1903 in the United States

← 1902 1901 1900 1903 in the United States → 1904 1905 1906
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	History of the United States (1865–1918) Timeline of United States history (1900–1929) List of years in the United States

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 (originally now residing in from of the U.S. state of 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)

Governors and Lieutenant Governors
Governors 2 Lieutenant Governors 2

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 – The town of Heppner, Oregon, was nearly destroyed by a cloud burst that resulted 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)
• 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)
• September 23 – Charles B. Farwell, United States Senator from Illinois from 1887 till 1891. (born 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)

External links

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