Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: James Jeffries (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Charles Parlange (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William H. Haile (Republican)
January 1 – Ellis Island begins receiving immigrants to the United States.[1]
January 15 – James Naismith's rules for basketball are published for the first time in the Springfield YMCA International Training School's newspaper, in an article titled "A New Game".
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 MwLaguna Salada earthquake shakes Southern California and northern Mexico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).
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 MLaVacaville–Winters earthquake shakes the North Bay are of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). This first event in a doublet earthquake results in one death and is followed two days later by a 6.2 MLa 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 10 - Glen Ellyn, Illinois is incorporated.
May 28 – The Sierra Club is organized by John Muir in San Francisco, California.
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 (publisher, John H. Murphy, Sr.).
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 (state) by William Grant Egbert.
The Cadet Band (modern-day Highty-Tighties) of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (modern-day Virginia Tech) is established in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets.
^Harlan D. Unrau (1984). Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York-New Jersey. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. p. 208.
Media related to 1892 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
Years in the United States (1776–present)