1880

January 1

• French workers begin official ground-breaking for a sea-level canal across Colombia's Panama province. [1] [150.61]

January 4

• Anselm Feuerbach German painter, dies. [1]

January 6

• Record snow cover in Seattle-120cm. [1]

January 8

• [Joshua] Norton I Emperor of US/Protector of México, dies at age 60. [1]

January 9

• 6' (1.8 metres) of snow falls in Seattle in five days. [1]

January 12

• Ida Gräfin von Hahn-Hahn author (Aus der Gesellschaft), dies at age 74. [1]

January 21

• First US sewage disposal system separate from storm drains, Memphis Tennessee. [1]

January 27

• Thomas Edison patents electric incandescent lamp. [1]

February 2

• SS Strathleven arrives in London with first Australian frozen mutton. [1]

February 4

• Steele MacKay's "Hazel Kirke" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

February 10

• Isaäc M "Isaac A" Crémieux French minister of Justice, dies at age 83. [1]
• Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Arcanum about Christian marriage. [1]

February 12

• National Croquet League organizes (Philadelphia). [1]

February 13

• Thomas Edison observed the Edison effect, leading to the first U.S. patent for an electronic device (U.S. Patent 307,031). [5]

February 16

• American Society of Mechanical Engineers founded, New York City, New York. [1]

February 17

• Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt. [1]

February 22

• In Yokohama, Japan, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurs. [53]

February 29

• Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland and Italy opens. [1]

March 4

• New York Daily Graphic publishes first half-tone engraving, by S H Horgan. [1]

March 10

• General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria. [1]
• Salvation Army of England sets up US welfare and religious activity. [1]

March 15

• Jan K J de Jonge Dutch historian, dies at age 51. [1]

March 23

• Flour rolling mill patented (John Stevens of Wisconsin). [1]
• Gustav Adolf Mankell composer, dies at age 67. [1]

March 24

• Tobacco Growers' Mutual Insurance Company incorporates in Connecticut. [1]

March 25

• Joseph Rummel composer, dies at age 61. [1]
• Ludmilla Assing writer, dies. [1]

March 26

• Mariano Soriano Fuertes y Piqueras composer, dies at age 62. [1]

March 28

• Achille Peri composer, dies at age 67. [1]
• Eelco Refer linguistic (Oera Linda Book?), dies at age 49. [1]

March 29

• Jakob Axel Josephson composer, dies at age 62. [1]

March 31

• First town completely illuminated by electric lighting (Wabash Indiana). [1]
• Henryk Wieniawski Polish violist/composer, dies at age 44. [1]

April 7

• Diederich Krug composer, dies at age 58. [1]

April 23

• Guess Saleh [Sarief Bastaman] Javanese painter, dies. [1]

April 24

• Amateur Athletic Association, governing body for men's athletics in England and Wales, is founded in Oxford, England. [1]
• A bomb explodes in the Monte Carlo casino; many are wounded by glass, but no serious theft is carried out. [187.304]

May 8

• Gustave Flaubert French writer (Salammbô), dies. [1]

May 9

• Johann Hermann Berens composer, dies at age 54. [1]

May 10

• General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria. [1]
• John Goss composer/organist, dies at age 79. [1]

May 16

• Karl August Krebs composer, dies at age 76. [1]

May 20

• Eugène prince the Ligne Belgian prince of Ambise, dies at age 76. [1]

May 22

• Heinrich Freiherr von Gagern German liberal politician, dies at age 80. [1]

May 26

• John Curwen composer, dies at age 63. [1]

May 31

• League of American Wheelmen (first US bicycle association), forms in Newport Rhode Island. [1]

July 7

• The French national lottery completes funding for the Statue of Liberty, [418.44]

July 19

• San Francisco Public Library starts lending books. [1]

July 21

• Compressed air accident kills 20 workers on Hudson River tunnel, New York. [1]

July 23

• First commercial hydroelectric power plant begins, Grand Rapids, Mich. [1]

