1903 in the United States

::Joseph Gurney Cannon (R-Illinois) (starting November 9) - Congress: [57th](57th-united-states-congress) (until March 4), [58th](58th-united-states-congress) (starting March 4) #### State governments ::data[format=table] | Governors and lieutenant governors | |---| | | :: ## Events ### January–March - January 4 – Topsy, a female Asian circus elephant, is killed by electrocution at Luna Park, Coney Island, New York City. - January 17 – 13 days after Topsy's death, the Edison Manufacturing Company released the short, black-and-white, silent documentary film Electrocuting an Elephant, showing the footage of Topsy's electrocution. - January 19 – The first west-east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east-west broadcast having been made in December 1901). - January 21 – Section of Militia Affairs within the Adjutant General's office. - February 11 – The Oxnard Strike of 1903 becomes the first time in U.S. history that a labor union is formed from members of different races. - February 14 - Census Board within the Department of Commerce and Labor (Census Bureau). - Department of Commerce and Labor founded - United States Coast and Geodetic Survey transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor. - February 15 – Morris and Rose Mitchom introduce the first teddy bear in America. - February 23 – Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity". - March 2 – In New York City, the Martha Washington Hotel, the first hotel exclusively for women, opens. - March 14 – The Hay–Herrán Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate later rejects the treaty. ### April–June - May 16 – 8:05pm: Luna Park, Coney Island, New York, opens. - June 12 – The Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity is founded at the University of Michigan School of Music. - June 14 – Heppner Flood of 1903: The town of Heppner, Oregon, is nearly destroyed by a cloudburst that results in a flash flood. ### July–September - July 1 – U.S. Bureau of Fisheries within the Department of Commerce and Labor. - July 6–10 – Evansville race riot in Evansville, Indiana. - July 7 – "Mother" Mary Harris Jones starts a "Children's Crusade" ("March of the Mill Children") from Kensington, Philadelphia to Oyster Bay, New York, the hometown of President Roosevelt, with banners demanding "We want to go to school and not the mines!" - July 23 – Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago becomes the first owner of a Ford Model A. - August 9 – Commanding General post replaced by that of Chief of Staff of the Army. - September–October – A mysterious "visitor" is reported in Van Meter, Iowa. - September 3 – Los Angeles real estate investor Griffith J. Griffith shoots his wife in the face at the Arcadia Hotel in Santa Monica. - September 11 – The first stock car event is held at the Milwaukee Mile. - September 15 – *Miami Herald* first published as *The Miami Evening Record*. - September 27 – The Wreck of the Old 97 engine at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia, which kills nine people, inspiring a ballad and song. ### October–December ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/First_flight2.jpg" caption="December 17: ''[[Wright Flyer]]''."] :: - October – Frank Nelson Cole proves that 267-1 is composite by factoring it as 193,707,721 * 761,838,257,287 after trying for every Sunday over three years. - October 1 – The first modern World Series pits the National League's Pittsburgh against Boston of the American League. - November 2 - Maggie L. Walker becomes the first African American woman to charter a bank. - Lyceum Theatre (Broadway) opens, making it the oldest continuously operating legitimate theater in New York City. - November 4 – With the encouragement of the United States, Panama proclaims itself independent from Colombia. - November 13 – The United States recognizes the independence of Panama. - November 18 – The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the U.S. exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone. - November 23 – Colorado Governor James Hamilton Peabody sends the state militia into the town of Cripple Creek to break up a miners' strike. - December 17 – Orville Wright flies an aircraft with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in the first documented, successful, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight. - December 19 – Williamsburg Bridge opens. - December 30 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago kills 600. ### Undated - The Lincoln–Lee Legion is established to promote the temperance movement and signing of alcohol abstinence pledges by children. - The first box of Crayola crayons is made and sold for 5 cents. It contains 8 colors; brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and black. - Coca-Cola removes cocaine as a key ingredient from their formula; up to this time, it has contained approximately nine milligrams of cocaine per glass. ### Ongoing - Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) - Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937) ## Births - January 1 – Dwight Taylor, screenwriter and author (died [1986](1986-in-the-united-states)) - January 12 – Andrew J. Transue, politician and attorney (died [1995](1995-in-the-united-states)) - January 17 – Warren Hull, actor (died [1974](1974-in-the-united-states)) - January 27 – Otto P. Weyland, general (died [1979](1979-in-the-united-states)) - February 11 – Rex Lease, actor (died [1966](1966-in-the-united-states)) - February 12 – Lincoln Maazel, singer and actor (died [2009](2009-in-the-united-states)) - March 4 – William C. Boyd, immunochemist (died [1983](1983-in-the-united-states)) - March 7 – J. Allen Frear, Jr., United States Senator from Delaware from 1949 till 1961. (died [1993](1993-in-the-united-states)) - April 19 – Eliot Ness, American Prohibition agent (died [1957](1957-in-the-united-states)) - May 3 – Bing Crosby, early crooner, singer of the hit, "White Christmas". (died [1977](1977)) - May 6 – Toots Shor, restaurateur (died [1977](1977-in-the-united-states)) - May 24 – Lofton