# 1901 in the United States

Events from the year 1901 in the United States.

## Incumbents
### Federal government

* President:
       William McKinley (R-Ohio) (until September 14)
       Theodore Roosevelt (R-New York) (starting September 14)
* Vice President:
       vacant (until March 4)
       Theodore Roosevelt (R-New York) (March 4 – September 14)
       vacant (starting September 14)
* Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (Illinois)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: David B. Henderson (R-Iowa)
* Congress: 56th (until March 4), 57th (starting March 4)
* Governors and lieutenant governors
* Governors
* Governor of Alabama: William J. Samford (Democratic) (until June 11), William D. Jelks (Democratic) (starting June 11)
* Governor of Arkansas: Daniel Webster Jones (Democratic) (until January 8), Jeff Davis (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of California: Henry Gage (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Charles Spalding Thomas (Democratic) (until January 8), James Bradley Orman (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Connecticut: George E. Lounsbury (Republican) (until January 9), George P. McLean (Republican) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Delaware: Ebe W. Tunnell (Democratic) (until January 15), John Hunn (Republican) (starting January 15)
* Governor of Florida: William D. Bloxham (Democratic) (until January 8), William Sherman Jennings (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Georgia: Allen D. Candler (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Frank Steunenberg (Democratic) (until January 7), Frank W. Hunt (Democratic) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Illinois: John Riley Tanner (Republican) (until January 14), Richard Yates Jr. (Republican) (starting January 14)
* Governor of Indiana: James A. Mount (Republican) (until January 14), Winfield T. Durbin (Republican) (starting January 14)
* Governor of Iowa: Leslie M. Shaw (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: William E. Stanley (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: J. C. W. Beckham (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: William Wright Heard (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Llewellyn Powers (Republican) (until January 2), John Fremont Hill (Republican) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Maryland: John Walter Smith (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Winthrop Murray Crane (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Hazen S. Pingree (Republican) (until January 1), Aaron T. Bliss (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: John Lind (Democratic) (until January 7), Samuel Rinnah Van Sant (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Mississippi: Andrew H. Longino (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Lon Vest Stephens (Democratic) (until January 14), Alexander Monroe Dockery (Democratic) (starting January 14)
* Governor of Montana: Robert Burns Smith (Democratic) (until January 7), Joseph Toole (Democratic) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Nebraska:
* until January 3: William A. Poynter (Democratic)
* January 3-May 1: Charles Henry Dietrich (Republican)
* starting May 1: Ezra P. Savage (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Reinhold Sadler (Silver)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Frank W. Rollins (Republican) (until January 3), Chester B. Jordan (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of New Jersey: Foster MacGowan Voorhees (Republican)
* Governor of New York: Benjamin Barker Odell Jr. (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of North Carolina: Daniel Lindsay Russell (Republican) (until January 15), Charles Brantley Aycock (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Governor of North Dakota: Frederick B. Fancher (Republican) (until January 10), Frank White (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Ohio: George K. Nash (Republican)
* Governor of Oregon: T. T. Geer (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: William A. Stone (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: William Gregory (Republican) (until December 16), Charles D. Kimball (Republican) (starting December 16)
* Governor of South Carolina: Miles Benjamin McSweeney (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Andrew E. Lee (Populist) (until January 8), Charles N. Herreid (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Tennessee: Benton McMillin (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Joseph D. Sayers (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: Heber Manning Wells (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: William W. Stickney (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: James Hoge Tyler (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: John Rankin Rogers (Populist)/(Democratic) (until December 26), Henry McBride (Republican) (starting December 26)
* Governor of West Virginia: George W. Atkinson (Republican) (until March 4), Albert B. White (Republican) (starting March 4)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Edward Scofield (Republican) (until January 7), Robert M. La Follette Sr. (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Wyoming: DeForest Richards (Republican)
* Lieutenant governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Jacob H. Neff (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Francis Patrick Carney (Populist) (until January 8), David Courtney Coates (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Lyman A. Mills (Republican) (until January 9), Edwin O. Keeler (Republican) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Philip L. Cannon (Republican) (starting January 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: J. H. Hutchinson (Democratic) (until January 7), Thomas F. Terrell (Democratic) (starting January 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: William Northcott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: William S. Haggard (Republican) (until January 14), Newton W. Gilbert (Republican) (starting January 14)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: James C. Milliman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Harry E. Richter (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Albert Estopinal (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: John L. Bates (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Orrin W. Robinson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Lyndon A. Smith (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: James T. Harrison (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: August Bolte (Democratic) (until January 14), John Adams Lee (Democratic) (starting January 14)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Archibald E. Spriggs (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), Frank G. Higgins (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska:
* until January 3: Edward A. Gilbert (Republican)
* January 3-May 1: Ezra P. Savage (Republican)
* starting May 1: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: James R. Judge (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Timothy L. Woodruff (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Charles A. Reynolds (Republican) (until January 15), Wilfred D. Turner (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: vacant (until January 10), David Bartlett (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: John A. Caldwell (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: John P. S. Gobin (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Charles D. Kimball (Republican) (until December 16), vacant (starting December 16)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Robert B. Scarborough (Democratic) (until January 15), James H. Tillman (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: John T. Kean (Republican) (until January 8), George W. Snow (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Seid Waddell (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Newton H. White (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: James Browning (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Martin F. Allen (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Edward Echols (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington:
* until January 14: Thurston Daniels (Populist)
* January 14-December 26: Henry McBride (Republican)
* starting December 26: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Jesse Stone (Republican)

