July 3
July 3
Idaho becomes 43rd state
Idaho is admitted to the union on July 3, 1890. Exploration of the North American continent mostly proceeded inward from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and northward from Spanish Mexico. Therefore,…
A Year In History: 1890
Also Within This Year in History:
1890
In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation creating Yosemite National Park. In South Dakota, years of conflict between the U.S. government and the Lakota Indians culminated in the Wounded Knee Massacre and the deaths of at least 150 Native people and 25 U.S. cavalry members. Lakota resistance leader Sitting Bull was killed during an arrest attempt. Notable births of 1890 included Agatha Christie, Charles de Gaulle, Dwight Eisenhower, Groucho Marx, Robert “Believe It or Not” Ripley and fried-chicken impresario Colonel Harland Sanders.
August 6
August 6
First execution by electric chair
At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electrocution in history is carried out against William Kemmler, who had been convicted of murdering his lover, Matilda Ziegler, with…
September 15
September 15
Agatha Christie is born
Mary Clarissa Agatha Miller, later known as Agatha Christie, is born on September 15, 1890 in Torquay, Devon, England. Raised and educated at Ashfield, her parents’ comfortable home, Christie began…
September 25
September 25
The Mormon Church officially renounces polygamy
On September 25, 1890, faced with the imminent destruction of their church and way of life, religious leaders reluctantly issue the “Mormon Manifesto” in which they command all Latter‑day Saints…
October 1
October 1
Yosemite National Park established
On October 1, 1890, an act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park, home of such natural wonders as Half Dome and the giant sequoia trees. Environmental trailblazer John Muir (1838‑1914)…
October 14
October 14
Dwight D. Eisenhower is born
Future president Dwight D. Eisenhower is born in Denison, Texas on October 14, 1890. After graduating from West Point in 1915, Eisenhower embarked on a stellar military career—he would eventually become…
December 15
December 15
Sitting Bull killed by Indian police
After many years of successfully resisting white efforts to destroy him and the Sioux people, the Sioux leader and holy man Sitting Bull is killed by Indian police at the…
December 29
December 29
U.S. Army massacres Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee
On December 29, 1890, in one of the final chapters of America’s long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation…
