1890

Events from the year **1890 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Thomas Seay (Democratic) (starting December 1), Thomas G. Jones (Democratic) (starting December 1)
* Governor of Arkansas: James Philip Eagle (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Robert Waterman (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Job Adams Cooper (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: Morgan G. Bulkeley (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: Benjamin T. Biggs (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: Francis P. Fleming (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: John B. Gordon (Democratic) (until November 8), William J. Northen (Democratic) (starting November 8)
* Governor of Idaho: George L. Shoup (Republican) (until December 18), N. B. Willey (Republican) (starting December 18)
* Governor of Illinois: Joseph W. Fifer (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Alvin P. Hovey (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: William Larrabee (Republican) (until February 27), Horace Boies (Democratic) (starting February 27)
* Governor of Kansas: Lyman U. Humphrey (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Simon B. Buckner (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Francis T. Nicholls (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Edwin C. Burleigh (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Elihu Emory Jackson (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Oliver Ames (Republican) (until January 7), John Q. A. Brackett (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Michigan: Cyrus G. Luce (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: William R. Merriam (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Robert Lowry (Democratic) (until January 13), John M. Stone (Democratic) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Missouri: David R. Francis (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: Joseph Toole (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: John Milton Thayer (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Charles C. Stevenson (Democratic) (until September 21), Frank Bell (Republican) (starting September 21)
* Governor of New Hampshire: David H. Goodell (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Robert Stockton Green (Democratic) (until January 21), Leon Abbett (Democratic) (starting January 21)
* Governor of New York: David B. Hill (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Daniel Gould Fowle (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: John Miller (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: Joseph B. Foraker (Republican) (until January 13), James E. Campbell (Democratic) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Oregon: Sylvester Pennoyer (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: James A. Beaver (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Herbert W. Ladd (Republican) (until May 26), John W. Davis (Democratic) (starting May 26)
* Governor of South Carolina: John Peter Richardson III (Democratic) (until December 4), Benjamin Ryan Tillman (Democratic) (starting December 4)
* Governor of South Dakota: Arthur C. Mellette (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Robert Love Taylor (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Lawrence Sullivan Ross (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: William P. Dillingham (Republican) (until October 2), Carroll S. Page (Republican) (starting October 2)
* Governor of Virginia: Fitzhugh Lee (Democratic) (until January 1), Philip W. McKinney (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Washington: Elisha Peyre Ferry (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Emanuel Willis Wilson (Democratic) (starting February 6), Aretas B. Fleming (Democratic) (starting February 6)
* Governor of Wisconsin: William D. Hoard (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Francis E. Warren (Republican) (until November 24), Amos W. Barber (Republican) (starting November 24)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Stephen M. White (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: William Grover Smith (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Samuel E. Merwin (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: N. B. Willey (Republican) (until December), John S. Gray (Republican) (starting December 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Lyman Ray (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Ira Joy Chase (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: John A. T. Hull (Republican) (until February 27), Alfred N. Poyneer (Republican) (starting February 27)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Andrew Jackson Felt (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: James William Bryan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: James Jeffries (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: John Q. A. Brackett (Democratic) (until January 4), William H. Haile (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: William Ball (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Albert E. Rice (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: G. D. Shands (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), M. M. Evans (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Stephen Hugh Claycomb (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: John E. Rickards (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: George D. Meiklejohn (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Frank Bell (Republican) (until September 21), vacant (starting September 21)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Edward F. Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Thomas M. Holt (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Alfred Dickey (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio:
	+ until January 13: William C. Lyon (Republican)
	+ January 13-January 31: Elbert L. Lampson (Republican)
	+ starting January 31: William V. Marquis (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: William T. Davies (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Daniel Littlefield (Republican) (until May 27), William T. C. Wardwell (political party unknown) (starting May 27)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: William L. Mauldin (Democratic) (until December 4), Eugene B. Gary (Democratic) (starting December 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: James H. Fletcher (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Benjamin J. Lea (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Thomas B. Wheeler (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Urban A. Woodbury (Republican) (until October 2), Henry A. Fletcher (Republican) (starting October 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: John Edward "Parson" Massey (Democratic) (until January 1), James Hoge Tyler (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Charles E. Laughton (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: George W. Ryland (Republican)

