1887

Events from the year **1887 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Thomas Seay (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Simon Pollard Hughes Jr. (Democratic)
* Governor of California:
	+ until January 8: George Stoneman (Republican)
	+ January 8-September 12: Washington Bartlett (Democratic)
	+ starting September 12: Robert Waterman (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Benjamin Harrison Eaton (Republican) (until January 11), Alva Adams (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Connecticut: Henry B. Harrison (Republican) (until January 7), Phineas C. Lounsbury (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Delaware: Charles C. Stockley (Democratic) (until January 18), Benjamin T. Biggs (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of Florida: Edward A. Perry (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: John B. Gordon (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Richard J. Oglesby (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Isaac P. Gray (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: William Larrabee (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: John A. Martin (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: J. Proctor Knott (Democratic) (until August 30), Simon B. Buckner (Democratic) (starting August 30)
* Governor of Louisiana: Samuel D. McEnery (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine:
	+ until January 5: Frederick Robie (Republican)
	+ January 5-December 15: Joseph R. Bodwell (Republican)
	+ starting December 15: Sebastian Streeter Marble (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Henry Lloyd (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: George D. Robinson (Republican) (until January 6), Oliver Ames (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Michigan: Russell Alger (Republican) (until January 1), Cyrus G. Luce (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: Lucius F. Hubbard (Republican) (until January 5), Andrew R. McGill (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Mississippi: Robert Lowry (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: John S. Marmaduke (Democratic) (until December 28), Albert P. Morehouse (Democratic) (starting December 28)
* Governor of Nebraska: James W. Dawes (Republican) (until January 6), John Milton Thayer (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Nevada: Jewett W. Adams (Democratic) (until January 3), Charles C. Stevenson (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Moody Currier (Republican) (until June 2), Charles H. Sawyer (Democratic) (starting June 2)
* Governor of New Jersey: Leon Abbett (Democratic) (until January 18), Robert Stockton Green (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of New York: David B. Hill (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Alfred Moore Scales (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: Joseph B. Foraker (Republican)
* Governor of Oregon: Z. F. Moody (Republican) (until January 12), Sylvester Pennoyer (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Robert E. Pattison (Democratic) (until January 18), James A. Beaver (Republican) (starting January 18)
* Governor of Rhode Island: George P. Wetmore (Republican) (until May 29), John W. Davis (Democratic) (starting May 29)
* Governor of South Carolina: John Peter Richardson III (Democratic)
* Governor of Tennessee: William B. Bate (Democratic) (until January 17), Robert Love Taylor (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Texas: John Ireland (Democratic) (until January 20), Lawrence Sullivan Ross (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* Governor of Vermont: Ebenezer J. Ormsbee (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: Fitzhugh Lee (Democratic)
* Governor of West Virginia: Emanuel Willis Wilson (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Jeremiah McLain Rusk (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California:
	+ until January 8: John Daggett (Democratic)
	+ January 8-September 13: Robert Whitney Waterman (Republican)
	+ starting September 13: Stephen M. White (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Peter W. Breene (Republican) (until January 11), Norman H. Meldrum (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Lorrin A. Cooke (Republican) (until January 8), James L. Howard (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Florida: Milton H. Mabry (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John Smith (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: vacant (until January 10), Alonzo G. Smith (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: John A. T. Hull (Republican) (starting January 14)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Alexander P. Riddle (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: James R. Hindman (Democratic) (until August 30), James William Bryan (Democratic) (starting August 30)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Clay Knobloch (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Oliver Ames (Republican) (until January 4), John Q. A. Brackett (political party unknown) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Archibald Buttars (Republican) (until month and day unknown), James H. MacDonald (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Charles A. Gilman (Republican) (until January 4), Albert E. Rice (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: G. D. Shands (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Albert P. Morehouse (Democratic) (until December 28), vacant (starting December 28)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Hibbard H. Shedd (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Charles E. Laughton (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Henry C. Davis (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Edward F. Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Charles M. Stedman (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Robert P. Kennedy (Republican) (until March 3), Silas A. Conrad (Republican) (starting March 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Chauncey Forward Black (Democratic) (until January 20), William T. Davies (Republican) (starting January 20)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Lucius B. Darling (Republican) (until May 29), Samuel R. Honey (political party unknown) (starting May 29)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: William L. Mauldin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Z. W. Ewing (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Thomas B. Wheeler (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Levi K. Fuller (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: John Edward "Parson" Massey (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: George W. Ryland (Republican)

