G. D. Shands (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Albert P. Morehouse (Democratic) (until December 28), vacant (starting December 28) Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Hibbard H. Shedd (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Charles H. Laughton (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Henry C. Davis (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of New York: Edward F. Jones (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Charles M. Stedman (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Robert P. Kennedy (Republican) (until March 3), Silas A. Conrad (Republican) (starting March 3) Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Chauncey Forward Black (Democratic) (until January 20), William T. Davies (Republican) (starting January 20) Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Lucius B. Darling (political party unknown) (until May 29), Samuel R. Honey (political party unknown) (starting May 29) Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: William Mauldin (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Cabell R. Berry (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Z. W. Ewing (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Barnett Gibbs (Democratic) (until January 18), Thomas B. Wheeler (Democratic) (starting January 18) Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Levi K. Fuller (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: John Edward "Parson" Massey (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Sam S. Fifield (Republican) (until January 3), George W. Ryland (Republican) (starting January 3)

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.
• 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.
• August – The U.S. National Institutes of Health is founded at the Marine Hospital, Staten Island, New York, as the Laboratory of Hygiene.

Undated

• Teachers College, later part of Columbia University, is founded.

Ongoing

• Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896)

Births

• January 22 – David W. Stewart, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1926 to 1927 (died 1974)
• February 6 – Ernest Gruening, U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1959 to 1969 (died 1974)
• April 9 – Florence Price, African American classical composer (died 1953)
• September 8 – Jacob L. Devers, U.S. Army general (died 1979)
• November 15 – Georgia O'Keefe, American Artist (died 1986)
• December 19 – George R. Swift, U.S. Senator from Alabama in 1946 (died 1972)

Deaths

• March 8 – Henry Ward Beecher, clergyman and reformer (born 1813)
• March 26 – Walt Whitman, poet, essayist, and journalist (born 1819)
• May 19 – Charles E. Stuart, United States Senator from Michigan from 1853 till 1859. (born 1810)
• June 4 – William A. Wheeler, 19th Vice President of the United States from 1877 till 1881. (born 1819)
• June 25 – James Speed, U.S. Attorney General from 1864 till 1866 under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. (born 1812)
• July 18 – Robert M. T. Hunter, Virginian lawyer, politician, 14th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, 2nd Confederate States Secretary of State (born 1809)
• August 14 – Aaron A. Sargent, United States Senator from California from 1873 till 1879. (born 1827)
• November 8 – Doc Holliday, gunfighter and gambler (born 1851)

External links

• Media related to 1887 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons