1887 in the United States

1887 in the United States
Years 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
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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 – 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.

Sport

• September 28 – The Detroit Wolverines win the National League pennant with a 7-3 victory over the Indianapolis Hoosiers.
• November 24 - Yale wins the Consensus College Football National Championship

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)
• February 7 – Eubie Blake, African American jazz composer-pianist (died 1983)
• March 22 – Chico Marx, comedian (died 1961)
• April 9 – Florence Price, African American classical composer (died 1953)
• September 8 – Jacob L. Devers, U.S. Army general (died 1979)
• September 9 – Alf Landon, Republican politician, presidential candidate (died 1987)
• November 15 – Georgia O'Keeffe, painter (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, 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
  • Dorothea Dix, mental health reformer (born 1802)
  • Robert M. T. Hunter, Virginian lawyer, politician, 14th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, 2nd Confederate States Secretary of State (born 1809)
• 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 23 – Sarah Yorke Jackson, Acting First Lady of the United States (born 1803)
• November 8 – Doc Holliday, gunfighter and gambler (TB; born 1851)
• November 11 – August Spies, American labor activist and newspaper editor (executed; born 1855 in Germany)

See also

• Timeline of United States history (1860–1899)

External links

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