- Jan 1 1st Tournament of Roses (Pasadena California)
Historic Publication
Jan 5 "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson published by Longmans, Green & Co.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Historic Invention
Event of Interest
Feb 9 US President Grover Cleveland declares a state of emergency in Seattle because of anti-Chinese violence
Grover Cleveland
- Feb 12 2nd British government of Salisbury forms
Event of Interest
Feb 13 Painter Thomas Eakins resigns from Philadelphia Academy of Art after controversial over use of male nudes in a coed art class
Thomas Eakins
Music Premiere
Feb 23 Tchaikovsky's "Manfred" symphony premieres
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Mar 1 The Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore is founded by Bishop William Oldham.
- Mar 6 1st US alternating current power plant starts, Great Barrington, Massachusetts
- Mar 6 1st US nurses' magazine, The Nightingale, 1st appears, NYC
- Mar 17 Carrollton Massacre (Mississippi) 20 African Americans killed
- Mar 20 1st AC power plant in US begins commercial operation in Massachusetts
- Mar 26 1st cremation in England
- Mar 26 48th Grand National: Tommy Skelton aboard Old Joe wins
- Apr 6 City of Vancouver BC incorporated
- Apr 6 Declaration of Berlin neutralizes Tonga
Event of Interest
Apr 8 William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
William Gladstone
Event of Interest
Apr 25 Sigmund Freud opens practice at Rathausstrasse 7, Vienna
Sigmund Freud
- Apr 29 1st public Dutch electricity opens
- May 1 US general strike for 8-hour working day begins
- May 3 M A Maclean elected 1st mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia
- May 4 Haymarket riot in Chicago; bomb kills 7 policemen
- May 5 The Bay View Tragedy occurs, as militia fires upon a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin killing seven.
- May 8 Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta sells the first Coca-Cola (contained cocaine)
- May 14 12th Kentucky Derby: Paul Duffy aboard Ben Ali wins in 2:36.50
Event of Interest
May 15 British sailor David Beatty is promoted to midshipman
David Beatty
Event of Interest
May 29 American chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola
John Pemberton
- Jun 1 The railroads of the Southern United States convert 11,000 miles of track from a five foot rail gauge to standard gauge, beginning May 31
- Jun 3 24 Christians burn to death in Namgongo, Uganda
- Jun 5 20th Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard Inspector B wins in 2:41
- Jun 8 First Home Rule Bill for Ireland defeated by 343 votes to 313 in the British House of Common
- Jun 10 Eruption of Tarawera volcano destroys famous pink and white calcium carbonate hot-spring terraces (North Island, New Zealand)
- Jun 13 Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings in Vancouver, British Columbia
- Jul 3 1st NY Tribune printing using 1st commercial linotype machine
- Jul 3 In Germany, Karl Benz drives 1st automobile
- Jul 4 1st scheduled transcontinental passenger train reaches Port Moody, British Columbia
- Jul 6 Horlick's of Wisconsin offers 1st malted milk to public
- Jul 10 George Goldie gets charter for Royal Niger Company
- Jul 17 10th Wimbledon Men's Tennis: William Renshaw beats H Lawford (6-0 5-7 6-3 6-4)
- Jul 23 American civilian Steve Brodie allegedly survives plunge from Brooklyn Bridge (135-feet)
- Jul 24 China takes British protectorate of Burma
Event of Interest
Jul 28 British government led by Lord Salisbury forms
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Event of Interest
Aug 13 John A. Macdonald uses a silver hammer to pound a gold spike, officially completing the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway in British Columbia
John A. Macdonald
Event of Interest
Aug 20 Second Salon exhibition by Society of Independent Artists held in Paris; includes Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte"
Georges Seurat
- Aug 25 1st international polo meet (US vs England)
- Aug 28 6th U.S. Men's National Championship: Richard Sears beats R. Livingston Beeckman (4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4)
- Aug 31 1st major earthquake recorded in eastern US, at Charleston, South Carolina, 110 die
- Aug 31 Crocker-Woolworth National Bank organized
- Sep 1 Netherland's New Code of Criminal Law enforced
- Sep 9 The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is finalized
- Sep 11 Mayflower (US) beats Galatea (England) in 7th America's Cup
- Sep 14 George K Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee, patents typewriter ribbon
- Sep 25 Comedy opera "Dorothy" first produced in London
- Oct 1 US mint at Carson City, Nevada, closes
- Oct 6 Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Resident Patient" (BG)
- Oct 7 Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba
- Oct 8 Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Noble Bachelor" (BG)
- Oct 10 1st dinner jacket (tuxedo) worn to autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, NY
- Oct 12 Hurricane & sea surge kills 250 at Indianola Texas
- Oct 12 Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of 2nd Stain" (BG)
- Oct 15 Modest Mussorgsky's musical fantasy "Night on Bald Mountain" premieres in St. Petersburg's Kononov Hall, Russia
- Oct 23 St Louis Browns win World Championship by beating Chicago 4-3 in 10
- Oct 28 Statue of Liberty dedicated by US President Grover Cleveland, celebrated by first confetti (ticker tape) parade in New York City
- Oct 30 Great Britain and Germany agree boundaries in East Africa
- Nov 1 Ananda College, a leading Buddhist school in Sri Lanka was established with 37 students.
- Nov 3 Friars of Tilburg arrives on Curacao
- Nov 4 Edward MacDowell's "Ophelia" premieres
- Nov 5 26th British Golf Open: David Brown shoots a 157 at Musselburgh Links
- Nov 22 Victoria Street Cable Tram route begins in Melbourne, Australia
- Nov 30 First commercially successful AC electric power plant opens, Buffalo, NY
- Nov 30 The Folies Bergère stages its first revue
Election of Interest
Dec 8 American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions Samuel Gompers elected AFL president
Samuel Gompers