1904

Events from the year **1904 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: William D. Jelks (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Jeff Davis (Democratic)
* Governor of California: George Pardee (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: James Hamilton Peabody (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: Abiram Chamberlain (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: John Hunn (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: William Sherman Jennings (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Joseph M. Terrell (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: John T. Morrison (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Richard Yates Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Winfield T. Durbin (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: Albert B. Cummins (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Willis J. Bailey (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: J. C. W. Beckham (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: William Wright Heard (Democratic) (until May 10), Newton Crain Blanchard (Democratic) (starting May 10)
* Governor of Maine: John Fremont Hill (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: John Walter Smith (Democratic) (until January 13), Edwin Warfield (Democratic) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John L. Bates (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Aaron T. Bliss (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: Samuel Rinnah Van Sant (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Andrew H. Longino (Democratic) (until January 19), James K. Vardaman (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Governor of Missouri: Alexander Monroe Dockery (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: Joseph Toole (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: John H. Mickey (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: John Sparks (Silver)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Nahum J. Bachelder (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Franklin Murphy (Republican)
* Governor of New York: Benjamin Barker Odell Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Charles Brantley Aycock (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: Frank White (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: George K. Nash (Republican) (until January 11), Myron T. Herrick (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Oregon: George Earle Chamberlain (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Samuel W. Pennypacker (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Lucius F. C. Garvin (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: Duncan Clinch Heyward (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Charles N. Herreid (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: James B. Frazier (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: S. W. T. Lanham (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: Heber Manning Wells (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: John G. McCullough (Republican) (until October 6), Charles J. Bell (Republican) (starting October 6)
* Governor of Virginia: Andrew Jackson Montague (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Henry McBride (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Albert B. White (Republican)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Robert M. La Follette Sr. (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Fenimore Chatterton (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Russell M. Cunningham (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Alden Anderson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Warren A. Haggott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Henry Roberts (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Philip L. Cannon (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: James M. Stevens (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: William Northcott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Newton W. Gilbert (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: John Herriott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: David John Hanna (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: William P. Thorne (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Albert Estopinal (Democratic) (until May 10), Jared Y. Sanders Sr. (Democratic) (starting May 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Curtis Guild Jr. (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Alexander Maitland (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Ray W. Jones (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: James T. Harrison (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), John Prentiss Carter (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Thomas Lewis Rubey (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Frank G. Higgins (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Edmund G. McGilton (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Lemuel Allen (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Frank W. Higgins (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Wilfred D. Turner (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: David Bartlett (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Harry L. Gordon (Republican) (until January 11), Warren G. Harding (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: William M. Brown (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Adelard Archambault (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), George H. Utter (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: John Sloan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: George W. Snow (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: E. T. Seay (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: George D. Neal (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Zed S. Stanton (Republican) (until October 6), Charles H. Stearns (Republican) (starting October 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Joseph Edward Willard (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: James O. Davidson (Republican)

## Events

### January - March

* January 2 – The first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America concludes at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
* January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
* January 12 – Henry Ford sets a new automobile land speed record of 91.371 miles per hour (147.047 km/h).
* February 7 – The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
* February 23 – For $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.

### April - June

* April 8 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after *The New York Times*.
* April 30 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri (closes December 1).
* May 4 – U.S. Army engineers begin work on the Panama Canal.
* May 5 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
* May 30 – Alpha Gamma Delta women's fraternity is founded at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.
* June 15 – A fire aboard the steamboat *General Slocum* in New York City's East River kills 1,021.

### July - September

* July 1 – The third Modern Olympic Games opens in St. Louis, Missouri, United States as part of the World's Fair.
* July 23 – In St. Louis, Missouri, the ice cream cone is invented during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
* August 7 – Eden train wreck in Colorado: a bridge is washed away by a flash flood as a train crosses, resulting in at least 88 deaths.
* September 1 – Stuyvesant High School opens in New York City as Manhattan's first manual trade school for boys.
* September 24 – New Market train wreck in Tennessee: two trains collide head-on at speed, resulting in at least 56 deaths.
* September 25 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Joseph F. Smith issues a *Second Manifesto* against polygamy.

### October - December

* October 1 – Phi Delta Epsilon, the international medical fraternity, is founded by Aaron Brown and eight of his friends at Cornell University Medical College.
* October 2 – The Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, predecessor of Bethune–Cookman University, is opened in Florida by Mary McLeod Bethune.
* October 5 – Alpha Kappa Psi, the co-ed Professional Business fraternity, is founded on the campus of New York University
* October 15 – Theta Tau, the Professional Engineering Fraternity, is founded at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
* October 17 – Amadeo Giannini founds the Bank of Italy in San Francisco, predecessor of the Bank of America.
* October 19 – Polytechnic University of the Philippines is founded as Manila Business School through the superintendence of the American Gabriel A. O'Reilly.
* October 27 – The first underground line of the New York City Subway opens.
* November 8 – U.S. presidential election, 1904: Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt defeats Democrat Alton B. Parker.
* December 10 – The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is founded at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
* December 30 – The East Boston Tunnel opens.
* December 31 – In New York City, the first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square.

## Memoriam

* January 2 – James Longstreet, one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War (aged 82; Gainesville, GA, USA)
* January 9 – John Brown Gordon, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1873 to 1880 and from 1891 to 1897 (aged 71; Miami, FL, USA)
* January 11 – Little Joe Monahan, transgender rancher (aged 54; Rockville, OR, USA)
* January 20 – Maria Louisa Bustill, schoolteacher, mother of Paul Robeson (aged 50; Princeton, NJ, USA)
* February 9 – Mary Abbott, golfer (aged 46; Miami, FL, USA)
* February 15 – Mark Hanna, U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1897 to 1904 (aged 66; Washington, DC, USA)
* March 17 – William Elbridge Sewell, naval officer and Governor of Guam (aged 52; Bolton, NY, USA)
* May 28 – Matthew Quay, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1901 to 1904 (aged 70; Beaver, PA, USA)
* June 5 – Olivia Langdon Clemens, editor (aged 58; Florence, Italy)
* June 28 – Dan Emmett, founder of the Virginia Minstrels (aged 88; Mount Vernon, OH, USA)
* July 26 – Henry Clay Taylor, admiral (aged 59; ON, Canada)
* August 1 – Robert E. Pattison, 19th Governor of Pennsylvania (aged 53; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* August 16 – Prentiss Ingraham, author of dime fiction (aged 60; Biloxi, MS, USA)
* August 22 – Kate Chopin, fiction writer (aged 54; St. Louis, MO, USA)
* October 5 – Henry B. Metcalf, prohibitionist and politician (aged 75; Pawtucket, RI, USA)
* October 11 – Trumbull Stickney, classicist and poet (aged 30; Cambridge, MA, USA)
* December 21 – George L. Shoup, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1890 to 1901 (aged 68; Boise, ID, USA)