R. Henderson, naval aviator (died [1942](1942-in-the-united-states)) - June 12 – Emmett Hardy, jazz musician (died [1925](1925-in-the-united-states)) - June 22 - John Dillinger, gangster in the Depression-era United States (died [1934](1934-in-the-united-states)) - Ben Pollack, jazz drummer and bandleader (died [1971](1971-in-the-united-states)) - Ben Robertson, novelist, journalist, and war correspondent (died [1943](1943-in-the-united-states)) - June 23 – Frances Dewey Wormser, actress, entertainer and vaudeville performer (died [2008](2008-in-the-united-states)) - June 25 – Anne Revere, actress (died [1990](1990-in-the-united-states)) - July 2 – Harwell Hamilton Harris, architect (died [1990](1990-in-the-united-states)) - July 4 – Walter Trohan, journalist (died [2003](2003-in-the-united-states)) - July 5 – Edward Woods, actor (died [1983](1983-in-the-united-states)) - August 7 - Joseph H. Bottum, United States Senator from South Dakota from 1962 till 1963. (died [1984](1984-in-the-united-states)) - Rudolf Ising, cartoon animator (died [1992](1992-in-the-united-states)) - August 13 – Chubby Johnson, actor (died [1974](1974-in-the-united-states)) - August 31 – Hugh Harman, cartoon animator (died [1982](1982-in-the-united-states)) - September 7 – Dorothy Marie Donnelly, poet (died [1994](1994-in-the-united-states)) - September 9 – Phyllis A. Whitney, mystery writer (died [2008](2008-in-the-united-states)) - September 27 – Leonard Barr, stand-up comic, actor, and dancer (died [1980](1980-in-the-united-states)) - September 29 – Ted de Corsia, actor (died [1973](1973-in-the-united-states)) - September 30 – Lyle Goodhue, chemist, inventor and entomologist (died [1981](1981-in-the-united-states)) - October 6 – Brien McMahon, United States Senator from Connecticut from 1945 till 1952. (died [1952](1952-in-the-united-states)) - October 23 – Thaddeus B. Hurd, architect and historian (died [1989](1989-in-the-united-states)) - October 25 - Katharine Byron, politician (died [1976](1976-in-the-united-states)) - Harry Shoulberg, painter (died [1995](1995-in-the-united-states)) - October 26 – Bill Allington, baseball player and manager (died [1966](1966-in-the-united-states)) - November 4 – Robert Emerson, scientist (died [1959](1959-in-the-united-states)) - November 29 – E. Harold Munn, temperance movement leader and presidential candidate (died [1992](1992-in-the-united-states)) - December 12 – Dagmar Nordstrom, composer and pianist (died [1976](1976-in-the-united-states)) - December 29 – Clyde McCoy, jazz trumpeter (died [1990](1990-in-the-united-states)) ## Deaths - January 4 - Gulstan Ropert, missionary (born [1839](1839-in-the-united-states)) - Topsy, elephant (born [1875](1875-in-the-united-states)) - January 28 – John B. Allen, U.S. Senator from Washington from 1889 to 1893 (born [1845](1845-in-the-united-states)) - February 11 – Rachel Crane Mather, educator (born [1823](1823-in-the-united-states)) - February 26 – Richard Jordan Gatling, inventor (born [1818](1818-in-the-united-states)) - March 11 – Lou Graham, wealthy business woman and madame from Germany (born [1857](1857) in Germany) - March 16 – Roy Bean, justice of the peace (born [1825](1825-in-the-united-states)) - March 20 – Charles Godfrey Leland, humorist, folklorist and poet (born [1824](1824-in-the-united-states)) - March 29 – Gustavus Franklin Swift, businessman (born [1839](1839-in-the-united-states)) - April 22 – Alexander Ramsey, 2nd Governor of Minnesota from 1860 to 1863 and U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1863 to 1875 (born [1815](1815-in-the-united-states)) - April 28 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, physical chemist (born [1839](1839-in-the-united-states)) - April 29 – Stuart Robson, stage actor and comedian (born [1836](1836-in-the-united-states)) - May 29 – Bruce Price, architect (born [1845](1845-in-the-united-states)) - July 2 – Ed Delahanty, baseball player (born [1867](1867-in-the-united-states)) - July 3 – Harriet Lane, acting First Lady of the United States during James Buchanan's presidency (born [1830](1830-in-the-united-states)) - July 27 – Frederick J. Kimball, civil engineer (born [1844](1844-in-the-united-states)) - August 1 – Calamity Jane, frontierswoman (born [1852](1852-in-the-united-states)) - August 28 – Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect, journalist, social critic and public administrator (born [1822](1822-in-the-united-states)) - September 23 – Charles B. Farwell, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1887 to 1891 (born [1823](1823-in-the-united-states)) - September 28 – Edward Merritt Hughes, naval officer (b. [1850](1850-in-the-united-states)) - October 6 – Wilson S. Bissell, politician, United States Postmaster General (born [1847](1847-in-the-united-states)) - October 20 – Thomas Vincent Welch, politician (born [1850](1850-in-the-united-states)) - November 3 – Eliza Hendricks, Second Lady of the United States as wife of Thomas A. Hendricks (born [1823](1823-in-the-united-states)) - November 20 – Tom Horn, gunfighter and outlaw (born [1860](1860-in-the-united-states)) - December 13 – Alexander McDonald, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1868 to 1871 (born [1832](1832-in-the-united-states)) - December 23 – Middleton P. Barrow, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1882 to 1883 (born [1839](1839-in-the-united-states)) ## References ## References 1. ["Mother Jones leading a protest, circa 1903"](http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-10BC). 2. Leimbach, Dulcie. (9 February 2008). ["Phyllis A. Whitney, Author, Dies at 104"](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/books/09whitney.html?_r=1&oref=slogin). *[[The New York Times]]*. 3. (2009). "The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky". *University Press of Kentucky*. ::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1903_in_the_United_States) and is available under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the [article history page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1903_in_the_United_States?action=history). ::