United States Historical Events in May

United States Historical Events is a daily guide to the important events that shaped America to what it is today. This is a compilation of significant events for the month of May including the birth and death of famous Americans as well as laws promulgated by authorities. The list is constantly updated to incorporate the most recent events.

United States Historical Events in May

Day	Year	Event
1	1931	The Empire State Building in New York City was dedicated.
1	1867	Nebraska became the 37th State to be admitted to the Union.
2	1885	First issue of Good Housekeeping Magazine was published.
3	1851	A catastrophic fire broke out which destroyed as much as three-quarters of San Francisco, California.
3	1937	Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer prize for her novel “Gone With the Wind”.
4	1886	The Haymarket Riot, a violent confrontation between police and labor protesters, occurred in Chicago. The event became a symbol of the international struggle for workers’ rights.
5	1893	New York Stock Exchange crashes triggered by the so-called “Panic of 1893”.
5	1992	Effectivity of the Twenty-seventh Amendment (Amendment XXVII, also known as the Congressional Compensation Act of 1789) to the United States Constitution which prohibits any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of Congress from taking effect until after the next election of the House of Representatives has occurred.
6	1856	Birth: Robert Edwin Peary Sr., an American explorer who led an expedition that claimed to be the first to reach the geographic North Pole
8	1884	Birthday: Harry Truman, the 33rd US president, was born in Lamar, Missouri.
9	1865	The American Civil War officially ended.
10	1869	The Transcontinental Railroad was completed.
10	1876	The first official World’s Fair held on US soil was opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
10	1969	The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway northbound bridge in southeastern Louisiana, United States was opened.
11	1858	Minnesota became the 2nd State to be admitted to the Union.
11	1927	Establishment of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by prominent film industry members, including Louis B. Mayer and Douglas Fairbanks.
13	1954	President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Wiley-Dondero Seaway Act to authorize joint construction with Canada of the St. Lawrence Seaway project that would permit oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America.
14	1804	Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, the Lewis and Clark Expedition set out to cross the newly acquired western portion of the United States after the Louisiana Purchase.
14	1904	The first Olympic games held on US soil was opened in St. Louis, Missouri.
14	1984	Birth: Mark Zuckerberg, Co-founder of Facebook, the world’s largest social media network.
15	1911	The United States Supreme Court declared the Standard Oil group to be an “unreasonable” monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act, Section II and ordered it to break up into 43 independent companies with different boards of directors.
15	1915	Birth: Paul Anthony Samuelson, the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
21	1921	The Tulsa Massacre happened when white supremacies attacked Black residents and destroyed homes and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma in what is considered one the worst incidents of racial violence in American history.
23	1788	South Carolina became the 8th State to be admitted to the Union.
23	1892	The Eastman Kodak Company, an American company that pioneered the production of various products related to photography, was established in Rochester, New York.
24	1624	West India Company acquired the island of Manhattan on May 24, 1626, from unnamed native people in exchange for traded goods worth 60 guilders, equivalent to approximately $1,000 in 2006 and $963 in 2020, according to the Institute for Social History of Amsterdam.
24	1875	Birth of Robert S. Garrett, the first modern Olympic champion in discus throw as well as shot put.
25	1754	Columbia University, a private Ivy League research university, was established in New York City as King’s College.
26	1895	Birth: Dorothy Lange, an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work such as Migrant Mother and Broke, baby sick, and car trouble!
27	1937	The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was opened after 4 years of construction.
29	1736	Birthday: Patrick Henry – Famous Orator and first governor of Virginia.
29	1790	Rhode Island became the 13th member State of the United States of America.
29	1848	Wisconsin became the 38th member State of the United States of America.
29	1917	Birthday: John Kennedy, the 35th US president, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
30	1854	The Kansas–Nebraska Act become effective. This law was enacted to organize the territories of Nebraska and Kansas and thereby repealed the Missouri Compromise which then stoked national tensions over slavery.