July 27

• Battle of Maiwand, at which Dr Watson was wounded, breaks out. [1]

August 14

• Construction of Cologne Cathedral completed. [1]

September 7

• Geo Ligowsky patents device to throw clay pigeons for trapshooters. [1]

September 9

• President Hayes visits San Francisco. [1]

September 30

• Henry Draper takes that first photograph of the Orion Nebula. [1]

October 15

• Köln cathedral completed, 633 years after it begun. [1]

October 27

• Theodore Roosevelt marries Alice Lee, on his 22nd birthday. [1]

November 2

• James A Garfield (Republican) elected President. [1]

November 24

• Southern University established. [1]

December 2

• Josephine Lang composer, dies at age 65. [1]

December 8

• 5,000 armed Boers gather in Paardekraal South Africa. [1]

December 12

• Michel Chasles French mathematician (geometry), dies at age 83. [1]

December 15

• Carlo Boncompagni di Mombello Italian minister of Justice, dies at age 76. [1]

December 16

• Republic of South Africa forms. [1]

December 20

• Battle at Bronker's Spruit, Transvaal: Farmers beat Britten. [1]
• New York's Broadway lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great White Way". [1]

December 22

• George Eliot Victorian novelist (Adam Bede), dies on 61st birthday. [1]

December 27

• Alessandro Nini composer, dies at age 75. [1]

1881

January 1

• Dr John H Watson is introduced to Sherlock Holmes. [1]

January 2

• Camille Saint-Saëns' third Concerto in B, premieres. [1]

January 4

• Johannes Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture" premieres, Breslau. [1]

January 22

• Ancient Egyptian obelisk "Cleopatra's Needle" erected in Central Park. [1]

January 25

• Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the first telephone company. [5]

January 26

• Union of Baptists Communities forms in Foxholl. [1]

January 28

• Battle at Laing's Neck Natal Boers beat superior powered British. [1]

January 30

• Jaak Nikolaas Lemmens Flemish composer, dies at age 58. [1]

February 1

• US Assay Office in Saint Louis Missouri authorized. [1]

February 2

• Aleksej F Pisemski Russian writer (Clodhopper), dies at age 59. [1]

February 5

• Phoenix Arizona incorporates. [1]
• Thomas Carlyle, historian/essayist, dies in London, England, at age 85. [1] [5]

February 6

• Pieter Mijer Governor-General of Netherlands Indies (1866-72), dies at age 68. [1]

February 7

• Battle at Ingogo, Transvaal: Boers beat superior British forces. [1]
• Fredrik Cygnaeus, Finnish poet/literature critic, dies at age 73. [1]

February 9

• Feodor M Dostoevski, Russian novelist (Crime and Punishment), dies at age 59. [1]

February 10

• Jacques Offenbach's opera "Les Contes d'Hoffman" premieres in Paris. [1]

February 19

• Kansas becomes first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages. [1]

February 24

• De Lesseps' Company begins work on Panamá Canal. [1]

February 26

• Natal British troops under General-Major Colley occupy Majuba Hill. [1]
• SS Ceylon begins first round-the-world cruise from Liverpool. [1]

February 27

• Battle at Amajuba, South Africa Boers versus British army under General Colley. [1]
• George Colley British governor of Natal/General, dies in battle at age 46. [1]

March 4

• California becomes first state to pass plant quarantine legislation. [1]
• Holmes and Watson begin "A Study in Scarlet", first case together. [1]
• James A Garfield inaugurated as 20th President. [1]
• South African President Kruger accepts ceasefire. [1]

March 13

• Alexander II Tsar of Russia, assassinated at age 62. [1]

March 15

• Emory Upton US Union General-Major (Selma), commits suicide at age 42. [1]

March 16

• Modest P Mussorgsky Russian composer (Boris Godunov), dies at age 42. [1]

March 18

• [PT] Barnum and [James A] Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth opens (Madison Square Garden). [1]

March 23

• Boers and Britain sign peace accord; end first Boer war. [1]
• Gas lamp sets fire to Nice France opera house; 70 die. [1]
• Nikolay Rubinstein composer, dies at age 45. [1]

March 24

• Friedrich Hecker German revolutionary republic politician, dies at age 69. [1]

March 28

• Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky composer, dies at age 42. [1]

March 31

• Gaetano Gaspari composer, dies at age 73. [1]

April 1

• Anti-Jewish riots in Jerusalem. [1]
• Kingdom post office in Netherlands opens. [1]

April 5

• Transvaal regains independence under British suzerainty. [1]

April 7

• Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte Corsican Member of Parliament, dies at age 65. [1]

April 11

• Kristian Mandrup Elster Norwegian author (Torn Trondal), dies at age 40. [1]
• River ferry "Princess Victoria" sinks in Thames River Ontario, 180 die. [1]
• Spelman College founded. [1]

April 16

• George William Martin composer, dies at age 56. [1]

April 18

• Natural History Museum of South Kensington England opens. [1]

April 19

• Benjamin Disraeli first Earl (Beaconsfield)/novelist, dies. [1]
• Michel Abeloos Flemish sculptor, dies at age 53. [1]

April 23

• Gilbert and Sullivan's opera "Patience or Bunthorne's Bride" produced in London. [1]

April 25

• 250,000 Germans petition to bar foreign Jews from entering Germany. [1]
• French troops occupy Algeria and Tunisia. [1]

April 27

• Ludwig A Benedek Austrian General, dies at age 76. [1]
• Pogroms against Russian Jews start in Elisabethgrad. [1]

April 28

• Robert W Ollinger US warden/last victim of Billy the Kid, dies. [1]

May 3

• Josip Jurcic Slovic writer (Schone Vida), dies. [1]

May 5

• Anit-Jewish rioting in Kiev Ukraine. [1]

May 8

• Henry Morton Stanley signs contract with Congolian monarch. [1]

May 10

• Lighthouse on Ameland begins operation. [1]

May 11

• Bedrich Smetana's opera "Libusa" premieres in Prague. [1]
• Henri-Frédéric Amiel Swiss/French writer (Journal Intime), dies at age 59. [1]

May 12

• Treaty of Bardo, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate. [1]

May 16

• World's first elec tram goes into service in Lichterfelder (near Berlin). [1]

May 17

• Frederick Douglass appointed recorder of deeds for Washington DC. [1]
• Revised version of New Testament. [1]

May 21

• In Washington, D.C., humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross. [1] [5] [129] [407.60]

May 23

• Leopold von Ranke historian, dies. [1]

May 24

• Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sinks near London Ontario, 200 die. [1]
• Samuel Palmer landscape painter, dies. [1]

June 3

• Japanese giant salamander dies in Dutch zoo at age 55; oldest amphibian. [1]

June 14

• Player piano patented by John McTammany, Jr, Cambridge, Massachusetts [1]

June 24

• 200 drown as train runs off bridge near Cuautla Mexico. [1]

June 30

• Henry Highland Garnet, named minister to Liberia. [1]

July 1

• The world's first international telephone call takes place between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States. [1] [5]
• US Assay Office in Saint Louis, Missouri opens. [1]

July 2

• US President James Garfield shot and fatally wounded by Charles J Guiteau, a disappointed office-seeker. [1] [5]

July 4

• Brooker T Washington establishes Tuskegee Institute. [1]

July 15

• William "Billy the Kid" Bonney killed by Pat Garrett. [1]

July 20

• Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull, surrenders to federal troops. [1]

August 1

• US Quarantine Station authorized for Angel Island, San Francisco Bay. [1]

August 4

• In Seville, Spain, a European record hot temperature of 122 degrees F (50 degrees C) is recorded. [1] [54]

September 11

• Triple landslides bury Elm Switz. [1]

September 18

• Chicago Tribune reports on a televide experiment. [1]

