1899

Events from the year **1899 in the United States**.

* Vice President: Garret Hobart (R-NJ) (until November 21), *vacant* (starting November 21)
* Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (IL)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Brackett Reed (R-ME) (until March 4), David B. Henderson (R-IA) (starting December 4)
* Congress: 55th (until March 4), 56th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Joseph F. Johnston (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Daniel Webster Jones (Democratic)
* Governor of California: James Budd (Democratic) (until January 4), Henry Gage (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Colorado: Alva Adams (Democratic) (until January 10), Charles Spalding Thomas (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Connecticut: Lorrin A. Cooke (Republican) (until January 4), George E. Lounsbury (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Delaware: Ebe W. Tunnell (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: William D. Bloxham (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Allen D. Candler (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Frank Steunenberg (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: John Riley Tanner (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: James A. Mount (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: Leslie M. Shaw (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: John W. Leedy (Populist) (until January 9), William E. Stanley (Republican) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Kentucky: William O. Bradley (Republican) (until December 12), William S. Taylor (Republican) (starting December 12)
* Governor of Louisiana: Murphy James Foster Sr. (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Llewellyn Powers (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Lloyd Lowndes Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Roger Wolcott (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Hazen S. Pingree (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: David M. Clough (Republican) (until January 2), John Lind (Democratic) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Mississippi: Anselm J. McLaurin (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Lon Vest Stephens (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: Robert Burns Smith (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Silas A. Holcomb (Democratic) (until January 5), William A. Poynter (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Nevada: Reinhold Sadler (Silver)
* Governor of New Hampshire: George A. Ramsdell (Republican) (until January 5), Frank W. Rollins (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of New Jersey: David Ogden Watkins (Republican) (until January 17), Foster MacGowan Voorhees (Republican) (starting January 17)
* Governor of New York: Theodore Roosevelt (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Daniel Lindsay Russell (Republican)
* Governor of North Dakota: Joseph M. Devine (Republican) (until January 3), Frederick B. Fancher (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Ohio: Asa S. Bushnell (Republican)
* Governor of Oregon: William Paine Lord (Republican) (until January 9), T. T. Geer (Republican) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Daniel H. Hastings (Republican) (until January 17), William A. Stone (Republican) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Elisha Dyer Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: William Haselden Ellerbe (Democratic) (until June 2), Miles Benjamin McSweeney (Democratic) (starting June 2)
* Governor of South Dakota: Andrew E. Lee (Populist)
* Governor of Tennessee: Robert Love Taylor (Democratic) (until January 16), Benton McMillin (Democratic) (starting January 16)
* Governor of Texas: Charles A. Culberson (Democratic) (until January 17), Joseph D. Sayers (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Utah: Heber Manning Wells (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: Edward Curtis Smith (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: James Hoge Tyler (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: John Rankin Rogers (Democratic)
* Governor of West Virginia: George W. Atkinson (Republican)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Edward Scofield (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: William A. Richards (Republican) (until January 2), DeForest Richards (Republican) (starting January 2)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: William T. Jeter (Democratic) (until January 3), Jacob H. Neff (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Jared L. Brush (Republican) (until January 10), Francis Patrick Carney (Populist) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: James D. Dewell (Republican) (until January 4), Lyman A. Mills (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: George F. Moore (Democratic) (Democratic) (until January 2), J. H. Hutchinson (Democratic) (starting January 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: William Northcott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: William S. Haggard (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: James C. Milliman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Alexander Miller Harvey (Populist) (until January 9), Harry E. Richter (Republican) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: William Jackson Worthington (Republican) (until December 12), John Marshall (Republican) (starting December 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Robert H. Snyder (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Winthrop M. Crane (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Thomas B. Dunstan (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Orrin W. Robinson (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: John L. Gibbs (Republican) (until January 3), Lyndon A. Smith (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: J. H. Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: August Bolte (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Archibald E. Spriggs (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: James E. Harris (Democratic) (until January 5), Edward A. Gilbert (Republican) (starting January 5)
* 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)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Asa W. Jones (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Walter Lyon (Republican) (until January 17), John P. S. Gobin (Republican) (starting January 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: William Gregory (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Miles Benjamin McSweeney (Democratic) (until June 2), Robert B. Scarborough (Democratic) (starting June 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Daniel T. Hindman (Republican) (until month and day unknown), John T. Kean (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: John Thompson (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Seid Waddell (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: George Taylor Jester (Democratic) (until January 17), James Browning (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Henry C. Bates (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Edward Echols (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Thurston Daniels (Populist)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Emil Baensch (Republican) (until January 2), Jesse Stone (Republican) (starting January 2)

## Events

### January

* January 1 – Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City.
* January 10 – The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity is founded at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.
* January 17 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island.

### February

* February 4 – The Philippine–American War begins as hostilities break out in Manila.
* February 6 – Spanish–American War: A peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.
* February 10 – Spanish–American War: The U.S. receives Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa, and the Philippines as a result of the Treaty of Paris.
* February 11 – Great Blizzard of 1899: Freezing temperatures and snow extend well south into North America, including southern Florida. It is the latest in a series of disasters to Florida's citrus industry.
* February 14 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.

### March

* March 2 – In Washington state, Mount Rainier National Park is established.
* March 24 – George Dewey is made Admiral of the Navy.

