List of events
Events from the year 1896 in the United States .
The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court who decided Plessy v. Ferguson . April 9 – The National Farm School (later Delaware Valley College ) is chartered in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. May 18 – Plessy v. Ferguson : The U.S. Supreme Court introduces the "separate but equal " doctrine and upholds racial segregation . May 26 – Eleven years after its foundation, a group of 12 purely industrial stocks are chosen to form the Dow Jones Industrial Average . The index is composed entirely of industrial shares for the first time.[ 1] May 27 – 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado : The costliest and third deadliest tornado in U.S. history levels a mile wide swath of downtown St. Louis, Missouri , incurring over $10,000,000 in damages at contemporaneous prices,[ 2] killing more than 255 and injuring over 1,000 people. June 4 – The Ford Quadricycle , the first Ford vehicle ever developed, is completed, eventually leading Henry Ford to build the empire that "put America on wheels". June 28 – Twin Shaft Disaster : An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston City , Pennsylvania results in a massive cave-in that kills 58 coal miners .[ 3] [ 4] [ 5] January 4 – Everett Dirksen , U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1951 to 1969 (died 1969 ) January 8 – Arthur Ford , psychic, founded the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship (died 1971 ) January 14 – John Dos Passos , novelist (died 1970 ) January 18 – C. M. Eddy, Jr. , author (died 1967 ) January 20 – George Burns , actor and singer (died 1996 ) January 21 – J. Carrol Naish , actor (died 1973 ) January 31 February 7 – Bonner Fellers , United States Army general (died 1973 ) February 21 – Homa J. Porter , Texas businessman and political activist (died 1986 ) February 25 – John Little McClellan , U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1943 to 1977 (died 1977 ) February 28 – Philip Showalter Hench , physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1950 (died 1965 ) February 29 – William A. Wellman , film director (died 1975 ) March 1 – Harry Winston , diamond dealer (died 1978 ) March 23 – Edwin Eugene Aldrin , aviator and army colonel (died 1974 ) April 8 – Yip Harburg , lyricist (died 1981 ) April 21 – Ralph Hungerford , 33rd Governor of American Samoa (died 1977 ) April 26 – Edward John Thye , 26th Governor of Minnesota from 1943 to 1947 and U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1947 to 1959 (died 1969) May 30 – Howard Hawks , film director (died 1977 ) June 7 June 19 – Bessie Wallis Warfield , later Duchess of Windsor, socialite (died 1986 in France ) June 28 – Constance Binney , American actress (died 1989 ) July 8 – James B. Wilson , American footballer (died 1986 ) July 9 July 15 – Gladys Edgerly Bates , sculptor (died 2003 ) July 18 July 19 July 21 July 28 – Barbara La Marr , born Reatha Dale Watson, silent film actress (died 1926 ) August 15 – Paul Outerbridge , photographer (died 1958 ) August 22 – W. E. Lawrence , actor (died 1947 ) August 26 – Besse Cooper , supercentenarian (died 2012 ) September 8 – Howard Dietz , lyricist (died 1983 ) September 10 – Adele Astaire , dancer and singer (died 1981 ) September 15 – Robert B. McClure , general (died 1973 ) September 21 – Walter Breuning , supercentenarian ; last known surviving male born in 1896 (died 2011 ) September 24 – F. Scott Fitzgerald , author known for the novel The Great Gatsby (died 1940 ) September 29 – George H. Bender , U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1954 to 1957 (died 1961 ) October 22 – Earle C. Clements , U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1950 to 1957 (died 1985 ) October 30 – Ruth Gordon , actress and screenwriter (died 1985 ) November 8 – Bucky Harris , baseball player (died 1977 ) November 14 – Mamie Eisenhower , née Doud, First Lady of the United States as wife of Dwight D. Eisenhower (died 1979 ) November 16 – Jim Jordan , actor (died 1988 ) November 25 December 6 – Ira Gershwin , lyricist (died 1983 ) December 17 – Robert Francis Anthony Studds , admiral and engineer, fourth Director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (died 1962 ) December 21 – Leroy Robertson , composer and educator (died 1971 ) Date unknown January 6 – Thomas W. Knox , author and journalist (born 1835 ) January 11 – George G. Wright , U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1871 to 1877 (born 1820 ) January 15 – Mathew B. Brady , pioneering photographer (born 1822 ) January 19 – Bernhard Gillam , political cartoonist (born 1856 ) February 7 – William Hayden English , politician (born 1822 ) February 22 – George D. Robinson , lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (born 1834 ) February 23 – George Davis , Confederate States Senator from North Carolina , 4th and last Confederate States Attorney General (born 1820 ) February 25 – Joseph P. Fyffe , admiral (born 1832) March 19 – R. Edward Earll , ichthyologist and museum curator (b. 1853) April 9 – Gustav Koerner , statesman (born 1809 in Frankfurt) April 19 – Arthur I. Boreman , U.S. Senator from West Virginia from 1869 to 1875 (born 1823 ) May 5 – Jacob Fjelde , sculptor (born 1855 in Norway ) May 7 – Herman Webster Mudgett , alias H. H. Holmes, serial killer, executed (born 1861 ) May 11 – Henry Cuyler Bunner , novelist and poet (born 1855 ) May 13 – Nora Perry , poet, journalist and children's author (born 1831 ) May 31 – Homer V. M. Miller , U.S. Senator in Georgia from 1871 (born 1814 ) June 2 – Ozora P. Stearns , U.S. Senator from Minnesota in 1871 (born 1831) June 4 – Austin Corbin , president of Long Island Rail Road (born 1827 ) June 12 – Thomas P. Leathers , steamboat captain (born 1816 ) June 13 – Alpheus Felch , 5th Governor of Michigan from 1846 till 1847 and U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1847 to 1853 (born 1804 ) June 25 – Lyman Trumbull , U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1855 to 1873 (born 1813 ) July 1 – Harriet Beecher Stowe , abolitionist and author best known for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (born 1811 ) July 14 – Luther Whiting Mason , music educator (born 1818 ) July 19 – Abraham H. Cannon , Mormon apostle (born 1859 ) July 22 – George Wallace Jones , U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1848 till 1859 (born 1804 ) August 9 – Alonzo J. Edgerton , U.S. Senator from Minnesota in 1881 (born 1827) August 14 – Olin Levi Warner , sculptor (born 1844 ) August 17 – Mary Abigail Dodge (Gail Hamilton), essayist (born 1833 ) October 13 – Thomas W. Ferry , U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1871 till 1883 (born 1827) October 23 – Columbus Delano , statesman (born 1809 ) November 22 – George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. , inventor of the Ferris wheel , typhoid (born 1859) Date unknown – Asahel C. Beckwith , U.S. Senator from Wyoming in 1893 (born 1827)