1890 United States census
The 1890 United States census was taken beginning June 2, 1890. The census determined the resident population of the United States to be 62,979,766, an increase of 25.5 percent over the 50,189,209 persons enumerated during the 1880 census. The data reported that the distribution of the population had resulted in the disappearance of the American frontier.
1890 census form
A Hollerith tabulator that has been modified for the first 1890 census tabulation; the punched-card reader was removed, replaced by a simple keyboard.
Aftermath of the 1921 fire which destroyed almost the entirety of the 1890 census records
The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few contiguous western territories as states in 1912. This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase, giving rise to the expansionist attitude known as "manifest destiny" and historians' "Frontier Thesis". The legends, historical events and folklore of the American frontier have embedded themselves into United States culture so much so that the Old West, and the Western genre of media specifically, has become one of the defining features of American national identity.
The cowboy, the quintessential symbol of the American frontier. Photo by John C. H. Grabill, c. 1887.
Daniel Boone escorting settlers through the Cumberland Gap
Siege of Fort Detroit during Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763
Native leader Tecumseh killed in battle in 1813 by Richard M. Johnson, who later became vice president