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Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Edwin L. Norris (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Benjamin F. White (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: George W. Bellamy (Democratic)
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Robert S. Murphy (Republican)
Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Frederick Jackson (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Ralph Watrous (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
January 11: Grand Canyon designated as a monument, and later, in 1919, becomes a National Park.
January[]
January 1
A ball signifying New Year's Day drops in New York City's Times Square for the first time.
Gustav Mahler makes his US conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera.
Georgia introduces a law prohibiting alcohol.
January 13 – A fire at the Rhoads Opera House in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, kills 170 people. The tragedy is a catalyst for stricter fire safety laws nationwide.
January 15 – The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (the first Greek-letter organization by and for black college women) is established.
January 21 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for people who control public places to allow women to smoke in them. It is vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr.
February[]
February – The Converse Rubber Shoe Company (also known as the Boston Rubber Shoe Company) is formed in Malden, Massachusetts.
February 12
The first around-the-world car race, begins in New York City.
Division of Militia Affairs with the War Department.
February 25 – The Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University) is founded.
February 27 – A forty-sixth star is added to the United States flag representing the state of Oklahoma.
March[]
March 4 – The Collinwood School Fire, near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
March 26 – The US Thomas Flyer car sails for Alaska at the head of a motor race from New York to Paris.
April[]
April 8 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
April 14 – The first Hauser Dam in Montana fails, causing severe flooding and damage downstream.
April 16 – Natural Bridges National Monument is established
April 19 – The Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, designed by Jens Jensen, opens to the public for the first time.
April 24 – The seventh[vague] deadliest tornado in U.S. history strikes the towns of Amite, Louisiana, Pine, Louisiana and Purvis, Mississippi, killing 143 and injuring 770.
May[]
May 10 – Mother's Day is observed for the first time, at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.
June[]
June 20 – The Georgia Tech Alumni Association is chartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
July[]
July 1 – Carson National Forest is established.
July 22 – The automobile manufacturing company Fisher Body is founded.
July 26 – Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).
August[]
August 14 – Springfield Race Riot of 1908 in Springfield, Illinois.
August 31 – A charter is granted for Wayland Literary and Technical Institute in Plainview, Texas (now Wayland Baptist University).
September[]
September 16 – William C. Durant founds the company which eventually becomes General Motors.
September 17 – At Ft. Myer, Virginia, U.S.A. Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in an airplane crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, is severely injured in the crash, but makes a recovery.
October[]
October 1: Ford Model T launch.
October 1
Official launch of Henry Ford's Ford Model T automobile, the first having left the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan, on September 27.[2] The initial price is set at $850.[3]
Penny Post is established between the United Kingdom and United States.[4]
October 10 – First section of Long Island Motor Parkway opened.
October 13 – The Church of the Nazarene is organized officially at Pilot Point, Texas as the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. This is the official "birthday" of the denomination.
October 14 – The Chicago Cubs win the 1908 World Series defeating the Detroit Tigers in Game 5. They would not win again until November 2, 2016, which stands as the longest championship drought in sports history.
October 15 – The Metz Fire in Metz Township, Michigan; 37 people are killed, 134 families—about 700 people— are made homeless.
November[]
November 3 – 1908 Presidential election: Republican William Howard Taft defeats Democrat William Jennings Bryan.
November 24 – The first credit union in the United States begins operation in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Undated[]
The Western University of Pennsylvania is renamed the University of Pittsburgh.
The State Normal and Industrial School for Women, precursor to James Madison University, is founded in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
The University of Omaha, precursor of the University of Nebraska Omaha is founded as a private non-sectarian college.
Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts, is established under the terms of Franklin's will.
The American Temperance University closes.
The first upright vacuum cleaner is invented by James Murray Spangler and the rights sold later in the year to The Hoover Company.
January 14 – Russ Columbo, singer, bandleader, and composer (died 1934)
January 17 – Cus D'Amato, boxing trainer (died 1985)
January 27 – Oran "Hot Lips" Page, Jazz musician (died 1954)
February 2 – Justice M. Chambers, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1982)
February 10 – Charles Henri Ford, novelist, poet, filmmaker, photographer and collage artist (died 2002)
February 17 – Red Barber, Baseball announcer and sports journalist (died 1992)
February 25 – George Duning, film composer (died 2000)
February 26 – Tex Avery, Cartoonist (died 1980)
February 29 – Dee Brown, writer and historian (died 2002)
March 4 – T.R.M. Howard, African-American civil rights leader and surgeon (died 1976)
March 5 – Irving Fiske, American playwright, WPA writer and speaker; co-created Quarry Hill Creative Center in Rochester, Vermont, early children's rights activist; died 1990)
March 13 – Walter Annenberg, Publisher and philanthropist (died 2002)
Don Dunphy, television and radio sports announcer (died 1998)
July 8 – Nelson A. Rockefeller, 49th Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 and 41st Vice President of the United States from 1974 to 1977. (died 1979)
July 12 – Milton Berle, comedian (died 2002)
July 19 – Daniel Fry, American contactee (died 1992)
July 21
William E. Jenner, United States Senator from Indiana from 1947 to 1959. (died 1985)
Magruder Tuttle, rear admiral, football player (died 1998)
August 27 – Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States from 1963 till 1969, 37th Vice President of the United States from 1961 till 1963. (died 1973)
August 28 – Roger Tory Peterson, Naturalist, artist and educator (died 1996)