1893

Events from the year **1893 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: Benjamin Harrison (R-IN) (until March 4), Grover Cleveland (D-NY) (starting March 4)
* Vice President: Levi P. Morton (R-NY) (until March 4), Adlai E. Stevenson I (D-IL) (starting March 4)
* Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (IL)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Charles Frederick Crisp (D-GA)
* Congress: 52nd (until March 4), 53rd (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Thomas G. Jones (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: James Philip Eagle (Democratic) (until January 10), William Meade Fishback (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of California: Henry Markham (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: John Long Routt (Republican) (until January 10), Davis Hanson Waite (People's) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Connecticut: Morgan G. Bulkeley (Republican) (until January 4), Luzon B. Morris (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Delaware: Robert J. Reynolds (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: Francis P. Fleming (Democratic) (until January 3), Henry L. Mitchell (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Georgia: William J. Northen (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: N. B. Willey (Republican) (until January 2), William J. McConnell (Republican) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Illinois: Joseph W. Fifer (Republican) (until January 10), John Peter Altgeld (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Indiana: Ira Joy Chase (Republican) (until January 9), Claude Matthews (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Iowa: Horace Boies (Democratic)
* Governor of Kansas: Lyman U. Humphrey (Republican) (until January 8), Lorenzo D. Lewelling (Populist) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Kentucky: John Y. Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Murphy James Foster Sr. (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Edwin C. Burleigh (Republican) (until January 4), Henry B. Cleaves (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Maryland: Frank Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: William E. Russell (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: Edwin B. Winans (Democratic) (until January 1), John T. Rich (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: William R. Merriam (Republican) (until January 9), Knute Nelson (Republican) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Mississippi: John M. Stone (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: David R. Francis (Democratic) (until January 9), William Joel Stone (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Montana: Joseph Toole (Democratic) (until January 1), John E. Rickards (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Nebraska: James E. Boyd (Democratic) (until January 13), Lorenzo Crounse (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Nevada: Roswell K. Colcord (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Hiram A. Tuttle (Republican) (until January 5), John Butler Smith (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of New Jersey: Leon Abbett (Democratic) (until January 17), George Theodore Werts (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of New York: Roswell P. Flower (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Thomas Michael Holt (Democratic) (until January 18), Elias Carr (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of North Dakota: Andrew H. Burke (Republican) (until January 3), Eli C. D. Shortridge (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Ohio: William McKinley (Republican)
* Governor of Oregon: Sylvester Pennoyer (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Robert E. Pattison (Democratic)
* Governor of Rhode Island: D. Russell Brown (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Benjamin Ryan Tillman (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Arthur C. Mellette (Republican) (until January 3), Charles H. Sheldon (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Tennessee: John P. Buchanan (Democratic) (until January 16), Peter Turney (Democratic) (starting January 16)
* Governor of Texas: James Stephen Hogg (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: Levi K. Fuller (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: Philip W. McKinney (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Elisha Peyre Ferry (Republican) (until January 4), John McGraw (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of West Virginia: Aretas B. Fleming (Democratic) (until March 4), William A. MacCorkle (Democratic) (starting March 4)
* Governor of Wisconsin: George Wilbur Peck (Democratic)
* Governor of Wyoming: Amos W. Barber (Republican) (until January 2), John E. Osborne (Democratic) (starting January 2)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: John B. Reddick (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: William Story (Republican) (until January 10), David Hopkinson Nichols (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Samuel E. Merwin (Republican) (until January 4), Ernest Cady (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: John S. Gray (Republican) (until January 2), F. B. Willis (Republican) (starting January 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Lyman Ray (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Joseph B. Gill (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Francis M. Griffith (Republican) (until January 9), Mortimer Nye (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Samuel L. Bestow (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Andrew Jackson Felt (Republican) (until January 8), Percy Daniels (Populist) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Mitchell Cary Alford (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Charles Parlange (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Hiram R. Lott (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William H. Haile (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Roger Wolcott (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: John Strong (Democratic) (until January 1), J. Wight Giddings (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Gideon S. Ives (Republican) (until January 3), David M. Clough (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: M. M. Evans (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Stephen Hugh Claycomb (Democratic) (until January 9), John B. O'Meara (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: John E. Rickards (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Alexander Campbell Botkin (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Thomas J. Majors (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Joseph Poujade (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: William F. Sheehan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: vacant (until January 18), Rufus A. Doughton (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Roger Allin (Republican) (until January 3), Elmer D. Wallace (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Andrew L. Harris (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Louis Arthur Watres (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Melville Bull (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Eugene B. Gary (Democratic) (until December 22), Washington H. Timmerman (Democratic) (starting December 22)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: George H. Hoffman (Republican) (until January 3), Charles N. Herreid (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: William C. Dismukes (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: George Cassety Pendleton (Democratic) (until January 17), Martin McNulty Crane (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: F. Stewart Stranahan (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: James Hoge Tyler (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Charles E. Laughton (Republican) (until January 9), F. H. Luce (Republican) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Charles Jonas (Democratic)

## Events

### January - March

* January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America.
* January 17 – The U.S. Marines intervene in Hawaii, resulting in overthrow of the government of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii.
* January 21 – The Cherry Sisters first perform in Marion, Iowa.
* February 1 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio in West Orange, New Jersey.
* February 24 – American University is established by an Act of Congress in Washington, D.C.
* February 28 – USS *Indiana*, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of this time, is launched at Philadelphia; she is commissioned in 1895.
* March 4 – Grover Cleveland is sworn in as the 24th President of the United States, and Adlai E. Stevenson is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.

