1895 in the United States

Events from the year 1895 in the United States.

Federal government

 * President: Grover Cleveland (D-New York)
 * Vice President: Adlai E. Stevenson I (D-Illinois)
 * Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (Illinois)
 * Speaker of the House of Representatives:
 * Charles Frederick Crisp (D-Georgia) (until March 4)
 * Thomas Brackett Reed (R-Maine) (starting December 2)


 * Congress: 53rd (until March 4), 54th (starting March 4)

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" ! Governors and lieutenant governors

Governors
• Governor of Alabama: William C. Oates (Democratic)

• Governor of Arkansas: William Meade Fishback (Democratic) (until January 8), James Paul Clarke (Democratic) (starting January 8)

• Governor of California: Henry Markham (Republican) (until January 11), James Budd (Democratic) (starting January 11)

• Governor of Colorado: Davis Hanson Waite (People's) (until January 8), Albert McIntire (Republican) (starting January 8)

• Governor of Connecticut: Luzon B. Morris (Democratic) (until January 9), Owen Vincent Coffin (Republican) (starting January 9)

• Governor of Delaware:

• * until January 15: Robert J. Reynolds (Democratic)

• * January 15-April 8: Joshua H. Marvil (Republican)

• * starting April 8: William T. Watson (Democratic)

• Governor of Florida: Henry L. Mitchell (Democratic)

• Governor of Georgia: William Yates Atkinson (Democratic)

• Governor of Idaho: William J. McConnell (Republican)

• Governor of Illinois: John Peter Altgeld (Democratic)

• Governor of Indiana: Claude Matthews (Democratic)

• Governor of Iowa: Frank D. Jackson (Republican)

• Governor of Kansas: Lorenzo D. Lewelling (Populist) (until January 14), Edmund N. Morrill (Republican) (starting January 14)

• Governor of Kentucky: John Y. Brown (Democratic) (until December 10), William O. Bradley (Republican) (starting December 10)

• Governor of Louisiana: Murphy James Foster, Sr. (Democratic)

• Governor of Maine: Henry B. Cleaves (Republican)

• Governor of Maryland: Frank Brown (Democratic)

• Governor of Massachusetts: Frederic T. Greenhalge (Republican)

• Governor of Michigan: John T. Rich (Republican)

• Governor of Minnesota: Knute Nelson (Republican) (until January 31), David M. Clough (Republican) (starting January 31)

• Governor of Mississippi: John M. Stone (Democratic)

• Governor of Missouri: William Joel Stone (Democratic)

• Governor of Montana: John E. Rickards (Republican)

• Governor of Nebraska: Lorenzo Crounse (Republican) (until January 3), Silas A. Holcomb (Democratic) (starting January 3)

• Governor of Nevada: Roswell K. Colcord (Republican) (until January 7), John Edward Jones (Silver) (starting January 7)

• Governor of New Hampshire: John Butler Smith (Republican) (until January 3), Charles A. Busiel (Republican) (starting January 3)

• Governor of New Jersey: George Theodore Werts (Democratic)

• Governor of New York: Levi P. Morton (Republican) (starting January 1)

• Governor of North Carolina: Elias Carr (Democratic)

• Governor of North Dakota: Eli C. D. Shortridge (Democratic)/(Independent) (until January 10), Roger Allin (Republican) (starting January 10)

• Governor of Ohio: William McKinley (Republican)

• Governor of Oregon: Sylvester Pennoyer (Democratic) (until January 14), William Paine Lord (Republican) (starting January 14)

• Governor of Pennsylvania: Robert E. Pattison (Democratic) (until January 15), Daniel H. Hastings (Republican) (starting January 15)

• Governor of Rhode Island: D. Russell Brown (Republican) (until May 29), Charles W. Lippitt (Republican) (starting May 29)

• Governor of South Carolina: John Gary Evans (Democratic)

• Governor of South Dakota: Charles H. Sheldon (Republican)

• Governor of Tennessee: Peter Turney (Democratic)

• Governor of Texas: James Stephen Hogg (Democratic) (until January 15), Charles A. Culberson (Democratic) (starting January 15)

• Governor of Vermont: Urban A. Woodbury (Republican)

• Governor of Virginia: Charles Triplett O'Ferrall (Democratic)

• Governor of Washington: John McGraw (Republican)

• Governor of West Virginia: William A. MacCorkle (Democratic)

• Governor of Wisconsin: George W. Peck (Democratic) (until January 7), William H. Upham (Republican) (starting January 7)

• Governor of Wyoming: John E. Osborne (Democratic) (until January 7), William A. Richards (Republican) (starting January 7)

Lieutenant governors
• Lieutenant Governor of California:

• * until January 11: John B. Reddick (Republican)

• * January 11-October 25: Spencer G. Millard (Republican)

