1891

Events from the year **1891 in the United States**.

* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Brackett Reed (R-ME) (until March 4), Charles Frederick Crisp (D-GA) (starting December 8)
* Congress: 51st (until March 4), 52nd (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Thomas G. Jones (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: James Philip Eagle (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Robert Waterman (Republican) (until January 8), Henry Markham (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Colorado: Job Adams Cooper (Republican) (until January 13), John Long Routt (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Connecticut: Morgan G. Bulkeley (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: Benjamin T. Biggs (Democratic) (until January 20), Robert J. Reynolds (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* Governor of Florida: Francis P. Fleming (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: William J. Northen (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: N. B. Willey (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Joseph W. Fifer (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Alvin P. Hovey (Republican) (until November 23), Ira Joy Chase (Republican) (starting November 23)
* Governor of Iowa: Horace Boies (Democratic)
* Governor of Kansas: Lyman U. Humphrey (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Simon B. Buckner (Democratic) (until September 2), John Y. Brown (Democratic) (starting September 2)
* Governor of Louisiana: Francis T. Nicholls (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Edwin C. Burleigh (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Elihu Emory Jackson (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John Q. A. Brackett (Republican) (until January 8), William E. Russell (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Michigan: Cyrus G. Luce (Republican) (until January 1), Edwin B. Winans (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: William R. Merriam (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: John M. Stone (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: David R. Francis (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: Joseph Toole (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: John Milton Thayer (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Frank Bell (Republican) (until January 5), Roswell K. Colcord (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of New Hampshire: David H. Goodell (Republican) (until January 8), Hiram A. Tuttle (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Governor of New Jersey: Leon Abbett (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: David B. Hill (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Daniel Gould Fowle (Democratic) (until April 7), Thomas Michael Holt (Democratic) (starting April 7)
* Governor of North Dakota: John Miller (Republican) (until January 7), Andrew H. Burke (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Ohio: James E. Campbell (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Sylvester Pennoyer (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: James A. Beaver (Republican) (until January 20), Robert E. Pattison (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* Governor of Rhode Island: John W. Davis (Democratic) (until May 26), Herbert W. Ladd (Republican) (starting May 26)
* Governor of South Carolina: Benjamin Ryan Tillman (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Arthur C. Mellette (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Robert Love Taylor (Democratic) (until January 19), John P. Buchanan (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Governor of Texas: Lawrence Sullivan Ross (Democratic) (until January 20), James Stephen Hogg (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* Governor of Vermont: Carroll S. Page (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: Philip W. McKinney (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Elisha Peyre Ferry (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Aretas B. Fleming (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: William D. Hoard (Republican) (until January 5), George Wilbur Peck (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Wyoming: Amos W. Barber (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Stephen M. White (Democratic) (until January 8), John B. Reddick (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: William Grover Smith (Republican) (until January 13), William Story (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Samuel E. Merwin (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: John S. Gray (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Lyman Ray (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Ira Joy Chase (Republican) (until November 23), Francis M. Griffith (Republican) (starting November 23)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Alfred N. Poyneer (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Andrew Jackson Felt (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: James William Bryan (Democratic) (until September 2), Mitchell Cary Alford (Democratic) (starting September 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: James Jeffries (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William H. Haile (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: William Ball (Republican) (until January 1), John Strong (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Albert E. Rice (Republican) (until January 5), Gideon S. Ives (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: M. M. Evans (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Stephen Hugh Claycomb (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: John E. Rickards (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: George D. Meiklejohn (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Thomas J. Majors (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: vacant (until month and day unknown), Joseph Poujade (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Edward F. Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Thomas M. Holt (Democratic) (until April 7), vacant (starting April 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Alfred Dickey (Republican) (until January 7), Roger Allin (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: William V. Marquis (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: William T. Davies (Republican) (until January 20), Louis Arthur Watres (Republican) (starting January 20)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: William T. C. Wardwell (political party unknown) (until May 26), Henry A. Stearns (political party unknown) (starting May 26)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Eugene B. Gary (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: James H. Fletcher (Republican) (until month and day unknown), George H. Hoffman (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Benjamin J. Lea (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), William C. Dismukes (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Thomas B. Wheeler (Democratic) (until January 19), George Cassety Pendleton (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Henry A. Fletcher (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: James Hoge Tyler (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Charles E. Laughton (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: George W. Ryland (Republican) (until January 5), Charles Jonas (Democratic) (starting January 5)

## Events

* January 20 – Jim Hogg becomes the first native Texan to be governor of that state.
* January 27 – Mammoth Mine disaster
* January 29 – Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii.
* March 3
	+ The International Copyright Act of 1891 is passed by the 51st United States Congress.
	+ Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, predecessor of Shoshone National Forest, in Wyoming is established as the first United States National Forest.
* March 14 – In New Orleans, a lynch mob storms the Old Parish Prison and lynches 11 Italians who had been found not guilty of the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy.
* March 30 – Shoshone National Forest is established in Wyoming, the first U.S. National Forest.
* April 1 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago.
* May 5 – The Music Hall in New York (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as guest conductor.
* May 20 – Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope is first displayed at Edison's Laboratory, for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs.
* June 1 – The Johnstown Inclined Plane opens in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
* June 21 – First long-distance transmission of alternating current by the Ames power plant near Telluride, Colorado by Lucien and Paul Nunn.
* October 1 – Stanford University in California opens its doors.
* October 16 – White River National Forest is established in Colorado.
* November 28 – The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is organized in St. Louis, Missouri.
* December 17 – Drexel University is inaugurated as the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry in Philadelphia.

## Memoriam

* January 5 – Emma Abbott, operatic soprano (aged 40; Salt Lake City, UT Territory, USA)
* January 17 – George Bancroft, historian (aged 90; Washington, DC, USA)
* January 29 – William Windom, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1870 to 1881 and from 1881 to 1883 (aged 63; New York City, NY, USA)
* February 14 – William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War general (aged 71; New York City, NY, USA)
* February 21 – James Timberlake, law enforcement officer (aged 44; Liberty, MO, USA)
* February 28 – George Hearst, U.S. Senator from California from 1887 to 1891 (aged 70; Washington, DC, USA)
* March 6
	+ George M. Chilcott, U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1882 to 1883 (aged 63; St. Louis, MO, USA)
	+ Joshua Hill, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1871 to 1873 (aged 79; Madison, GA, USA)
* March 21 – Joseph E. Johnston, Confederate Army general (aged 84; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 2 – Albert Pike, Confederate military officer, attorney, writer and Freemason (aged 81; Charleston, SC, USA)
* April 14 – Annie Nowlin Savery, suffragist (aged 60; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 3 – Charles C. Foote, American Presbyterian minister, abolitionist and temperance activist (aged 80; White Lake, MI, USA)
* June 9 – Henry Edwards, entomologist and actor (aged 63; New York City, NY, USA)
* June 17 – Harrison Ludington, 13th Governor of Wisconsin from 1876 to 1878 (aged 78; Milwaukee, WI, USA)
* June 21 – Joseph E. McDonald, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1875 to 1881 (aged 71; Indianapolis, IN, USA)
* July 4 – Hannibal Hamlin, 15th Vice President of the United States from 1861 to 1865 (aged 81; Bangor, ME, USA)
* August 5 – Thomas S. Bocock, U.S. Congressman, Speaker of the Confederate States House of Representatives (aged 76; Appomattox County, VA, USA)
* August 12 – James Russell Lowell, Romantic poet, critic, satirist, writer, diplomat and abolitionist (aged 72; Cambridge, MA, USA)
* August 14
	+ John Henry Hopkins Jr., clergyman and hymnist (aged 70; Hudson, NY, USA)
	+ Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of the United States as wife of James K, Polk (aged 87; Nashville, TN, USA)
* August 27 – Samuel C. Pomeroy, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1861 to 1873 (aged 75; Whitinsville, MA, USA)
* September 10 – Charles B. Clark, politician and entrepreneur (aged 47; Watertown, NY, USA)
* September 28 – Herman Melville, novelist, short story writer and poet (aged 72; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 16 – Sarah Winnemucca, Northern Paiute author, activist and educator (aged 47; Henry's Lake, ID, USA)
* November 6 – J. Gregory Smith, Vermont governor (aged 73; St. Albans, VT, USA)
* November 7 – Comanche, horse, survivor of Custer's cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (aged 29; Fort Riley, KS, USA)
* November 17 – George H. Cooper, admiral (aged 70; Brooklyn, NY, USA)
* December 7 – Mary Crane, activist; mother of writer Stephen Crane (aged 64; Paterson, NJ, USA)
* December 12 – Julia A. Ames, reformer (aged 30; Boston, MA, USA)
* December 20 – Preston B. Plumb, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1877 to 1891 (aged 64; Washington, DC, USA)
* December 29 – Marion McKinley Bovard, academic administrator, 1st President of the University of Southern California (aged 44; Los Angeles, CA, USA)