Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "1904 in the United States" in English language version.
She was born Lucille Fay LeSueur, most likely on 23 March 1904 (though she always maintained it was 1908, when birth certificates became state mandatory, and also the year of arch-rival Bette Davis's birth) in San Antonio, Texas...
Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas on March 23, 1904. (After she was famous, the date of her birth mysteriously changed to 1906 or 1908.)
Publicly, her birth date was always reported as March 23, 1908, but Grandmother told me once that she was actually born in 1904.
Few are alive anymore who can recall June 15, 1904, when 1,021 people died in the burning and sinking of the steamer 'General Slocum,' the deadliest New York disaster until Sept. 11, 2001.