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)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Joseph F. Johnston (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: James Paul Clarke (Democratic) (until January 12), Daniel Webster Jones (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Governor of California: James Budd (Democratic)
* Governor of Colorado: Albert Washington McIntire (Republican) (until January 12), Alva Adams (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Connecticut: Owen Vincent Coffin (Republican) (until January 6), Lorrin A. Cooke (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Delaware: William T. Watson (Democratic) (until January 19), Ebe W. Tunnell (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Governor of Florida: Henry L. Mitchell (Democratic) (until January 5), William D. Bloxham (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Georgia: William Yates Atkinson (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: William J. McConnell (Republican) (until January 4), Frank Steunenberg (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Illinois: John Peter Altgeld (Democratic) (until January 11), John Riley Tanner (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Indiana: Claude Matthews (Democratic) (until January 11), James A. Mount (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Iowa: Francis M. Drake (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Edmund N. Morrill (Republican) (until January 11), John W. Leedy (Populist) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Kentucky: William O. Bradley (Republican)
* Governor of Louisiana: Murphy James Foster Sr. (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Henry B. Cleaves (Republican) (until January 2), Llewellyn Powers (Republican) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Maryland: Lloyd Lowndes Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Roger Wolcott (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: John T. Rich (Republican) (until January 1), Hazen S. Pingree (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: David M. Clough (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Anselm J. McLaurin (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: William Joel Stone (Democratic) (until January 11), Lon Vest Stephens (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Montana:
	+ until January 3: John E. Rickards (Republican)
	+ January 3-January 4: vacant
	+ starting January 4: Robert Burns Smith (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Silas A. Holcomb (Democratic)
* Governor of Nevada: Reinhold Sadler (Silver)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Charles A. Busiel (Republican) (until January 7), George A. Ramsdell (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of New Jersey: John W. Griggs (Republican)
* Governor of New York: Frank S. Black (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Elias Carr (Democratic) (until January 12), Daniel Lindsay Russell (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Governor of North Dakota: Roger Allin (Republican) (until January 6), Frank A. Briggs (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Ohio: Asa S. Bushnell (Republican)
* Governor of Oregon: William Paine Lord (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Daniel H. Hastings (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Charles W. Lippitt (Republican) (until May 25), Elisha Dyer Jr. (Republican) (starting May 25)
* Governor of South Carolina: John Gary Evans (Democratic) (until January 18), William Haselden Ellerbe (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of South Dakota: Charles H. Sheldon (Republican) (until January 1), Andrew E. Lee (Populist) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Tennessee: Peter Turney (Democratic) (until January 21), Robert Love Taylor (Democratic) (starting January 21)
* Governor of Texas: Charles A. Culberson (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: Heber Manning Wells (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: Josiah Grout (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: Charles Triplett O'Ferrall (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: John McGraw (Republican) (until January 11), John Rankin Rogers (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of West Virginia: William A. MacCorkle (Democratic) (until March 4), George W. Atkinson (Republican) (starting March 4)
* Governor of Wisconsin: William H. Upham (Republican) (until January 4), Edward Scofield (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Wyoming: William A. Richards (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: William T. Jeter (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Jared L. Brush (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Lorrin A. Cooke (Republican) (until January 6), James D. Dewell (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: F. J. Mills (Republican) (until January 4), George F. Moore (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Joseph B. Gill (Democratic) (until January 11), William Northcott (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Mortimer Nye (Democratic) (until January 11), William S. Haggard (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Matt Parrott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: James Armstrong Troutman (Republican) (until January 11), Alexander Miller Harvey (Populist) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: William Jackson Worthington (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Robert H. Snyder (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: vacant (until month and day unknown), Winthrop M. Crane (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Joseph R. McLaughlin (Republican) (until January 1), Thomas B. Dunstan (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Frank A. Day (Republican) (until January 5), John L. Gibbs (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: J. H. Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: John B. O'Meara (Democratic) (until January 11), August Bolte (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Alexander Campbell Botkin (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Archibald E. Spriggs (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Robert E. Moore (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), James E. Harris (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: vacant (until month and day unknown), James R. Judge (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Timothy L. Woodruff (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Rufus A. Doughton (Democratic) (until January 12), Charles A. Reynolds (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: John H. Worst (Republican) (until January 6), Joseph M. Devine (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Asa W. Jones (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Walter Lyon (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Edwin Allen (Republican) (until May 25), Aram J. Pothier (Republican) (starting May 25)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Washington H. Timmerman (Democratic) (until January 18), Miles Benjamin McSweeney (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Charles N. Herreid (Republican) (until January 1), Daniel T. Hindman (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Ernest Pillow (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), John Thompson (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: George Taylor Jester (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Nelson W. Fisk (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Robert Craig Kent (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: F. H. Luce (Republican) (until January 11), Thurston Daniels (Populist) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Emil Baensch (Republican)

## 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)