I did a search yesterday and the day before for unofficial US chess champions, but, in a hurry, I only glanced at the first page of google results. I searched this morning and the second result was at Mark Weeks' About.com .

Of course, the list is there ... and now it's here:

(I'm confused over the first name of Lipschutz: Mark Weeks has Whyld using Solomon, The Mad Aussie at Chessville uses Simon, I've always thought it was Samuel, Bill Wall skirts the issue by calling him simply Lipschutz)

according to Ken Whyld (whom I disagree with a lot when it comes to evaluating)

1888    Showalter, Jackson
1890    Showalter, Jackson
1891    Showalter, Jackson
1892    Lipschutz, Samuel
1895    Showalter, Jackson
1897    Pillsbury, Harry Nelson
1898    Pillsbury, Harry Nelson
1906    Showalter, Jackson
1909    Marshall,  Frank J.
1923    Marshall,  Frank J

According to the 2001 USCF yearbook, the strongest players by date:

1845-57  Stanley, Charles
1857-71  Morphy, Paul
1871-90  Mackenzie, George H.
1890-91  Showalter, Jackson
1891-94  Lipschutz, Solomon
1894-     Showalter, Jackson
1894-95  Hodges, Albert
1895-97  Showalter, Jackson
1897-06  Pillsbury, Harry Nelson
1906-09  Showalter, Jackson
1909-36  Marshall, Frank J.

It's odd that no one mentions Eugene Rousseau, who would have been the unofficial champion from 1840 until Stanley beat him in 1845, thereby claiming the title.

Albert Hodges is the name I was looking for all along...

The official  champions begin with Sammy Reshevsky in 1936.

Now I have to look up what happened then. I don't know much about the US  championship.

but that can changed.