September 19

• James A Garfield US president, dies of gunshot wound. [1]

September 20

• Chester A Arthur sworn in as president. [1]

October 1

• The first electric power-station providing current for both public and domestic use begins operation. The hydro-electric Central Power Station operates on the River Wey at Godalming, Surrey, England. [55.56]

October 11

• Birth of Hans Kelsen in Prague, Austria-Hungary; jurist, developed the "pure theory" of law, professor in Vienna, Cologne, Geneva and Prague, judge on the Austrian Constitutional Court (1920-30), taught at Harvard and University of California at Berkeley, author (Hauptprobleme der Staatsrechtslehre 1911, Allgemeine Staatslehre 1925, Reine Rechtslehre 1934, The Law of the United Nations 1950, Was ist Gerechtigkeit 1953). [37]

October 15

• First American fishing magazine, American Angler published. [1]

October 26

• In Tombstone, Arizona, USA, the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday face off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in a shootout at the OK Corral. The Earp brothers were bank security guard Wyatt, town marshal Virgil, and Morgan. The Clantons (Ike, Billy) and McLaurys (Tom, Frank) and Billy Claiborne were cowboys, cattle rustlers, thieves and murderers. The 30-second shootout ended with Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday wounded. The three are arrested by the county sheriff and charged with murder, but found not guilty a month later. [1] [187.265] [129]

November 14

• Charles J Guiteau goes on trial for President Garfield's assassination. [1]

November 15

• American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded (Pittsburgh). [1]

December 3

• Henry M Stanley finds Leopoldville/Kinshasa. [1]

December 4

• The Los Angeles Times is first published. [5]

December 5

• 47thUS Congress (1881-83) convenes. [1]

December 7

• Julius FA Bahnsen German philosopher (Tragic as Weltgesetz), dies at age 51. [1]

December 8

• Vienna's Ring Theater destroyed by fire, kills between 640-850. [1]

December 13

• August Senoa Croatian writer (Kletva [The Curse]), dies at age 43. [1]

December 17

• Lewis H Morgan US ethnologist (Iroquois-Indians), dies at age 62. [1]

December 19

• Jules Massenet's opera "Hérodiade" is produced (Brussels). [1]

1882

January 2

• Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust. [1]

January 3

• William H Ainsworth English writer (Guy Fawkes), dies at age 76. [1]

January 13

• Richard Wagner completes his opera "Parsifal". [1]

January 15

• First US ski club forms (Berlin New Hampshire). [1]

January 17

• First Dutch female physician Aletta Jacobs opens office. [1]

January 20

• John Linnell British painter/miniaturist/engraver, dies. [1]

January 21

• Anton Emil Titl composer, dies at age 72. [1]

January 25

• Bilu, a Russian Zionist organization, forms. [1]
• Peter Singer composer, dies at age 71. [1]

January 26

• France government of Gambetta falls. [1]

February 2

• Fabio Campana composer, dies at age 63. [1]
• Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven Connecticut. [1]

February 3

• Circus owner PT Barnum buys his world famous elephant Jumbo. [1]
• Guglielmo Quarenghi composer, dies at age 55. [1]

February 10

• Rimski-Korsakovs opera "Snyegurochka" premieres in Saint Petersburg. [1]

February 11

• Gustav Schmidt composer, dies at age 65. [1]

February 12

• Social-Democratic Union forms in Amsterdam. [1]

February 13

• Henry Highland Garnet diplomat, dies in Monrovia Liberia at age 66. [1]

February 15

• First cargo of frozen meat leaves New Zealand for Britain, on SS Dunedin. [1]

February 21

• New York City's 24 hour race begins, winner with most mileage in 24 hours. [1]

February 22

• With 120 miles James Saunders wins New York City's 24 hour race and $100 prize. [1]

February 28

• First US college cooperative store opens, at Harvard University. [1]

March 2

• Louis Kufferath composer, dies at age 70. [1]

March 3

• New York Steam Corp begins distributing steam to Manhattan buildings. [1]

