History

ICONS: Ellis Island, Chicago World Columbian Exposition, USS Maine

• Photographer Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half Lives, in 1890, documenting the horrible living conditions immigrants faced living in New York City's tenements.
• Wyoming and Idaho are admitted as the 43rd and 44th states in July 1890.
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducts the first performance at New York's Carnegie Hall on May 5, 1891.
• The Ellis Island Immigration Station begins processing immigrants to the United States on January 1, 1892.
• More than 25 million people visit the 1893 Chicago World Columbian Exposition between May 1 and October 30, 1893.
• On September 20, 1893, the Duryea Brothers road-test the first-ever, American-made, gasoline-powered automobile in Springfield, Massachusetts.
• On August 28, 1894, Congress passes the first graduated income tax. The U.S. Supreme Court declares the "direct tax" unconstitutional the following year.
• Ex-slave and civil rights advocate Frederick Douglass dies on February 20, 1895.
• The first U.S. Golf Open is held in Newport, RI, on October 4, 1895.
• The last great North American "Gold Rush" begins on April 6, 1896 when gold is discovered in the Yukon District of Canada.
• William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th President of the United States on March 4, 1897.
• The battleship USS Maine explodes in Havana, Cuba's harbor on February 15, 1898.
• Fighting erupts between the United States and Philippine revolutionary forces on February 4, 1899. The "Philippine Insurrection" would officially end on July 4, 1902.
• The United States annexes Hawaii on July 7, 1898.