1903 in the United States

1903 in the United States
Years:	1900 1901 1902 – 1903 – 1904 1905 1906
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Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1865–1918)

Events from the year 1903 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Theodore Roosevelt (R-New York)
• Vice President: vacant
• Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (Illinois)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: David B. Henderson (R-Iowa) (until March 4), Joseph Gurney Cannon (R-Illinois) (starting November 9)
• Congress: 57th (until March 4), 58th (starting March 4)

Events

January–March

• January 19 – The first west-east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east-west broadcast having been made in December 1901).
• January 21 – Section of Militia Affairs within the Adjutant General's office.
• February 11 – The Oxnard Strike of 1903 becomes the first time in U.S. history that a labor union is formed from members of different races.
• February 14
  • Census Board within the Department of Commerce and Labor (Census Bureau).
  • Department of Commerce and Labor founded
  • U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor.
• February 15 – Morris and Rose Mitchom introduce the first teddy bear in America.
• February 23 – Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
• March 2 – In New York City, the Martha Washington Hotel, the first hotel exclusively for women, opens.
• March 14 – The Hay–Herrán Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate later rejects the treaty.

April–June

• June 12 – The Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity is founded at the University of Michigan School of Music.
• June 14 – Heppner Flood of 1903: The town of Heppner, Oregon, is nearly destroyed by a cloudburst that results in a flash flood.

July–September

• July 1 – U.S. Bureau of Fisheries within Department of Commerce & Labor.
• July 23 – Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago becomes the first owner of a Ford Model A.
• August 9 – Commanding General post replaced by that of Chief of Staff of the Army.
• September 11 – The first stock car event is held at the Milwaukee Mile.
• September 27 – The Wreck of the Old 97 engine at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia, which kills 9 people, inspires a ballad and song.

October–December

December 17: Wright Flyer.

• October – Frank Nelson Cole proves that 2⁶⁷-1 is composite by factoring it as 193,707,721 * 761,838,257,287 after trying for every Sunday for 3 years.
• October 1 – The first modern World Series pits the National League's Pittsburgh against Boston of the American League.
• November 4 – With the encouragement of the United States, Panama proclaims itself independent from Colombia.
• November 13 – The United States recognizes the independence of Panama.
• November 18 – The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the U.S. exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
• November 23 – Colorado Governor James Hamilton Peabody sends the state militia into the town of Cripple Creek to break up a miners' strike.
• December 17 – Orville Wright flies an aircraft with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in the first documented, successful, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight.
• December 30 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago kills 600.

Undated

• The Lincoln–Lee Legion is established to promote the temperance movement and signing of alcohol abstinence pledges by children.
• The first box of Crayola crayons was made and sold for 5 cents. It contained 8 colors; brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and black.
• Coca-Cola removes cocaine as a key ingredient from their formula. At the time, Coca-Cola contained approximately nine milligrams of cocaine per glass.

Ongoing

• Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)
• Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)

Births

• March 7 – J. Allen Frear, Jr., United States Senator from Delaware from 1949 till 1961. (died 1993)
• June 22 – John Dillinger, gangster in the Depression-era United States (died 1934)
• August 7 – Joseph H. Bottum, United States Senator from South Dakota from 1962 till 1963. (died 1984)
• October 6 – Brien McMahon, United States Senator from South Dakota from 1945 till 1952. (died 1952)

Deaths

• January 4
  • Gulstan Ropert, missionary (born 1839)
  • Topsy elephant (born 1875)
• January 28 – John B. Allen, United States Senator from Washington from 1889 till 1893. (born 1845)
• April 22 – Alexander Ramsey, 2nd Governor of Minnesota from 1860 till 1863 and United States Senator from Minnesota from 1863 till 1875. (born 1815)
• July 3 – Harriet Lane, acting First Lady of the United States during James Buchanan's presidency (born 1830)
• September 23 – Charles B. Farwell, United States Senator from Illinois from 1887 till 1891. (born 1823)
• November 3 – Eliza Hendricks, wife of Thomas A. Hendricks, Second Lady of the United States (died 1823)
• December 13 – Alexander McDonald, United States Senator from Arkansas from 1868 till 1871. (born 1832)
• December 23 – Middleton P. Barrow, United States Senator from Georgia from 1882 till 1883. (born 1839)

See also

• List of American films of 1903

Further reading

• "Domestic Chronology", Statistician and Economist, San Francisco: Louis P. McCarty, 1905, pp. 227–347 – via HathiTrust . (Covers events May 1898-June 1905)

External links

• Media related to 1903 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons