1897

Events from the year 1897 in the United States.
==Incumbents==
===Federal Government===
* President: Grover Cleveland (D-NY) (until March 4), William McKinley (R-OH) (starting March 4)
* Vice President: Adlai E. Stevenson I (D-IL) (until March 4), Garret Hobart (R-NJ) (starting March 4)
* Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (IL)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Brackett Reed (R-ME)
* Congress: 54th (until March 4), 55th (starting March 4)
==Events==
===January - March===
* January 2 – Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded at Barnard College in New York City
* February 19 – United States Copyright Office established as a department in the Library of Congress.
* February 22 – Black Hills National Forest is established.
* March 4 – William McKinley is sworn in as the 25th President of the United States, and Garret Hobart is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
===April - June===
* April 19 – The first Boston Marathon is run, with fifteen men competing, and won by John McDermott.
* 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."
===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.
* August 31 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a precursor of the movie projector.
* 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.
* September 21 – In response to a letter written by 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon, The Sun publishes an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church stating, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".
===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 at State Female Normal School now Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.
* November 1 – The Library of Congress Building in Washington, D.C., designed by Paul J. Pelz, is opened.
==Memoriam==
* February 3 – John A. Brooks, religious scholar and prohibitionist (aged 60; Memphis, TN, USA)
* March 2 – Robert Martin, lawyer and acting Governor of Oklahoma Territory (aged 64; Guthrie, OK Territory, USA)
* April 10 – Daniel W. Voorhees, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1877 to 1897 (aged 69; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 23 – John Henry Raap, Chicago entrepreneur and retailer (aged 56; Chicago, IL, USA)
* June 14 – Juan Domingo Montoya civil war combat veteran, Mosquero canyon, New Mexico, Valverde, glorieta pass (aged 60; Mosquero, NM Territory, USA)
* July 7 – William S. Groesbeck, lawyer and politician (aged 81; Cincinnati, OH, USA)
* July 27 – James Rood Doolittle, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1857 to 1869 (aged 82; Providence, RI, USA)
* August 14 – James Z. George, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1881 to 1897 (aged 70; Gulfport, MS, USA)
* October 2 – Neal Dow, advocate and politician (aged 93; Portland, ME, USA)
* October 3 – Samuel J. R. McMillan, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1875 to 1887 (aged 71; St. Paul, MN, USA)
* October 11 – Charles W. Jones, Ireland-born U.S. Senator from Florida from 1875 to 1887 (aged 62; Dearborn, MI, USA)
* October 13 – William Daniel, politician of Maryland (aged 71; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* October 29
** Henry George, writer, politician and political economist (aged 58; New York City, NY, USA)
** William J. Babcock, Medal of Honor recipient (aged 56; South Kingstown, RI, USA)
* October 31 – Richard Von Albade Gammon, University of Georgia football fullback (died from in-game injury) (aged 17; Atlanta, GA, USA)
* November 3 – Thomas Lanier Clingman, North Carolina congressman, senator and confederate general (aged 85; Morganton, NC, USA)
==External links==
* 1897 in the United States
Category:United States History: Volume 12