Two-Decade Timeline 1890-1910

  • The start of 1890 U.S.

    The start of 1890 U.S.
    Photographer Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half Lives, in 1890, documenting the horrible living conditions immigrants faced living in New York City's tenements
  • New States of 1890

    Wyoming and Idaho are admitted as the 43rd and 44th states in July 1890.
  • Artist Vincent Van Gogh Dies

    Artist Vincent Van Gogh Dies
    Artist Vincent Van Gogh died in France at the age of 37 after shooting himself two days earlier. "Eternity's Gate" is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh that he made in 1890 based on lithograph. The lithograph was based on a pencil drawing Worn Out, one of a series of studies he made in 1882 of a pensioner and war veteran. It was completed in early May at a time when he was convalescing from a severe relapse in his health and some two months before his death, generally accepted as a suicide.
  • Yosemite National Park

    Yosemite National Park
    At the urging of John Muir, The U.S. Congress designated Yosemite a National Park.
  • Wounded Knee Massacre

    Wounded Knee Massacre
    Many Sioux believed if they practiced the Ghost Dance and rejected the ways of the white man, the gods would create the world anew and destroy all non-believers, including non-Indians. The Wounded Knee Massacre took place in South Dakota when U.S. Cavalry troopers tried to arrest Sitting Bull and killed him, then fired on Lakota Sioux who had gathered. The killing of hundreds of unarmed men, women, and children essentially marked the end of Native American resistance to white rule in the West.
  • Copyright Act of 1891

    The 51st Congress of the United States passes the International Copyright Act of 1891.
  • Ellis Island

    Ellis Island
    Ellis Island, in New York Harbor, opens as the main east coast immigration center, and would remain the initial debarkation point for European immigrants into the United States until its closure in 1954. More than 12 million immigrants would be processed on the island during those years. Ellis Island replaced Castle Garden, in Manhattan, as the New York immigration center.
  • Final Moments of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Final Moments of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducts the first performance at New York's Carnegie Hall on May 5, 1891. Became the first Russian composer to be internationally famous. He died 1893.
  • 1893 World's Fair

    1893 World's Fair
    The 1893 World's Fair, known as the Columbian Exposition, opened in Chicago. October 30, 1893 - The Chicago World's Fair closes after 179 days of public admission and over 25 million in attendance. It cost $27,291,715 and included a moving sidewalk and the first sighting of picture postcards. Considered by many historians as the greatest national event in American history through the year 1900.
  • New York Stock Exchange Collapses

    New York Stock Exchange Collapses
    The New York Stock Exchange collapses because of two major factors; railroads and silver., starting the financial panic of 1893. It would lead to a four year period of depression. An economic depression second only to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
  • Lizzie Borden Acquitted of Murder

    Lizzie Borden Acquitted of Murder
    A woman in Fall River, Massachusetts accused of the gruesome ax murder of her father and stepmother. Borden’s 1893 trial, which featured considerable legal talent, expert witnesses, and forensic testimony, in some ways resembled a trial a cable television audience today would find riveting. When she was acquitted of the murders, decades of speculation began.
  • Women's Right to Vote in Colorado

    Women's Right to Vote in Colorado
    Women in Colorado are granted the right to vote.
  • 1890-1899 Women's Fashion

    1890-1899 Women's Fashion
    Urban centers were growing, and new technologies, such as the introduction of electricity into clothing manufacturing, produced a boom in the ready-to-wear market. Women were enjoying new levels of independence; during the decade the number of women employed outside the home almost doubled. The “New Woman” of the era was an intellectual young female who worked, cycled, and played sports. Women generally arranged their hair in high, neat chignons with soft curls at the front.
  • Sino-Japanese War

    Sino-Japanese War
    Sino-Japanese War. Japan is victorious and asserts its first gains as an imperial power. Korea is “turned over” (colonized) to Japan and China cedes Taiwan to Japan.
  • Coxey's Army

