- Jan 1 Moerdijk railway bridge over Hollands Diep, South Holland opens - then longest bridge in Europe
- Jan 3 1st patent list issued by US Patent Office
- Jan 12 Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, 1st imperial coronation in Axum in over 200 years
- Jan 20 California Stock Exchange Board organized
- Jan 29 Francis L Cardoza elected State Treasurer of South Carolina
- Feb 7 Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College opens
- Feb 14 1st US state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt, California)
- Feb 20 Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus Baldwin
- Feb 20 Luther Crowell patents a machine that manufactures paper bags
- Feb 20 New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art opens
- Feb 20 Silas Noble & JP Cooley patents toothpick manufacturing machine
Historic Event
Mar 2 Louis Riel goes into voluntary exile in St. Paul, Minnesota
Historic Invention
Mar 5 George Westinghouse Jr patents triple air brake for trains
- Mar 7 -8°F (-22°C) in Boston, Massachusetts
- Mar 11 Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain
- Mar 11 The Meiji Japanese government officially annexes the Ryukyu Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa prefecture
- Mar 16 1st English FA Cup Final, Kennington Oval, London: Wanderers defeat Royal Engineers, 1-0; Morton Betts scores winner
- Mar 21 34th Grand National: John Page wins his second GN aboard 20/1 shot Casse Tete
- Mar 22 Illinois becomes 1st state to require sexual equality in employment
- Mar 26 7.8 earthquake shakes Owens Valley, California
- Mar 26 Thomas J. Martin, of Alabama, receives a U.S. patent for a pipe and valve fire extinguisher system t
- Apr 1 1st edition of The Standard
- Apr 2 US engineer George Brayton patents an internal combustion engine (Brayton Cycle)
- Apr 9 Samuel R Percy patents dried milk
- Apr 10 1st National black convention meets in New Orleans
- Apr 10 1st Arbor Day celebrated in Nebraska, later changed to Apr 22
Historic Event
Apr 12 Jesse James gang robs bank in Columbia, Kentucky (1 dead/$1,500)
Presidential Convention
May 10 Victoria Woodhull becomes 1st woman nominated for US presidency by Equal Rights Party at Apollo Hall, NYC
- May 16 Metropolitan Gas Company lamps lit for 1st time
- May 17 Bohemian Club incorporated in San Francisco
- May 22 Amnesty Act restores civil rights to Southerners (except for 500)
- Jun 1 6th Belmont: James Roe aboard Joe Daniels wins in 2:58.25
- Jun 5 Republican National Convention meets in Philadelphia
- Jun 8 US Congress endorses penny post card
- Jun 14 Trade unions are legalised in Canada.
- Jun 18 Woman's Suffrage Convention held at Merchantile Liberty Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Jul 9 Doughnut cutter patents granted to John Blondel, Thomaston, Maine
- Jul 18 The Ballot Act introduces the secret ballot in elections in Britain; previously votes made openly
Historic Invention
Jul 23 African American inventor Elijah McCoy is granted a patent for lubricators for steam-engines
- Sep 13 British Open Men's Golf, Prestwick GC: Tom Morris, Jr. wins 4th consecutive title; beats fellow Scot Davie Strath by 3 strokes
- Sep 14 Britain pays US$15½m for damages during Civil War
- Sep 17 Phillip W Pratt patents his sprinkler system for extinguishing fires
- Sep 18 King Oscar II accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway
- Sep 21 John Henry Conyers of South Carolina becomes first black student at Annapolis
- Sep 24 Franz Grillparzer's "Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg" premieres in Vienna
- Sep 26 The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) was established in New York City.
- Sep 28 "3 Fingers" Ranald Mackenzie destroys Kwahadi-Commanche village, Texas, killing 23 men and taking 120 women and children prisoner
- Sep 29 Kiowa-chief Lone Wolf captures Satanta & Big Tree
- Oct 2 Morgan State University founded
Historic Event
Oct 2 Phileas Fogg sets out on his journey as depicted in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days"
Historic Event
Nov 5 American women's right to vote advocate Susan B. Anthony votes for Ulysses S. Grant
Election of Interest
Nov 5 Ulysses S. Grant re-elected US President
- Nov 7 Cargo ship Mary Celeste sails from Staten Island for Genoa; mysteriously found abandoned four weeks later
- Nov 9 The Great Boston Fire of 1872. Close to 1,000 buildings destroyed
- Nov 18 Suffragette Susan B. Anthony is arrested by a U.S. Deputy Marshal and charged with illegally voting
- Nov 19 E.D. Barbour of Boston is awarded the first U.S. patent for the first 'calculator', an adding machine capable of printing totals and subtotals
- Nov 22 Franz Grillparzer's "Die Judin von Toledo" premieres in Prague
- Nov 29 Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River
- Nov 30 First international soccer game, Scotland draws with England (0-0) in Glasgow
- Dec 5 Ship the Mary Celeste is discovered mysteriously abandoned by her crew in the Atlantic Ocean
- Dec 7 HMS Challenger sets sail on 3½ year world oceanographic cruise
- Dec 11 Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback takes office as the first African American US Govenor in Louisiana
- Dec 21 Phileas Fogg completes his round the world trip in 80 days, in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days"
- Dec 26 4th largest snowfall in NYC history (18")