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Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: vacant (until month and day unknown), Winthrop M. Crane (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: J. H. Jones (Democratic)
Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: John B. O'Meara (Democratic) (until January 11), August Bolte (Democratic) (starting January 11)
Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Alexander Campbell Botkin (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Archibald E. Spriggs (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Washington H. Timmerman (Democratic) (until January 18), Miles Benjamin McSweeney (Democratic) (starting January 18)
Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Charles N. Herreid (Republican) (until January 1), Daniel T. Hindman (Republican) (starting January 1)
Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), John Thompson (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
March 4: William McKinley becomes the 25th U.S. President
Garret Hobart becomes the 24th U.S. Vice President
January–March[]
January 2 – Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded at Barnard College in New York City
February 19 – United States Copyright Office established as a department in the Library of Congress.[1]
February 22 – Black Hills National Forest is established.
March 4 – William McKinley is sworn in as the 25th President of the United States, and Garret Hobart is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
April–June[]
April 19 – The first Boston Marathon is run, with fifteen men competing, and won by John McDermott.[2]
May 1 – The Tennessee Centennial Exposition opens in Nashville, for 6 months, illuminated by many electric lights.
June 1 – American miners begin a strike, which successfully establishes the United Mine Workers Union and brings about the 8-hour work day to mines.
June 2 – Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he is dead, is quoted by the New York Journal as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."
President McKinley as Old Mother Hubbard finds the Federal Treasury cupboard bare
July–September[]
July 17 – The Klondike Gold Rush begins when the first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle.
July 31 – Mount Saint Elias, the second highest peak in the United States and Canada, is first ascended.
August 21 – Oldsmobile is founded in Lansing, Michigan by Ransom E. Olds.
August 31 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a precursor of the movie projector.
September 1 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.
September 10 – Lattimer Massacre: A sheriff's posse kills more than 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.
September 21 – In response to a letter written by 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon, The Sun (New York City) publishes an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church stating, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".
October–December[]
October 12 – The USS Baltimore (Cruiser # 3, later CM-1) is recommissioned, since 1890, for several months of duty in the Hawaiian Islands.
October 23 – The Kappa Delta sorority is founded at State Female Normal School now Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.
November 1 – The Library of Congress Building in Washington, D.C., designed by Paul J. Pelz, is opened.
Undated[]
Elbridge Ayer Burbank begins painting portraits of Native Americans in the United States from life.
Women photographers Zaida Ben-Yusuf and Gertrude Käsebier open portrait studios in New York City.
The Auburn University Marching Band is created at Auburn University (known at this date as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama) in Auburn, Alabama.