## Events
### January–March

* January 1 – Pentecostalism is born, at a prayer meeting at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas.
* January 3 – Census Commissioner predicts a US population of at least 300 million by 2001
* January 5 – Typhoid fever breaks out in a Seattle jail, the first of two typhoid outbreaks in the United States during the year.
* January 7 – Alfred Packer is released from prison in Colorado after serving 18 years for cannibalism.
* January 10 – In the first great Texas gusher, oil is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.
* January 22 – The Grand Opera House in Cincinnati, Ohio, is destroyed in a fire.
* January 28 – Baseball's American League declares itself a Major League.
* February 4 – Puccini's Tosca makes its U.S. debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
* February 5
** The Hay–Pauncefote Treaty is signed by the United Kingdom and United States, ceding control of the Panama Canal to the United States.
** J. P. Morgan buys mines and steel mills in the United States, marking the first billion-dollar business deal.
** In Evansville, Indiana, a fire burns through the business district, causing $175,000 of damage.
* February 20 – The Hawaii Territory Legislature convenes for the first time.
* February 25 – U.S. Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation and at some time the world's largest producer of steel, is incorporated by industrialist J. P. Morgan.
* March 2
** The U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment, limiting the autonomy of Cuba as a condition for the withdrawal of American troops.
** The Carnegie Steel Company with the Illinois Steel Company and The National Steel Company merge to form the United States Steel Corporation.
* March 4 – President William McKinley begins his second term; Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as Vice President.
* March 9 – The Olds Motor Co. factory in Lansing, Michigan, burns to the ground; it is reconstructed with the world's first automobile assembly line for production of the Oldsmobile Curved Dash.

### April–June

* April 25 – New York State becomes the first to require automobile license plates.
* May – Monte Ne health resort opens in the Ozarks.
* May 3 – The Great Fire of 1901 in Jacksonville, Florida, begins.
* May 17 – The U.S. stock market crashes for the first time.
* May 27 – The Edison Storage Battery Company is founded in New Jersey.
* May 28 – Cherry v. Des Moines Leader is decided in the Iowa Supreme Court, upholding the right to publish critical reviews.
* June 11 – William D. Jelks is sworn in as the 32nd governor of Alabama following the death of William J. Samford.
* June 12 – Cuba becomes a U.S. protectorate.

### July–September

* June 22–July 31 – The worst heat wave in U.S. history until the 1930s, affecting most areas east of the 100th meridian, is estimated to have killed over 9,500 people.
* July 1 – The Bureau of Chemistry is established within the United States Department of Agriculture.
* July 24 – Author O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio after serving 3 years for embezzlement from the First National Bank in Austin, Texas.
* August 10 – U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901: Members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers begin a strike against United States Steel Corporation after failing to reach a settlement of their demands, and 14,000 employees walk off of the job.
* September 2 – Vice President Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
* September 5 – The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (later renamed Minor League Baseball) is formed in Chicago.
* September 6 – American anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley dies 8 days later.
* September 7 – The Boxer Protocol is signed between the Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance.
* September 14 – Vice President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th president of the United States, upon the death of President William McKinley.
* September 26 – The body of President Abraham Lincoln is exhumed and reinterred in concrete several feet thick.

### October–December

* October 4 – The American yacht Columbia defeats the Irish Shamrock in the America's Cup yachting race in New York.
* October 16 – President Theodore Roosevelt invites African American leader Booker T. Washington to the White House. The American South reacts angrily to the visit, and racial violence increases in the region.
* October 23 – Yale University celebrates its bicentennial.
* October 24 – Michigan schoolteacher Annie Taylor goes down Niagara Falls in a barrel and survives.
* October 29
** In Amherst, New Hampshire, nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine; she will confess to at least 31 killings.
** Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of William McKinley, is executed in the electric chair at Auburn state prison.
* November 1 – The Sigma Phi Epsilon college fraternity is founded in Richmond, Virginia.
* November 15 – The Alpha Sigma Alpha college fraternity is founded at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.
* November 28 – The new state constitution of Alabama requires voters to have passed literacy tests.
* December 3 – President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives asking Congress to curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits."

### Undated

* The Intercollegiate Prohibition Association is established in Chicago.
* Force (cereal) first produced.

