On This Day

What Happened in August 1877

Historical Events

  • Aug 2 San Francisco Public Library opens with 5,000 volumes

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Aug 9 Henry Morton Stanley's party reaches Boma, Congo, after 999 days, losing half of the 228 members.

Journalist and Explorer Henry Morton Stanley
Journalist and Explorer
Henry Morton Stanley
  • Aug 10 Big Hole River: Col John Gibbon murders Nez-Perce indians
  • Aug 11 Asaph Hall discovers Mars's moon Deimos

Historic InventionThomas Edison's Phonograph

Aug 12 Thomas Edison completes 1st model for the phonograph, a device that recorded sound onto tinfoil cylinders

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Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed in 1878
Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed in 1878
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  • Aug 17 American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos
  • Aug 22 Nez Perce (Niimíipu) indians flee into Yellowstone National Park

Famous Birthdays

  • Aug 1 Charlotte Hughes, British supercentenarian (lived under the rule of 6 monarchs and 24 British Prime Ministers), born in Middlesbrough, England (d. 1993)
  • Aug 1 Jan van den Tempel, Dutch politician (SDAP), born in Willemstad, North Brabant (d. 1955)
  • Aug 4 Dame Laura Knight, English impressionist artist, born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England (d. 1970)
  • Aug 5 Tom Thomson, Canadian painter, born in Claremont, Ontario (d. 1917)
  • Aug 6 Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (Senate Majority Leader), born in Lewiston, Maine (d. 1952)
  • Aug 7 Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (d. 1949)
  • Aug 10 Rudolf Hilferding, German economist/SPD-minister of Finance
  • Aug 10 Frank Marshall, American chess player (d. 1944)
  • Aug 11 Adolph M. Christianson, justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court (d. 1954)
  • Aug 16 Karl Hoschna, Tin Pan Alley-era composer (Every Little Movement), born in Kuschwarda, Bohemia (d. 1911)
  • Aug 25 Joshua L. Cowen, American inventor (electric train), born in NYC, New York (d. 1965)
  • Aug 27 Charles Stewart Rolls, British auto manufacturer (Rolls-Royce Ltd), born in Berkeley Square, London (d. 1910)
  • Aug 27 Lloyd C. Douglas, American novelist (The Big Fisherman), born in Columbia City, Indiana (d. 1951)
  • Aug 27 Ernst Wetter, Member of the Swiss Federal Council, born in Töss, Winterthur, Switzerland (d. 1963)
  • Aug 29 Dudley Pound, British admiral of the fleet and 1st Sea Lord (Jutland, WW II), born in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, England (d. 1943)
  • Aug 31 Lizzie Arlington, American baseball pitcher (first woman to play professional men's baseball 1898 Reading Coal Heavers), born in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania (d. 1919)

Famous Deaths

  • Aug 3 Karl Georg Lickl, composer, dies at 75
  • Aug 5 Gustavus, Crown Prince of Sweden, dies at 77
  • Aug 12 James Drummond, Scottish historical painter, (b. 1816)

Person of interestBrigham Young

Aug 29 Brigham Young, 2nd president of Latter-day Saints, dies of peritonitis at 76

Founder of Salt Lake City and President of the LDS Church Brigham Young
Founder of Salt Lake City and President of the LDS Church
Brigham Young
  • Aug 30 Raphael Semmes, American Rear Admiral (Confederate Navy), dies at 67


What Happened in 1877