Year 1893 Fun Facts, Trivia, and Historical Events

This quick read presents a collection of fun facts, trivia, and historical events from the year 1893. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, sports facts, historic firsts, entertainment news, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. In 1893, Benjamin Harrison (R-Indiana) was the 23rd president of the United States until March 4. That day, Grover Cleveland (D-New York) was sworn in as the 24th U.S. president.
2. Levi B. Morton (R-New York) was the 22nd vice president of the United States until March 4. That day, Adlai Stevenson (D-Illinois) was sworn in as the nation’s 23rd vice president.
3. The U.S. unemployment rate in 1893 was an estimated 17-19%, and the nation's inflation rate was 2.74%. The unusually high unemployment rate was triggered by the Panic of 1893, which you can learn more about below.
4. Consumer products launched in 1893 included Fels-Naptha laundry detergent, Juicy Fruit chewing gum, Lava soap, the popcorn maker, Shredded Wheat breakfast cereal, and Wrigley’s spearmint gum.
5. January 17: With the support of U.S. Marines and American businessmen, Queen Liliʻuokalani’s Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in a coup d'état. It led to “the establishment of a provisional government and the eventual annexation of Hawaii.”
6. In 1893, the United States was in the early stages of the Panic of 1893, a significant economic depression that began in February 1893 and lasted until 1897. Bank failures, business closures, falling gold reserves, high unemployment, and political unrest all took place during the economic downturn. The depression was triggered in February and May by the failure of two of America’s largest employers—the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (February) and the National Cordage Company (May).
7. During the Panic of 1893, many Americans had a fear of bank failures and “rushed” to their banks to withdraw savings, leading to a plethora of “bank runs” throughout the country. As a result, many banks depleted their cash reserves and ended up in default.
8. Over time, the economic downturn led to the failure of over 500 banks, an estimated 15,000 businesses, and numerous farms, “resulting in widespread unemployment and poverty across the nation.”
9. During the 1890s, no state or federal agencies compiled “accurate tallies” of America’s unemployed. Only “rough estimates” of the U.S. jobless rate were available. HistoryLink.org adds that in the 1890s, “There was no welfare system or other established programs to help those who had lost everything, and the work of private charities often went unnoted.”
10. On February 1, Thomas Edison completed construction on the first motion picture studio in West Orange, New Jersey.
11. On March 13, the original Waldorf Hotel opened at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street in New York City. It boasted 450 rooms and 1,000 employees.
12. On April 1, the U.S. Navy created the rank of chief petty officer.
13. April 8: One of the first college basketball games was played in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, between the Geneva College Covenanters and the New Brighton YMCA—with Geneva winning 3-0.
14. On May 1, the World's Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition, opened to the public in Chicago, Illinois. It was held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ landing in the New World. Over 47 million guests from 46 countries visited the exposition.
15. On May 3, the New York Stock Exchange crashed “when a massive sell-off sent share prices tumbling.”
16. On June 27, the price of silver “plummeted” and set off another stock market crash.
17. On July 1, President Cleveland had a “secret” surgical procedure to treat epithelioma. He did not want his health issue to become public because it could have caused further panic that might have worsened the nationwide financial depression.
18. In August, Frank J. Wisner, who owned the Myers Avenue Red Root Beer Company in Colorado, invented the ever-popular “black cow” root beer float. (A black cow is made from root beer, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate syrup.)
19. On August 7, President Cleveland “summoned an emergency session of Congress” to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 “to prevent the further depletion of the government's gold reserves.” (In 1893, many industrialists and conservatives believed that the 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act was the primary cause of the nationwide economic depression. They thought it “undermined confidence in the gold standard, leading to a drain on the Treasury's gold reserves.”)
20. On August 27, the Sea Islands Hurricane struck the coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia, devastating the Sea Islands and killing an estimated 1,000-2,000 people.
21. On September 16, over 100,000 hopeful settlers rushed to claim land in the Cherokee Outlet—a six-million-acre area in northern Oklahoma that had once belonged to Native Americans. According to History.com, “With a single shot from a pistol, the mad dash began, and land-hungry pioneers on horseback and in carriages raced forward to stake their claims to the best acres.” It was the largest land run in American history.
22. On September 21, brothers Charles and Frank Duryea drove the first gasoline-powered automobile on public roads in Springfield, Massachusetts.
23. On November 7, Colorado became the first American state “to enact women's suffrage by popular referendum.”
24. In 1893, sixty independent orange growers “formed the Southern California Fruit Exchange to collectively market their fruit, a cooperative that later became Sunkist Growers.”
25. Henry D. Perky and William H. Ford were issued a U.S. patent for a machine that produced Shredded Wheat breakfast cereal.
26. The Quaker City Confectionery Company of Philadelphia introduced Good & Plenty candy.
27. William Rueckheim, a German immigrant, invented Cracker Jack, a peanut, popcorn, and molasses confection. He introduced the treat at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. (You might want to know that the prize in each box of Cracker Jack was not introduced until 1912.)
28. Wheat millers at the Grand Forks Diamond Milling Company in Grand Forks, North Dakota, created Cream of Wheat, a popular hot breakfast cereal.
29. Famous people born in 1893 included Edsel Ford (entrepreneur), Mae West (movie actress), and Roy Disney (entrepreneur who co-founded the Walt Disney Company).
30. Famous people who died in 1893 were Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian composer), Rutherford B. Hayes (19th president of the United States), and Guy de Maupassant (French writer).
31. In 1893 as well, the words “à la king,” “beauty queen,” “boilerplate,” “chef’s knife,” “disadvantaged,” “feminism,” “finger food,” “heat wave,” “honor system,” “iceberg lettuce,” “postseason,” “premarriage,” “rubber-stamp,” “time bomb,” “time frame,” “traffic signal,” and “ultrasophisticated” all appeared in print for the first time.

References:

1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1893
2. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-history-1890.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1893_in_the_United_States
4. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1893.html
5. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1893
6. https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/single/1893/
7. https://www.flickchart.com/charts.aspx?year=1893

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor