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Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar).

Events of 1890

January 25: Nellie Bly, 1890.

January - March

• January 1
  • The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony in northeast Africa.
  • In Michigan, the wooden steamer Mackinaw burned in a fire on the Black River.^[1]

Northeast District, Michigan State University, 2000, webpage:

MSUE-TB-wrecks.

• January 2
  • Steamship Persia wrecked off Corsica: 130 lives lost.^[2]
  • Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House.
• January 25
  • United Mine Workers of America is founded.
  • Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.

March 4: Forth Bridge is opened.

• February 17 - British steamship Duburg wrecked in China Sea: 400 lives lost.^[2]
• March 1
  • British steamship Quetia foundered in Lorres Straits; 124 lives lost.^[2]
  • March 1 - Léon Bourgeois succeeds Ernest Constans as French Minister of the Interior.
• March 4 - The longest bridge in Britain, the Forth Bridge (1,710 ft) in Scotland, is opened.
• March 8 - North Dakota State University is founded in Fargo, North Dakota.
• March 20 - Wilhelm II of Germany fires Otto von Bismarck.
• March 27 - A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 people and injuring 200.
• March 28 - Washington State University is founded in Pullman, Washington.

April - June

May 31: Cleveland Arcade.

• May 12 - The first ever official County Championship cricket match begins in Bristol. Yorkshire beats Gloucestershire by eight wickets.
• May 31 - The 5-story skylight Arcade opens in Cleveland, Ohio.
• June 1 - The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.
• June 12 - In Michigan, the wooden steamer Ryan is lost near Thunder Bay Island.^[1]

July 27: Vincent van Gogh.

July - September

• July 2 - The Sherman Anti-Trust Act and Sherman Silver Purchase Act become United States law.
• July 3 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. State.
• July 10 - Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. State.
• July 27 - Vincent van Gogh shoots himself in the stomach and dies two days later.
• July - Politics of Japan - first general election for the House of Representatives of Japan.
• August 6 - At Auburn Prison in New York, William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed in the electric chair.
• September 19 - Turkish frigate Ertogrul founders off Japan: 540 lives lost.^[2]

October - December

November: New Scotland Yard [center] opens near the Big Ben clock tower.

December 29: Wounded Knee.

• October 8 - First brief, partially-controlled flight of Clement Ader's airplane "Eole" in Satory, France.
• October 11 - In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
• October 13
  • In Michigan, the schooner J.F. Warner is lost at Thunder Bay.^[1]
  • The Delta Chi Fraternity is founded by 11 law students at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
• November 23 - King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir, and his daughter Princess Wilhelmina becomes Queen, causing Luxembourg (who required a male heir) to declare independence.
• November 29
  • The Meiji Constitution goes into effect in Japan and the first Diet convenes.
  • In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24 to 0 in the first Army-Navy football game.
• November - Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, moves to a building on London's Victoria Embankment, as the New Scotland Yard.
• December 27 - British steamship Shanghai burned in China Sea: 101 lives lost.^[2]
• December 29 - Wounded Knee Massacre: At Wounded Knee, South Dakota the US 7th Cavalry Regiment tries to disarm camp & shooting starts. 153 Lakota Sioux and 25 troops are killed; about 150 flee the scene.

Undated

• The corrugated cardboard box is invented by Robert Gair, a Brooklyn printer who developed production of paper-board boxes in 1879.

Herman Hollerith.

• U.S. Census - Herman Hollerith devises a method using punch cards (like Jacquard's loom) to tabulate census data by machine. (see also History of computing hardware). Hollerith's company eventually becomes IBM.
• Prosecution of Edward King, Anglican bishop of Lincoln for using ritualistic practices ends.
• The United States city of Boise, Idaho drills the first geothermal well.
• Brown Trout introduced into the upper Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park
• High School Cadets was written by John Phillip Sousa
• Blackwall Buildings, Whitechapel, in the East End of London, noted philanthropic housing built.

<gallery> Image:Corrugated Cardboard.JPG| Corrugated boxes Image:Puhagan geothermal plant.jpg| Geothermal power </gallery>