    Coxey's Army
    Coxey's Army, a march to protest unemployment that was largely the result of the Panic of 1893, departed from Ohio on its way to Washington, D.C. Coxey's Army reached Washington, D.C. and its leaders were arrested the next day. The demands of Jacob Coxey, which focused on great government intervention in the economy, would eventually move into the mainstream.
  • 1890-1899 Men's Fashion

    1890-1899 Men's Fashion
    The lounge or sack suit, featuring a single-breasted jacket without a waist seam, became the most common choice for working men and was increasingly worn by upper-class men as a relaxed alternative day suit. Similar to womenswear, 1890s menswear featured a great deal of sportswear, and those influences were seen in mainstream fashion.
  • Frederick Douglass dies

    Frederick Douglass dies
    Frederick Douglass, the ex-slave who rose to prominence in national politics as a civil rights advocate and abolitionist during Civil War times died at his home in Washington, D.C. at the age of 77.
  • First Modern Olympic Games

    First Modern Olympic Games
    The first modern Olympic games, the idea of Pierre de Coubertin, are held in Athens, Greece.
  • Plessy v. Ferguson ("separate but equal")

    Plessy v. Ferguson ("separate but equal")
    Plessy versus Ferguson decision by the Supreme Court states that racial segregation is approved under the "separate but equal" doctrine. Allows Jim Crow laws to exist in south.
  • The Klondike Gold Rush began in Alaska

    The Klondike Gold Rush began in Alaska
    Gold is discovered by Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie near Dawson, Canada, setting up the Klondike Gold Rush which would cause a boom in travel and gold fever from Seattle to prospector sites surrounding Skagway, Alaska.
  • The Era of the Subway Begins

    The era of the subway begins when the first underground public transportation in North America opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • Period: to

    Spanish American War

    The blockade of Cuba begins when the United States Navy aids independence forces within Cuba. Several days later, the U.S.A. declares war on Spain, backdating its declaration to April 20. On May 1, 1898, the United States Navy destroyed the Spanish fleet in the Philippines. On June 20, the U.S. would take Guam.
  • Peace Treaty with Spain

    The Peace Treaty ending the Spanish-American War is signed in Paris. The Spanish government agrees to grant independence to Cuba and cede Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States.
  • Newsboys Strike

    Newsboys Strike
    Newsboys in New York City went on strike for several weeks in a significant action related to child labor.
  • Voting Machines

    The United States Congress approves the use of voting machines in federal elections.
  • Open Door Policy with China

    Open Door Policy with China
    The Open Door Policy with China is declared by Secretary of State John Hay and the U.S. government in an attempt to open international markets and retain the integrity of China as a nation.
  • The Gold Standard Act

    The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.
  • Temperance Movement

    Temperance Movement
    Carrie Nation continues her Temperance Movement to abolish the consumption of liquor when she begins a campaign, prompted by a dream, to demolish saloons, over two dozen, in Kansas and other midwest states over the next ten years.
  • Assassination of William McKinley

    Assassination of William McKinley
    President William H. McKinley is shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York while shaking hands with fair visitors, following his speech at the event on President's Day the day before. Anarchist Leon Czolgosz is arrested for the crime. On September 14, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt is inaugurated as President upon the death of William McKinley from gunshot wounds sustained the week earlier.
  • First Movie Theatre in U.S.

    The first movie theatre in the United States opens in Los Angeles, California. It was known as the Electric Theatre.
  • Period: to

    Russo-Japanese War

    Japan is victorious against Czarist Russia.
  • The National Monument Act

    Authorizing the President to establish national monuments for the preservation of historic, prehistoric, and scientific interest.
  • Gentleman's Agreement

    Gentleman's Agreement
    The United States and Japan reach a Gentleman’s Agreement stating that the United States would neither impose nor enforce restrictions on Japanese immigration and Japan would not allow further emigration to the United States
  • Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty

    Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty
    Korea is annexed by Japan, and is ruled from 1910-1945.