### April - June

* April 1 – The rank of Chief Petty Officer is established in the U.S. Navy.
* April 8 – The first recorded college basketball game occurs in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania between the Geneva College Covenanters and the New Brighton YMCA.
* May 1 – The 1893 World's Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition, opens to the public in Chicago, Illinois. The first U.S. commemorative postage stamps and Coins are issued for the Exposition.
* May 5 – Panic of 1893: A crash on the New York Stock Exchange starts a depression.
* May 9 – Edison's 1½ inch system of Kinetoscope is first demonstrated in public at the Brooklyn Institute.
* June 9 – The front part of Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. collapses, killing 22 War Department clerks and injuring 68 others.
* June 20 – Lizzie Borden is found not guilty for the murder of her father and step-mother in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

### July - September

* July 1 – U.S. President Grover Cleveland has a secret operation to remove cancer in his mouth.
* July 6 – The small town of Pomeroy, Iowa is nearly destroyed by a tornado; 71 people are killed and 200 injured.
* July 12 – Frederick Jackson Turner gives a lecture titled "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" before the American Historical Association in Chicago.
* July 22 – Katharine Lee Bates writes "America the Beautiful", after admiring the view from the top of Pikes Peak, near Colorado Springs.
* August 27 – The Sea Islands Hurricane hits Savannah, Charleston, and the Sea Islands, killing 1,000–2,000.
* September 9 – First Lady Frances Cleveland gives birth in the White House to daughter Esther Cleveland.
* September 11
	+ The World Parliament of Religions opens in Chicago.
	+ Standing ovation to Hindu monk Swami Vivekanda for his address in Response to the welcome at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago.
* September 19 – Swami Vivekananda delivers an inspiring speech on his paper at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago.
* September 21 – Brothers Charles and Frank Duryea drive the first gasoline-powered motorcar in America on public roads in Springfield, Massachusetts.
* September 23 – The Baháʼí Faith is first publicly mentioned in the United States at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago.

### October - December

* October 7 – Finley Peter Dunne introduces his character Mr. Dooley in the *Chicago Evening Post*.
* October 11 – Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire is officially dedicated.
* November 7 – Colorado women are granted the right to vote.
* December 20 – Evergreen Park, Illinois, is incorporated.

## Memoriam

* January 11 – Benjamin Butler, major general of the Union Army during the American Civil War, and for his leader in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson (aged 74; Washington, DC, USA)
* January 17 – Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the U.S. from 1877 to 1881 (aged 70; Fremont, OH, USA)
* January 23 – Phillips Brooks, Episcopal clergyman (aged 57; Boston, MA, USA)
* January 27 – James G. Blaine, U.S. Senator from Maine from 1876 to 1881 and Secretary of State in 1881 and from 1889 to 1892 (aged 62; Washington, DC, USA)
* February 1 – Joseph P. Comegys, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1856 to 1857 (aged 79; Dover, DE, USA)
* February 10 – Henry Churchill de Mille, American dramatist and playwright (aged 39; Pompton Township, NJ, USA)
* February 19 – George E. Spencer, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1868 to 1879 (aged 56; Washington, DC, USA)
* February 20 – P. G. T. Beauregard, Southern military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War (aged 74; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* March 2 – Richard M. Bishop, 34th Governor of Ohio from 1878 to 1880 (aged 80; Jacksonville, FL, USA)
* March 18 – David H. Armstrong, Canadian-born U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1877 to 1879 (aged 80; St. Louis, MO, USA)
* March 22 – Eli M. Saulsbury, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1871 to 1889 (aged 75; Dover, DE, USA)
* March 28 – Edmund Kirby Smith, career United States Army officer who served with the Confederates during the American Civil War (aged 68; Sewanee, TN, USA)
* April 4 – David Meriwether, U.S. Senator from Kentucky in 1852 (aged 92; Louisville, KY, USA)
* June 7 – Edwin Booth, actor (aged 59; New York City, NY, USA)
* June 21 – Leland Stanford, U.S. Senator from California from 1885 to 1893 (aged 69; Palo Alto, CA, USA)
* July 2 – Georgiana Drew, comic actress (aged 36; Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
* July 17 – Frederick A. Johnson, politician and banker (aged 60; Glen Falls, NY, USA)
* July 19 – Charles Colcock Jones Jr., Georgia politician, attorney, historian and folklorist (aged 61; Summerville, GA, USA)
* August 10 – Robert Cornelius, pioneer of photography (aged 84; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* August 20 – Brother Azarias, educator (aged 52; Plattsburgh, NY, USA)
* September 7 – Hamilton Fish, 26th U.S. Secretary of States from 1869 to 1877 (aged 85; Garrison, NY, USA)
* September 29 – Willis Benson Machen, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1872 to 1873 (aged 83; Hopkinsville, KY, USA)
* October 18 – Lucy Stone, social reformer (aged 75; Boston, MA, USA)
* November 11 – Charles H. Bell, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire in 1879 (aged 69; Exeter, NH, USA)
* November 22 – James Calder, 5th President of the Pennsylvania State University (aged 67; Harrisburg, PA, USA)
* December 2 – Pauline Cushman, actress and Union spy (aged 60; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* December 7 – David Jewett Waller Sr., Presbyterian minister and businessman (aged 78; Bloomsburg, PA, USA)
* December 16 – James Black, temperance movement leader (aged 70; Lancaster, PA, USA)