### April

* April 13 – Tahoe National Forest is established in California.
* April 15 – Students at the University of California, Berkeley steal the Stanford Axe from Stanford University yell leaders following a baseball game, thus establishing the Axe as a symbol of the rivalry between the schools.

### May

* May 31 – The launch of the Harriman Alaska Expedition.

### June

* June 7 – Temperance movement crusader Carrie Nation enters a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas, and proceeds to destroy all the alcoholic beverages with rocks.
* June 12 – New Richmond Tornado: A tornado completely destroys the town of New Richmond, Wisconsin, killing 117 people and injuring more than 200.
* June 25 – Three Denver, Colorado newspapers publish a story (later proved to be a fabrication) that the Chinese government under the Guangxu Emperor is going to demolish the Great Wall of China.
* June 30 – *Mile-a-Minute Murphy* earns his famous nickname this day, after he becomes the first man to ride a bicycle for one mile in under a minute on Long Island.

### July

* July 17 – America's first juvenile court is established in Chicago.
* July 19 – The Newsboys Strike takes place when the Newsies of New York City go on strike (strike lasts until August 2).
* July 30 – The Harriman Alaska Expedition ends successfully.

### August

* August 3 – The John Marshall Law School is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
* August 10 – Major Taylor wins the world 1-mile professional cycling championship in Montreal, securing his place as the first African American world champion in any sport.
* August 17 – A hurricane makes landfall in North Carolina's Outer Banks, completely destroying the town of Diamond City.

### September

* September 6 – Open Door Policy is a term in foreign affairs initially used to refer to the United States policy established in the late-nineteenth century and the early-twentieth century, as enunciated in Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door Note,
* September 14 – Henry H. Bliss becomes the first person to be killed by a motor vehicle in the United States. Upon disembarking from a streetcar in New York City, an electric-powered taxicab strikes and crushes him and he dies from his injuries the following morning.

### October

* October 30 – The Augusta High School Building is completed in Augusta, Kentucky; Augusta Methodist College shuts down.

### November

* November 4 – The Alpha Sigma Tau Sorority is founded in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
* November 8 – The Bronx Zoo opens in New York City.
* November 21 – Vice President Garret Hobart dies of heart failure.

### December

* December 2 – Philippine–American War: Battle of Tirad Pass: ("The Filipino Thermopylae") General Gregorio del Pilar and his troops are able to guard the retreat of Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo before being wiped out.
* December 25 – The 6.7 Mw San Jacinto earthquake shook the Inland Empire area of Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (*Violent*), causing six deaths and $50,000 in damage.

## Memoriam

* January 23 – Daniel O'Connell, journalist, poet and writer (aged 50; Sausalito, CA, USA)
* January 26 – Augustus Hill Garland, U.S. Senator from Arkansas 1885–1889 (aged 66; Washington, DC, USA)
* March 1 – Philip W. McKinney, 41st Governor of Virginia (aged 66; Farmville, VA, USA)
* March 18 – Othniel Charles Marsh, paleontologist (aged 67; New Haven, CT, USA)
* March 19 – Patrick Walsh, Irish-born U.S. Senator from Georgia 1894–1895 (aged 59; Augusta, GA, USA)
* April 9 – Stephen Johnson Field, jurist (aged 82; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 10 – Horace Tabor, U.S. Senator from Colorado in 1883 (aged 68; Denver, CO, USA)
* April 22 – Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., founder of the Kentucky Derby (aged 53; Memphis, TN, USA)
* April 24 – Richard J. Oglesby, U.S. Senator from Illinois 1873–1878 (aged 74; Elkhart, IL, USA)
* June 7 – Augustin Daly, dramatist and theater manager (aged 60; Paris, France)
* June 15 – Richard P. Bland, politician, lawyer, and educator (aged 63; Lebanon, MO, USA)
* July 7 – George Washington Julian, politician, lawyer, and writer (aged 82; Irvington, IN, USA)
* July 18 – Horatio Alger, Unitarian minister and author (aged 67; Natick, MA, USA)
* August 8 – Lucy Pickens, socialite, known during and after her lifetime as the "Queen of the Confederacy" (aged 67; Edgewood, SC, USA)
* August 22 – Caspar Buberl, Bohemian-born sculptor (aged 65; New York City, NY, USA)
* September 9 – James B. Eustis, U.S. Senator from Louisiana 1876–1879 and 1885–1891 (aged 65; Newport, RI, USA)
* September 12 – Cornelius Vanderbilt II, businessman (aged 55; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 5 – James Harlan, U.S. Senator from Iowa 1865–1866 (aged 79; Mount Pleasant, IA, USA)
* October 18 – Gussie Davis, African American songwriter (aged 35; Whitestone, NY, USA)
* October 28 – Ottmar Mergenthaler, German-born inventor (aged 45; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* October 30 – William H. Webb, shipbuilder and philanthropist (aged 83; New York City, NY, USA)
* November 21 – Garret Hobart, 24th Vice President of the United States from 1897 to 1899 (aged 55; Paterson, NJ, USA)
* November 25 – Robert Lowry, Baptist minister and hymn writer (aged 73; Plainfield, NJ, USA)
* December 22 – Dwight L. Moody, preacher and publisher (aged 62; Northfield, MA, USA)