## Events

### January - June

* January 1 – In Michigan, the wooden steamer *Mackinaw* burns in a fire on the Black River.
* January 2 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House.
* January 3 – George W. Johnson becomes the first African American to record phonograph cylinders, in New York.
* January 22 – The United Mine Workers is founded.
* January 25 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
* February 24 – Chicago is selected to host the Columbian Exposition.
* March 2 – The Cherry Creek Campaign occurs in Arizona Territory begins.
* March 3 – The first American football game in Ohio State University history is played in Delaware, Ohio against Ohio Wesleyan University; Ohio State wins 20–14.
* March 7 – The Cherry Creek Campaign occurs in Arizona Territory ends.
* March 8 – North Dakota State University is founded in Fargo, North Dakota.
* March 27 – A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 people and injuring 200.
* March 28 – Washington State University is founded in Pullman, Washington.
* May 1 – National American Woman Suffrage Association established.
* May 2 – Oklahoma Territory is organized.
* May 31 – The 5-story skylight Cleveland Arcade opens in Cleveland, Ohio.
* June 1 – The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to record census returns using punched card input, a landmark in the history of computing hardware. Hollerith's company eventually becomes IBM.
* June 12 – In Michigan, the wooden steamer Ryan is lost near Thunder Bay Island.
* June 20 – *The Picture of Dorian Gray* by Oscar Wilde published by Philadelphia-based *Lippincott's Monthly Magazine*.

### July - December

* July 2 – The Sherman Antitrust Act becomes United States law.
* July 3 – Idaho admitted becomes the 43rd U.S. state.
* July 10 – Wyoming admitted becomes the 44th U.S. state.
* July 13 – In Minnesota, storms result in the *Sea Wing* disaster on Lake Pepin killing 98.
* August 6 – At Auburn Prison in New York, William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed in the electric chair.
* August 10 – In Boston, Irish-born poet John Boyle O'Reilly dies suddenly, aged 46. The death triggers a mass outpouring of grief and tributes across the country and the world.
* September 1 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Wilford Woodruff issues the "1890 Manifesto" officially advising against any future polygamy in the Church.
* September 25 – Sequoia National Park created.
* October 1 – Yosemite National Park created.
* October 11 – In Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
* October 13
	+ The Delta Chi Fraternity is founded by 11 law students at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
	+ In Michigan, the schooner *J. F. Warner* is lost at Thunder Bay.
* November 29 – In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24-0 in the first Army-Navy football game.
* December 24 – The Oklahoma territorial legislature establishes three institutions of higher learning University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and University of Central Oklahoma.
* December 29 – Wounded Knee Massacre: Near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment tries to disarm a Native American camp and shooting starts. 153 Lakota Sioux and 25 troops are killed; about 150 flee the scene.

## Sport

* September 30 – The Brooklyn Bridegrooms clinch the National League pennant.

## Memoriam

* January 2 – George Henry Boker, poet and playwright (aged 66; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* January 28 – Prudence Crandall, educationist (aged 86; Elk Falls, KS, USA)
* February 22 – John Jacob Astor III, businessman (aged 67; New York City, NY, USA)
* March 2 – James E. English, U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1875 to 1876 (aged 77; New Haven, CT, USA)
* March 19 – John S. Hager, U.S. Senator from California from 1873 to 1875 (aged 72; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* April 1 – David Wilber, politician (aged 69; Oneota, NY, USA)
* April 13 – Samuel J. Randall, politician (aged 61; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 19 – James Pollock, politician (aged 79; Lock Haven, PA, USA)
* April 30 – Marcus Thrane, author, journalist, and the leader of the first labor movement in Norway (aged 72; Eau Claire, WI, USA)
* May 3 – James B. Beck, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1877 to 1890 (aged 68; Washington, DC, USA)
* May 15 – Edward Doane, Protestant missionary in Micronesia (aged 69; Honolulu, HI Kingdom)
* June 11
	+ George Edward Brett, publisher (aged 61; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Hugh Buchanan, politician from Georgia (aged 66; Newnan, GA, USA)
* June 30 – Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, composer (aged 71; Newport, RI, USA)
* July 9 – Clinton B. Fisk, philanthropist and temperance activist (aged 61; New York City, NY, USA)
* July 10 – Thomas C. McCreery, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1868 to 1871 (aged 73; Owensboro, KY, USA)
* July 13 – John C. Frémont, soldier, explorer and U.S. Senator from California from 1850 to 1851 (aged 77; New York City, NY, USA)
* August 6 – William Kemmler, murderer, first person executed in the electric chair (aged 30; Auburn, NY, USA)
* August 10 – John Boyle O'Reilly, poet, novelist, journalist and transportee (aged 46; Hull, MA, USA)
* September 8 – Isaac P. Christiancy, Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1875 to 1879 (aged 78; Lansing, MI, USA)
* September 30 – Frederick H. Billings, lawyer and financier (aged 67; Woodstock, VT, USA)
* October 7 – John Hill Hewitt, songwriter (aged 89; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* October 8 – James W. Deaderick, Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court from 1876 to 1886 (aged 77; Jonesborough, TN, USA)
* October 20 – Alfred B. Mullett, architect (aged 56; Washington, DC, USA)
* November 1 – Ann Leah Underhill, one of the Fox sisters, fraudulent medium (aged 77; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 15 – Sitting Bull, Native American chief (aged 59; Grand River, SD, USA)