• * starting October 25: William T. Jeter (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: David Hopkinson Nichols (Democratic) (until January 8), Jared L. Brush (Republican) (starting January 8)

• Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Ernest Cady (Democratic) (until January 9), Lorrin A. Cooke (Republican) (starting January 9)

• Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: F. B. Willis (Republican) (until January 7), F. J. Mills (Republican) (starting January 7)

• Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Joseph B. Gill (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Mortimer Nye (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Warren S. Dungan (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Percy Daniels (Populist) (until January 14), James A. Troutman (Republican) (starting January 14)

• Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Mitchell Cary Alford (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), William J. Worthington (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)

• Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Hiram R. Lott (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Robert H. Snyder (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)

• Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Roger Wolcott (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Michigan:

• * until month and day unknown: J. Wight Giddings (Republican)

• * month and day unknown: Alfred Milnes (Republican)

• * starting month and day unknown: Joseph R. McLaughlin (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: David M. Clough (Republican) (until January 31), Frank A. Day (Republican) (starting January 31)

• Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: M. M. Evans (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: John B. O'Meara (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Alexander Campbell Botkin (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Thomas J. Majors (Republican) (until January 3), Robert E. Moore (Democratic) (starting January 3)

• Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Joseph Poujade (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), Reinhold Sadler (Silver) (starting month and day unknown)

• Lieutenant Governor of New York: Charles T. Saxton (Republican) (starting January 1)

• Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Rufus A. Doughton (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Elmer D. Wallace (Democratic) (until January 10), John H. Worst (Republican) (starting January 10)

• Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Andrew L. Harris (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Louis Arthur Watres (Republican) (until January 23), Walter Lyon (Republican) (starting January 23)

• Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Edwin Allen (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Washington H. Timmerman (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Charles N. Herreid (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: William C. Dismukes (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Ernest Pillow (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)

• Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Martin McNulty Crane (Democratic) (until January 15), George Taylor Jester (Democratic) (starting January 15)

• Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Zophar M. Mansur (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Robert Craig Kent (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of Washington: F. H. Luce (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: vacant (until January 7), Emil Baensch (Republican) (starting January 7)
 * }

Events

 * February 9 – Mintonette, later known as volleyball, is created by William G. Morgan at Holyoke, Massachusetts.
 * March 1 – William Lyne Wilson is appointed United States Postmaster General.
 * May 27 – In re Debs: The Supreme Court of the United States decides that the federal government has the right to regulate interstate commerce, legalizing the military suppression of the Pullman Strike.
 * June 28 – The United States Court of Private Land Claims rules that James Reavis's claim to Barony of Arizona is "wholly fictitious and fraudulent".
 * July 4 – Katharine Lee Bates' lyrics for "America the Beautiful" are first published.
 * July 6 – Van Cortlandt Golf Course opens in The Bronx as the country's first and oldest public golf course.
 * August 19 – American frontier murderer and outlaw John Wesley Hardin is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.
 * September 3 – The first professional American football game is played, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, between the Latrobe YMCA and the Jeannette Athletic Club (Latrobe wins 12–0).
 * September 18 – Booker T. Washington delivers the Atlanta Compromise speech.
 * November 5 – George B. Selden is granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile.
 * November 20 – USS Indiana, the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of this time, is commissioned.
 * November 25 – Oscar Hammerstein opens the Olympia Theatre, the first theatre to be built in New York City's Times Square district.
 * November 28 – Chicago Times-Herald race: The first American automobile race in history is sponsored by the Chicago Times-Herald. Press coverage first arouses significant U.S. interest in the automobile.
 * December 24 – George Washington Vanderbilt II officially opens his Biltmore Estate on Christmas Eve, inviting his family and guests to celebrate his new home in Asheville, North Carolina.

Undated

 * W. E. B. Du Bois becomes the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
 * The gold reserve of the U.S. Treasury is saved when J. P. Morgan and the Rothschilds loan $65 million worth of gold to the United States government.
 * Temple Cup: Cleveland Spiders defeat Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 1

Ongoing

 * Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896)
 * Gay Nineties (1890–1899)
 * Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)

