Events from the year 1911 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
President: William Howard Taft (R-Ohio) Vice President: James S. Sherman (R-New York) Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White (Louisiana) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph Gurney Cannon (R-Illinois) (until March 4), Champ Clark (D-Missouri) (starting April 4) Congress: 61st (until March 4), 62nd (starting March 4)
Events
January–March
January 5 – The Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity is founded at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. January 18 – Eugene Burton Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco Bay, marking the first time an aircraft lands on a ship. January 30 – The destroyer USS Terry makes the first aeroplane rescue at sea, saving the life of John McCurdy 10 miles from Havana, Cuba. January – The Masses socialist magazine begins publication. March – The first installment of a serialized version of Frederick Winslow Taylor's monograph, The Principles of Scientific Management, appears in The American Magazine. The complete series runs in the March, April, and May issues, giving a boost to the efficiency movement. March 10 – The Kansas legislature approves House Bill Number 906, effectively the first blue sky law in the United States, culminating an effort by Joseph Norman Dolley, Kansas' banking commissioner. March 25 – The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City kills 146. March 29 – The United States Army formally adopts the M1911 pistol as its standard sidearm, thus giving the gun its 1911 designation.
April–June
April 13 – Mexican Revolution: Rebels take Agua Prieta on the Sonora–Arizona border; government troops take the town back April 17 when the rebel leader "Red" López is drunk. April 17 – Southern Methodist University is chartered in Dallas, Texas. April 27 – Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate. April 30 – Sparks from a burning hayshed ignite the Great Fire of 1911, destroying much of downtown Bangor, Maine. May 15 – The U.S. Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be dissolved. May 23 – The main branch of the New York Public Library is officially opened. May 24 – Colorado National Monument is established. May 30 – The first Indianapolis 500-mile auto race is run. The winner is Ray Harroun in the Marmon 'Wasp.' June 5 – Charles F. Kettering files US patent 1,150,523, for an electric Engine Starting Device. June 16 A 772-gram stony meteorite strikes earth in Columbia County, Wisconsin, near the village of Kilbourn, damaging a barn. IBM is incorporated as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York. July 24 – Hiram Bingham rediscovers Machu Picchu.
July–September
August 8 – Public Law 62-5 sets the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives at 435 (the law takes effect in 1913). August 29 – Ishi, last known member of the Yana people, leaves the California wilderness. September 11 – Middle Tennessee State University is founded in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as Middle Tennessee Normal School. September 25 – Groundbreaking for Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, begins. September 30 – Austin Dam breaks, wiping out the town of Austin, Pennsylvania, and continuing downstream about 8 miles into the village of Costello.