1892 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: Benjamin Harrison
• Vice President: Levi P. Morton
• Chief Justice: Melville Fuller
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Charles Frederick Crisp
• Congress: 52nd

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January–March

• January 1 - Ellis Island begins receiving immigrants to the United States.
• January 20 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
• February 12 - Former President Abraham Lincoln's birthday is declared a national public holiday in the United States.
• February 18 - Pennsauken Township, New Jersey is incorporated.
• February 23 - The 7.1–7.2 Laguna Salada earthquake shakes Southern California and northern Mexico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII.
• March 15 - Jesse W. Reno patents the first working escalator used at Old Iron Pier, Coney Island, New York City.

  April–June

• April - The Johnson County War breaks out between small farmers and large ranchers in Wyoming.
• April 15 - The General Electric Company is established through the merger of the Thomson-Houston Company and the Edison General Electric Company.
• April 19 - The 6.4 M_La Vacaville–Winters earthquake shakes the North Bay are of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX. This first event in a doublet earthquake results in one death and is followed two days later by a 6.2 M_La shock. Total damage from the events is $225,000–250,000.
• April 29 - Redondo Beach, California, is founded.
• April 30 - Lynching of Ephraim Grizzard, an African American, in Nashville, Tennessee.
• May 28 - The Sierra Club is organized by John Muir in San Francisco, California.
• June 6 - The Chicago "L" elevated railway opens.
• June 7 - Homer Plessy, who is one-eighth African heritage with light skin, is arrested for sitting on the whites-only car in Louisiana, leading to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson court case.
• June 30 - The Homestead Strike begins in Homestead, Pennsylvania, culminating in a battle between striking workers and private security agents on July 6.

  July–September

• July 4 - Samoa changes its time zone to being 3 hours behind California, such that it crosses the international date line and July 4 occurs twice.
• July 6 - Homestead Strike: The arrival of a force of 300 Pinkerton detectives from New York City and Chicago results in a fight in which about 10 men are killed.
• August 4 - The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found violently murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.
• August 9 - Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
• August 13 - The Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, the country's longest-running African American family owned newspaper business, publishes its first issue.

  October–December

• October 5 - The Dalton Gang, attempting to rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas, is shot by the townspeople; only Emmett Dalton, with 23 wounds, survives to spend 14 years in prison.
• October 12 - To mark the 400th anniversary Columbus Day holiday, the "Pledge of Allegiance" is first recited in unison by students in U.S. public schools.
• October 24 - Boston Beaneaters win their Fifth National League Pennant by defeating Cleveland Spiders 5 games to 0.
• November 8
• *1892 U.S. presidential election: Grover Cleveland is elected over Benjamin Harrison and James B. Weaver to win the second of his non-consecutive terms.
• *The four-day New Orleans General Strike begins.
• November 12 - Pudge Heffelfinger is paid $525 by the Allegheny Athletic Association, becoming the first professional American football player on record.
• December 17 - Vogue magazine launched.

  Undated

• Shredded wheat breakfast cereal first sold to restaurants by Henry Perky.
• Ithaca College founded as Ithaca Conservatory of Music in New York by William Grant Egbert.

  Ongoing

• Garza Revolution in Texas and Mexico
• Gilded Age
• Gay Nineties
• Progressive Era

  Births

• January 9 - Eva Bowring, U.S. Senator from Nebraska in 1954
• January 14 - Hal Roach, film and television producer, director and actor
• January 16 - William A. Stanfill, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1945 to 1946
• February 19 - Scott W. Lucas, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1939 to 1951
• February 29 - Augusta Savage, African American sculptor
• March 26 - Paul Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1949 to 1967
• April 8 - Rose McConnell Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1936 to 1937
• May 10 - Arthur E. Nelson, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1942 to 1943
• May 20 - Harry J. Anslinger, 1st Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
• May 26 - Maxwell Bodenheim, poet and novelist
• June 6 - Donald F. Duncan, Sr., toymaker and businessman, founder of Duncan Toys Company
• July 10 - Spessard Holland, U.S. Senator from Florida from 1946 to 1971
• July 29 - William Powell, film actor
• August 20 - George Aiken, U.S. Senator from Vermont from 1941 to 1975
• August 23 - Alexander G. Barry, U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1938 to 1939
• October 6 - Jackie Saunders, silent film actress
• November 10 - Frank A. Barrett, U.S. Senator from Wyoming from 1953 to 1959
• December 15 - J. Paul Getty, industrialist

  Deaths

• January 2 - Montgomery C. Meigs, career U.S. Army officer and civil engineer, Quartermaster General of the United States Army during and after the American Civil War
• February 28 - Elias Nelson Conway, 5th Governor of Arkansas from 1852 to 1860
• March 26 - Walt Whitman, poet, author of Leaves of Grass.
• April 6 - Willard Saulsbury, Sr., U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1873 to 1892
• May 14 - John S. Barbour, Jr., U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1889 to 1892
• June 8 - Robert Ford, outlaw, killer of Jesse James
• July 14 - Newton Booth, U.S. Senator from California from 1875 to 1881
• August 16 - Thomas H. Watts, 18th Governor of Alabama, 3rd Confederate States Attorney General
• September 23 - John Pope, career U.S. Army officer and Union general in the Civil War
• October 5 - outlaw members of Dalton Gang
• * Bob Dalton
• * Grat Dalton
• October 18 - William W. Chapman, politician and lawyer
• October 25 - Caroline Harrison, First Lady of the United States as wife of President Benjamin Harrison
• November 29 - Graham N. Fitch, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1857 to 1861
• December 2 - Jay Gould, railroad developer and speculator
• December 15 - Randall L. Gibson, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1883 to 1892
• December 31 - Henry P. Baldwin, Governor of Michigan from 1869 to 1873 and U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1879 to 1881
• Zenas King, bridge builder