## Events

* January 20 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.
* January 28 – In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the largest snowflakes on record are reported. They are 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
* February 2 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.
* February 4 – The Interstate Commerce Act, passed by Congress, is signed into law, with the intention of regulating the railroad industry.
* February 8 – The Dawes Act is signed into law by President Grover Cleveland.
* February 28 – The Atlanta Cyclorama is first displayed in Detroit as "Logan's Great Battle".
* March 3 – Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller.
* March 7 – North Carolina State University is established as North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
* March 19 – Cogswell College is established as a high school by Dr. Henry D. Cogswell in San Francisco, the first technical training institution in the West (the school opens in 1888).
* April 4 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the U.S.
* May 14 – The cornerstone of the new Stanford University, in northern California, is laid (the college opens in 1891).
* June 28 – Minot, North Dakota is incorporated as a city.
* July 10 – The Grand Hotel opens in Mackinac, Michigan.
* August 1 – The U.S. National Institutes of Health is founded at the Marine Hospital, Staten Island, New York, as the Laboratory of Hygiene.
* October 14 – Pomona College is founded in Claremont, California.

## Sport

* September 28 – The Detroit Wolverines win the National League pennant with a 7-3 victory over the Indianapolis Hoosiers.
* November 24 - Yale wins the Consensus College Football National Championship.

## Memoriam

* January 7 – Aaron Shaw, U.S. Representative from Illinois (aged 75; Olney, IL, USA)
* March 8 – Henry Ward Beecher, clergyman and reformer (aged 73; Queens, NY, USA)
* March 24 – Justin Holland, classical guitarist and civil rights activist (aged 67; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* May 14
	+ Lysander Spooner, philosopher and abolitionist (aged 79; Boston, MA, USA)
	+ William Burnham Woods, Supreme Court justice and politician (aged 62; Washington, DC, USA)
* May 19 – Charles E. Stuart, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1853 to 1859 (aged 76; Kalamazoo, MI, USA)
* June 4 – William A. Wheeler, 19th Vice President of the United States from 1877 to 1881 (aged 67; Malone, NY, USA)
* June 25 – James Speed, U.S. Attorney General from 1864 to 1866 under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson (aged 75; Louisville, KY, USA)
* July 18
	+ Dorothea Dix, mental health reformer (aged 85; Trenton, NJ, USA)
	+ Robert M. T. Hunter, Virginian lawyer, politician, 14th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, 2nd Confederate States Secretary of State (aged 78; Alexandria, VA, USA)
* July 25 – John Taylor, 3rd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aged 78; Kaysville, UT Territory, USA)
* August 14 – Aaron A. Sargent, U.S. Senator from California from 1873 to 1879 (aged 59; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* August 18 – Orson Squire Fowler, phrenologist and leading proponent of the octagon house (aged 77; Sharon, CT, USA)
* August 23 – Sarah Yorke Jackson, Acting First Lady of the United States (aged 84; Nashville, TN, USA)
* October 22 – Elihu B. Washburne, 25th U.S. Secretary of State from 1863 to 1869 (aged 71; Chicago, IL, USA)
* November 8 – Doc Holliday, gunfighter, gambler and dentist (aged 36; Glenwood Springs, CO, USA)
* November 11 – August Spies, labor activist, newspaper editor and anarchist (aged 31; Chicago, IL, USA)
* December 24 – Daniel Manning, businessman, journalist and politician, Secretary of the Treasury (aged 56; Albany, NY, USA)