Births

 * January 1
 * Bert Acosta, aviator (died 1954)
 * J. Edgar Hoover, 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (died 1972)
 * January 4 – Leroy Grumman, aeronautical engineer, test pilot and industrialist (died 1982)
 * January 11 – Laurens Hammond, inventor (died 1973)
 * January 23 – Harry Darby, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1949 to 1950 (died 1987)
 * February 2 – George Halas, football player (died 1983)
 * February 6 – Babe Ruth, baseball player (died 1948)
 * February 25 – Lew Andreas, basketball coach (died 1984)
 * March 4
 * Milt Gross, comic book illustrator and animator (died 1953)
 * Shemp Howard, actor and comedian (The Three Stooges) (died 1955)
 * March 12 – William C. Lee, general (died 1948)
 * March 15 – Virgil Chapman, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1949 to 1951 (died 1951)
 * March 27 – Ruth Snyder, murderer (electrocuted 1928)
 * March 28
 * Donald Barnhouse, theologian, pastor, author, and radio pioneer (died 1960)
 * Spencer W. Kimball, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (died 1985)
 * April 20 – Emile Christian, musician (died 1973)
 * May 2 – Lorenz Hart, lyricist (died 1943)
 * May 11 – William Grant Still, "the Dean" of African American composers (died 1978)
 * May 15 – Prescott Bush, U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963 (died 1972)
 * May 25 – Dorothea Lange, documentary photographer and photojournalist (died 1965 in the United States)
 * May 28 – Samuel D. Jackson, U.S. Senator from Indiana in 1944 (died 1951)
 * June 10
 * William C. Feazel, U.S. Senator from Louisiana in 1948 (died 1965)
 * Hattie McDaniel, African American film actress (died 1952)
 * June 21 – John Wesley Snyder, businessman and Secretary of the Treasury (died 1985)
 * June 24 – Jack Dempsey, heavyweight boxer (died 1983)
 * July 1 – Lucy Somerville Howorth, lawyer, feminist and politician (died 1997)
 * July 3 – Jean Paige, actress (died 1990)
 * July 4 – Irving Caesar, lyricist and theater composer (died 1996)
 * July 9 – Joe Gleason, baseball pitcher (died 1990)
 * July 10 – Andrew Earl Weatherly, philatelist (died 1981)
 * July 12 – Richard Buckminster Fuller, architect (died 1983)
 * July 13 – Bradley Kincaid, folk singer (died 1989)
 * July 19 – Snake Henry, baseball player (died 1987)
 * July 20 – Chapman Revercomb, politician and lawyer (died 1979)
 * July 26
 * Gracie Allen, comic actress (died 1964)
 * Kenneth Harlan, actor (died 1967)
 * July 30 – Joseph DuMoe, football coach (died 1959)
 * August 10 – Harry Richman, entertainer (died 1972)
 * August 12 – Lynde D. McCormick, admiral (died 1956)
 * September 20 – Lloyd W. Bertaud, aviator (died 1927)
 * September 22 – Elmer Austin Benson, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1935 to 1936 and 24th Governor of Minnesota from 1937 to 1939 (died 1985)
 * September 29 – Joseph Banks Rhine, parapsychologist (died 1980)
 * October 4 – Buster Keaton, born Joseph Frank Keaton, silent film comedian (died 1966)
 * October 6 – Caroline Gordon, writer and critic (died 1981)
 * October 13 – Mike Gazella, baseball player (died 1978)
 * October 14 – Silas Simmons, Pre-Negro league baseball player, longest-lived professional baseball player (died 2006)
 * October 19 – Lewis Mumford, historian & philosopher of science (died 1990)
 * October 22 – Johnny Morrison, baseball player (died 1966)
 * October 23 – Clinton Presba Anderson, U.S. Senator from New Mexico from 1949 to 1973 (died 1975)
 * October 30 – Dickinson W. Richards, physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 1973)
 * November 10 – John Knudsen Northrop, airplane manufacturer (died 1981)
 * November 14 – Walter Freeman, neurologist (died 1972)
 * November 29 – Busby Berkeley, film director and choreographer (died 1976)
 * December 2 – W. Conway Pierce, chemist (died 1974)
 * December 20 – Susanne Langer, philosopher (died 1985)
 * December 24 – Marguerite Williams, African American geologist (died 1991)
 * December 28 – Carol Ryrie Brink, author (died 1981)

Deaths

 * January 9 – Aaron Lufkin Dennison, watchmaker (born 1812)
 * February 20 – Frederick Douglass, African American rights activist and former slave (born 1817)
 * March 22 – Henry Coppée, historian and biographer (born 1821)
 * April 22 – James F. Wilson, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1883 to 1895. (born 1828)
 * May 28 – Walter Q. Gresham, politician (born 1832)
 * June 23
 * Thomas Shaw, buffalo soldier and Medal of Honor recipient (born 1846)
 * James Renwick Jr., architect (born 1818)
 * June 29 – Green Clay Smith, politician (born 1826)
 * July 28 – Edward Beecher, theologian (born 1803)
 * August 1 – Hugh O'Brien, 31st Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts (born 1827)
 * August 6 – George Frederick Root, composer (born 1820)
 * August 22 – Luzon B. Morris, politician (born 1827)
 * October 2 – Robert Crozier, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1873 to 1874 (born 1827)
 * October 6 – L. L. Langstroth, beekeeper (born 1810)
 * October 8 – William Mahone, civil engineer and Confederate Army major general (born 1826)
 * October 14 – Clara Doty Bates, poet and children's literature author (born 1838)
 * November 4 – Eugene Field, children's author (born 1850)
 * Full date unknown – John Miley, Methodist theologian (born 1813)