- Feb 1 French Lt-Colonel Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes reaches Bamako on the Niger
- Feb 7 Lt-colonel Borgnis-Desbordes founds Fort Bamako, Niger
- Feb 8 Louis Waterman begins experiment to invent the fountain pen
- Feb 10 Fire at un-insured New Hall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, kills 71
- Feb 14 1st state labor union legislation; New Jersey legalizes unions
- Feb 16 "Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing
- Feb 17 A Ashwell patents free-toilet in London
- Feb 21 2nd French government of Ferry begins
- Feb 23 Alabama becomes 1st US state to enact an antitrust law
- Feb 23 American Anti-Vivisection Society organized (Philadelphia)
- Feb 27 Oscar Hammerstein patents 1st cigar-rolling machine
- Feb 28 1st US vaudeville theater opens (Boston, Mass)