Historical Events
- Apr 15 Boston-Somerville installs the world's 1st telephone in Massachusetts
- Apr 24 Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78: Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire
- Jul 11 Kate Edger becomes New Zealand’s first woman graduate and first woman in the British Empire to earn a Bachelor of Arts
- Sep 24 Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion
- Nov 29 US inventor Thomas Edison demonstrates his hand-cranked phonograph for the first time
- Dec 22 Thomas Edison's Phonograph is announced by Scientific American
- More Historical Events
1877 in Sport
- Mar 31 Test Cricket debut of feared Australian fast bowler Fred "The Demon" Spofforth; Australia loses 2nd Test by 4 wickets vs England at Melbourne Cricket Ground
- Jul 9 First ever Wimbledon tennis championship begins - first official lawn tennis tournament - men's singles only
- Jul 19 1st Wimbledon Men's Tennis: 27-year-old English rackets player Spencer Gore wins inaugural event; beats William Marshall 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Famous People in 1877
World Leaders in 1877
Would You Believe?
Thomas Edison records himself reciting "Mary had a little lamb"
On December 6, 1877
Famous Weddings
- Jul 6 Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (37) weds Antonina Miliukova (29) at the Church of Saint George in Moscow, Russia
- Jul 11 Scientist and inventor Alexander Graham Bell (30) weds Mabel Hubbard (19) at the Hubbard estate in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Articles and Photos
Rise and Fall of the Vanderbilt Empire
When he died on this day Cornelius Vanderbilt allegedly possessed more money than the U.S. Treasury. Much of it was squandered in lavish spending by descendantsJanuary 4Earmuffs on, shhhh!
Chester Greenwood's 1877 patent for "ear-mufflers" and inset, Greenwood modeling his earmuffsMarch 13Flash! Bang! It's the Human Cannonball!
An excited crowd looked up in astonishment and wonder when, in 1877, the first human cannonball flew above their heads.April 2Thomas Edison's Phonograph
Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed in 1878November 21