Historic Invention
Jan 27 Thomas Edison patents electric incandescent lamp
Thomas Edison
Murder of Interest
Feb 4 Black donnelly massacre in Biddulph, Ontario. Irish immigrants James (63), Johannah (56), John (32), Thomas (25) and Bridget (21) Donnelly murdered at home by members of the Vigilance Committee
James Donnelly
Assassination Attempt
Feb 17 Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt
Alexander II
A Salute To The Salvation Army
Mar 14 Salvation Army of England starts work in the US at Harry Hill's Variety Theatre in NYC
Read Article
Historic Publication
Apr 15 Guy de Maupassant's short story masterpiece "Boule de Suif" (Dumpling) is first published in the collection "Les Soirées de Médan"
Guy de Maupassant
- Apr 18 An F4 tornado strikes Marshfield, Missouri, killing 99 people and injuring 100.
- Jun 1 The first pay telephone service in the United States is installed in New Haven, Connecticut
- Jun 1 US census is 50,155,783
- Jun 7 War of the Pacific: The Battle of Arica, assault and capture of Morro de Arica (Arica Cape), that ended the Campaña del Desierto (Desert Campaign).
Event of Interest
Jun 8 Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky delivers an emotional speech at the unveiling of a monument to Pushkin in Moscow
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Jun 10 Charlie Jones becomes 1st to hit 2 HRs in 1 inning
- Jun 29 France annexes Otaheite (Tahiti)
- Jul 16 Dr. Emily Stowe becomes the first woman licenced to practise medicine in Canada.
- Jul 19 San Francisco Public Library starts lending books
- Jul 21 Compressed air accident kills 20 workers on Hudson River tunnel, NY
- Jul 24 1st commercial hydroelectric power plant in the world begins generating electricity in Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Jul 27 Alexander P. Ashbourne patents a process for refining coconut oil
- Jul 27 Battle of Maiwand, at which Dr Watson is wounded, breaks out
- Aug 2 British Parliament officially adopts Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
- Aug 3 American Canoe Association founded at Lake George, NY, first Commodore William L. Alden
- Aug 14 Ceremony to mark the completion of Cologne Cathedral attended by Emperor Wilhelm I. First begun in 1248, now the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe.
Event of Interest
Aug 16 The French state commissions sculptor Auguste Rodin for a large sculpted doorway 'The Gates of Hell' for the proposed Musée des Arts Décoratifs
Auguste Rodin
Event of Interest
Sep 9 Rutherford B. Hayes visits San Franicsco
Rutherford B. Hayes
- Sep 10 Pierre de Brazza signs treaty with King Makoko of Congo
- Sep 23 Jules Ferry forms French government
- Sep 30 American amateur astronomer Henry Draper takes the 1st ever photograph of the Orion Nebula
- Oct 4 University of California founded in Los Angeles
- Oct 15 Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
- Oct 20 Amsterdam Free University opens
Election of Interest
Nov 2 James A. Garfield (R) elected 20th US President
James Garfield
- Nov 11 Australian Bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly is hanged at Melbourne Gaol
Ben-Hur Turns Author Into a Soldier of Fortune
Nov 12 Best selling American novel "Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ" by soldier Lew Wallace is published
Read Article
- Nov 21 Henry Stanley & Pierre de Brazza quarrel about possession of Congo
- Dec 8 5,000 armed Boers gather in Paardekraal, South Africa
- Dec 16 Transvaal region declares itself as the Republic of South Africa
- Dec 16 Beginning of the First Boer War between British Empire and Boer South African Republic
- Dec 20 Battle at Bronker's Spruit, Transvaal: Farmers beat Britten
- Dec 20 NY's Broadway lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great White Way"