### Ongoing

* Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)
* Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)
* Philippine–American War (1899–1902)

## Births

* January 2
** Lew Landers, film and television director (died 1962)
** Bob Marshall, wilderness activist, founder of The Wilderness Society (died 1939)
* January 3 – Henrietta Bingham, journalist, newspaper executive, horse-breeder and anglophile (died 1968)
* January 4 – Raoul Berger, Ukrainian-born attorney and law professor (died 2000)
* January 9 – Chic Young, cartoonist (died 1973)
* January 16 – Frank Zamboni, inventor (died 1988)
* January 21 – Marcellus Boss, politician, lawyer, member of Kansas Senate and 5th Civilian Governor of Guam (died 1967)
* February 1
** Howard I. Chapelle, naval architect, museum curator and author (died 1975)
** Clark Gable, actor (died 1960)
* February 8 – Virginius Dabney, teacher, journalist, writer and editor (died 1995)
* February 9 – Brian Donlevy, actor (died 1972)
* February 10
** Stella Adler, actress and teacher (died 1992)
** Anthony Prusinski, politician (died 1950)
* February 22
** Mildred Davis, actress (died 1969)
** Charles Evans Whittaker, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1973)
* March 21 – Carmelita Geraghty, actress (died 1966)
* March 24 – Ub Iwerks, animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor and special effects technician (died 1971)
* March 28 – Jack Weil, entrepreneur (died 2008)
* April 18 – Al Lewis, songwriter (died 1967)
* May 8 – Turkey Stearnes, baseball player (died 1979)
* May 21 – Sam Jaffe, film producer (died 2000)
* June 12 – Arnold Kirkeby, hotelier, art collector, and real estate investor (died 1962)
* July 3 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, modernist composer and folk music arranger (died 1953)
* July 9 – Jester Hairston, actor and composer (died 2000)
* July 10 – Daniel V. Gallery, admiral and author (died 1977)
* July 14
** Lucien Prival, actor (died 1994)
** George Tobias, actor (died 1980)
* July 20 – Heinie Manush, baseball player (died [1971)
* July 21 – Albert Hamilton Gordon, businessman and philanthropist (died 2009)
* July 22 – Pancho Barnes, pioneer aviator (died 1975)
* July 30 – John A. Carroll, U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1957 to 1963 (died 1983)
* August 3 – John C. Stennis, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1947 to 1989 (died 1995)
* August 4 – Louis Armstrong, jazz trumpeter (died 1971)
* August 5 – Thomas J. Ryan, admiral (died 1970)
* August 8 – Ernest Lawrence, nuclear physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 (died 1958)
* August 23 – John Sherman Cooper, U.S. Senator from Kentucky 1946-1949, 1952-1955 and 1956-1973 (died 1991)
* August 28 – Babe London, actress and comedian (died 1980)
* September 5 – Florence Eldridge, actress (died 1988)
* September 24 – Gerald Warner Brace, writer, educator, sailor and boat builder (died 1978)
* September 28 – Ed Sullivan, entertainment writer and television host (died 1974)
* December 5 – Walt Disney, animator, producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor and business magnate (died 1966)
* December 12 – Fred Barker, criminal member of the Barker-Karpis gang, son of Ma Barker (killed 1935)
* December 16 – Margaret Mead, cultural anthropologist and author (died 1978)

## Deaths

* January 6 – James W. Bradbury, United States Senator from Maine from 1847 to 1853 (born 1802)
* January 16
** Murray Hall, born Mary Anderson, bail bondsman and politician (born 1841 in Scotland)
** Hiram Rhodes Revels, first African American senator (born 1827)
* January 21 – Elisha Gray, inventor and co-founder of Western Electric Manufacturing Company (born 1835)
* January 29 – Alexander H. Jones, Congressional Representative from North Carolina (born 1822)
* February 7 – Rowena Granice Steele, first female novelist in California (born 1824)
* February 18 – Anna Gardner, abolitionist (born 1816)
* March 7 – Ruth Alice Armstrong, American social activist (born 1850)
* March 13 – Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893 and U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1881 to 1887 (born 1833)
* March 18 – Patrick Donahoe, businessman, publisher of the Boston Catholic newspaper The Pilot (born 1811)
* April 10 – Harriet Newell Kneeland Goff, reformer (born 1828)
* April 19 – Alfred Horatio Belo, newswriter and businessman, founder of The Dallas Morning News (born 1839)
* April 26 – Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey, educator (born 1819)
* June 2 – James A. Herne, playwright and actor (born 1839)
* July 4
** John Fiske, historian and philosopher (born 1842)
** Julian Scott, artist and Civil War Medal of Honor recipient (born 1846)
* July 7 – Eva M. Reed, botanist (born ?)
* July 30 – Herbert Baxter Adams, educator and historian (born 1850)
* August 4 – Harriet Pritchard Arnold, author (born 1858)
* August 24 – Clara Maass, nurse (born 1876)
* September 14 – William McKinley, 25th president of the United States from 1897 to 1901 (born 1843)
* October 10 – Lorenzo Snow, 5th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1814)
* October 21 – James A. Walker, Confederate general and US Congressman (born 1832)
* October 29 – Leon Czolgosz, assassin of President William McKinley (born 1873)
* November 8 – Mary Ann Bickerdyke, nurse and hospital administrator for Union soldiers (born 1817)
* November 26 – John Denny, buffalo soldier and Medal of Honor recipient (born 1846)
* November 27 – Clement Studebaker, automobile manufacturer (born 1831)