Births

January - June

• January 1 - Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (d. 1966)
• January 4 - Victor Lustig, Bohemian-born con artist (d. 1947)
• January 9
  • Kurt Tucholsky, German-born journalist and satirist (d. 1935)
  • Karel ?apek, Czech writer (d. 1938)
• January 11 - Oswald de Andrade, Brazilian Modernist writer (d.1954)
• January 19 - Élise Rivet, French Roman Catholic nun and war heroine (d. 1945)
• January 22 - Fred M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1953)
• January 28 - Robert Stroud, "Birdman of Alcatraz" (d. 1963)
• February 10 - Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (d. 1960)
• February 14 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)
• February 17 - Ronald Fisher, English biologist (d. 1962)
• February 18 - Adolphe Menjou, American actor (d. 1963)
• February 24 - Marjorie Main, American actress (d. 1975)
• February 25 - Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (d. 1965)
• February 27 - Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (d. 1933)
• March 3 - Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (d. 1939)
• March 9 - (new style) Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (d. 1986)
• March 11 - Vannevar Bush, American engineer, inventor, and politician (d. 1974)
• March 20
  • Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (d. 1957)
  • Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor (d. 1973)
• March 28 - Paul Whiteman, American bandleader (d. 1967)
• March 31 - William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
• April 6 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (d. 1939)
• April 7 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (d. 1998)
• April 11 - Donna Rachele Mussolini, Italian, wife of Benito Mussolini (died 1979)
• April 15 - Percy Shaw, Brittish Inventor (d. 1976)
• April 16 - Fred Root, English cricketer (d. 1954)
• April 20 - Maurice Duplessis, premier of Québec (d. 1959)
• May 4 - Franklin Carmichael, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
• May 10 - Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
• May 11 - Woodall Rodgers, mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1961)
• May 15 - Katherine Anne Porter, American author (d. 1980)
• May 19 - Ho Chi Minh, Prime minister/president of North Vietnam (d. 1969)
• May 23 - Herbert Marshall, English actor (d. 1966)
• June 6 - Ted Lewis, American jazz musician and entertainer (d. 1971)
• June 16 - Stan Laurel, British actor (d. 1965)
• June 26 - Jeanne Eagels, American actress (d. 1929)

July - December

• July 18 - Frank Forde, Australian Prime Minister (d. 1983)
• July 22 - Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, American philanthropist and matriarch of the Kennedy family (d. 1995)
• August 4 - Erich Weinert, German writer and political activist (d. 1953)
• August 5 - Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 1956)
• August 10 - Angus L. Macdonald, Nova Scotia Premier (d. 1954)
• August 15
  • Jacques Ibert, French composer (d. 1962)
  • Elizabeth Bolden, American, last verified person born in 1890 (d. 2006)
• August 18 - Walther Funk, German politician (d. 1960)
• August 20 - H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (d. 1937)
• August 24 - Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (d. 1968)
• September 10 - Elsa Schiaparelli, French couturiere (d. 1973)
• September 15
  • Agatha Christie, English writer (d. 1976)
  • Frank Martin, Swiss composer (d. 1974)
• September 20 - Jelly Roll Morton, American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1941)
  • Ra'hel Bluwstein, Israeli poet (d. 1931)
• October 2 - Groucho Marx, American comedian (d. 1977)
• October 8 - Eddie Rickenbacker, American WWI fighter pilot (d. 1973)
• October 13 - Conrad Richter, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1968)
• October 14 - Dwight David Eisenhower, U.S. general and President of the United States (d. 1969)
• October 16
  • Michael Collins, Irish patriot (d. 1922)
  • Paul Strand, American photographer (d. 1976)
• October 17 - Roy Kilner, English cricketer (d. 1928)
• November 20 - Leon Cadore, American baseball pitcher (d. 1968)
• November 22 - Charles de Gaulle, President of France (d. 1970)
• November 23 - El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (d. 1941)
• December 5 - David Bomberg, English painter (d. 1957)
• December 8 - Bohuslav Martin?, Czech composer (d. 1959)
• December 11 - Carlos Gardel, Argentine tango singer (d. 1935)
• December 20 - Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
• December 21 - Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1967)
• December 26 - Uncle Charlie Osborne, Appalachian fiddler (d. 1992)
• December 30 - Lanoe Hawker, British fighter pilot (d. 1916)
• date unknown
  • Bechara El Khoury, President of Lebanon (d. 1964)
  • Taixu, Chinese Buddhist activist (d. 1947)

Deaths

January - June

• January 18 - King Amadeus I of Spain (b. 1845)
• February 22
  • John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)
  • Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (b. 1834)
• March 3 - Innocenzo da Berzo, Capuchin friar (b. 1844)
• March 7 - Karl Rudolf Friedenthal, Prussian statesman (b. 1827)
• March 9 - Sir Mangaldas Nathubhoy, Indian politician (b. 1832)
• April 1 - David Wilber, American politician (b. 1820)
• April 11 - Joseph Carey Merrick (The Elephant Man), English oddity (b. 1862)
• June 24 - Subba Row, Hindu theosophist (b. 1856)
• June 30 - Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, American composer (b. 1819)

July - December

• July 9 - Clinton B. Fisk, American philanthropist and temperance activist (b. 1828)
• July 15 - Gottfried Keller, Swiss writer (b. 1819)
• July 29 - Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (b. 1853)
• August 11 - John Henry Newman, English Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1801)
• October 4 - Catherine Booth, the Mother of The Salvation Army (b. 1829)
• October 20- Sir Richard Francis Burton, Explorer, Linguist, Soldier. (b. 1820)
• October 26 - Carlo Collodi, Italian writer (b. 1826)
• November 3 - Ulrich Ochsenbein, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1811)
• November 8 - César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (b. 1822)
• November 11 - Charles-Marie David de Mayréna, French adventurer and self-styled "King of Sedang" (b. 1842)
• November 23 - King William III of the Netherlands (b. 1817)
• November 24 - August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born financier (b. 1816)
• December 15 - Sitting Bull, Native American chief, (b. c.1831)
• December 21 - Johanne Luise Heiberg, Danish actress (b. 1812)
• December 26 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)
• December 31 - Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican war heroine (b. 1826)
• date unknown - Comanche, horse, sole survivor of Custer's cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

References

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