March 4

• Britain's first electric trams run in East London. [5]

March 6

• Monarch Milan Obrenovic of Serbia crowns himself king. [1]

March 16

• Charles R Darwin English naturalist (Origin of species), dies at age 73. [1]
• US Senate ratifies treaty establishing the Red Cross. [1]

March 22

• Edmunds Act adopted by US to suppress polygamy in the territories. [1]
• Jumbo the elephant at the London Zoological Gardens at Regent's Park is crated for transfer to ship to America. [66.18]

March 24

• German scientist Robert Koch discovers bacillus cause of TB. [1]
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow US poet (Song of Hiawatha), dies at age 75. [1]

March 25

• Jumbo the elephant leaves England on the Assyrian Monarch ship, headed to America. [66.18]
• First demonstration of pancake making (Department store in New York City, New York). [1]

March 29

• Knights of Columbus chartered for Catholic men. [1]

April 3

• Friedrich Wilhelm Kucken composer, dies at age 71. [1]
• Jesse James, outlaw, shot dead at age 34, in Saint Joseph, Missouri by Robert Ford. [1] [5]
• Wood block alarm invented, when alarm rang, it dropped 20 wood blocks. [1]

April 9

• Dante Gabriel Rossetti poet/pre-Raphaelite painter, dies at age 53. [1]
• Jules Quicherat French historian/archaeologist (Mélanges), dies at age 66. [1]

April 10

• Jumbo the elephant arrives in New York aboard the Assyrian Monarch ship. [66.18]
• Matson founds his shipping company (San Francisco and Hawaii). [1]

April 13

• Anti-Semitic League forms in Prussia. [1]

April 19

• Charles Robert Darwin evolutionist (Origin of Species), dies. [1]

April 25

• Johann CF Zöllner German astronomer (astro photography), dies. [1]

April 27

• Ralph Waldo Emerson US poet (Representive Men), dies. [1]

April 29

• The "Elektromote" - a forerunner of the trolleybus - is given its first trial run by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin. [5]

May 6

• Chinese Exclusion Act: US Congress ceases Chinese immigration. [1]
• Epping Forest England dedicated by Queen Victoria. [1]
• Lord Frederick Cavendish assassinated by Fenian Invincibles, in Dublin. [1]
• Thomas Henry Burke assassinated by Fenian Invincibles, in Dublin. [1]

May 8

• David Belasco's "La Belle Russe" premieres in New York City. [1]

May 9

• Telegraph Hill Railroad Company organized. [1]

May 13

• Jules-Nicolas Crevaux French explorer, murdered at age 35. [1]
• Toba-Indians killed 20 members of French expedition. [1]

May 15

• May Laws-Czar Alexander III bans Jews from living in rural Romania. [1]

May 20

• Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" (Gengangere) premieres in Chicago. [1]
• Saint Gotthard-railroad tunnel between Switzerland and Italy opens. [1]

May 23

• 6" of snow falls in eastern Iowa. [1]

June 2

• Guiseppi Garibaldi Italian rebel leader, dies at age 74. [1]

June 6

• Cyclone in Arabian Sea (Bombay India) drowns 100,000. [1]
• Electric iron patented by Henry W. Seely, New York City. [1]

June 16

• 17" hailstones weighing 1.75 pounds fall in Dubuque Iowa. [1]

June 17

• Tornado kills 130 in Iowa. [1]

July 2

• James Garfield assassinated by "job-seeker". [1]

July 4

• Telegraph Hill Observatory opens in San Francisco. [1]

July 12

• First ocean pier in US completed, Washington, DC. [1]

July 13

• 200 die as train derails near Tcherny, Russia. [1]

July 19

• J Palisa discovers asteroid #226 Weringia. [1]

July 28

• The opera "Parsifal" is produced (Bayreuth). [1]

August 1

• Henry Kendall Australian poet, dies of tuberculosis at age 43. [1]

August 3

• US Congress passes first law restricting immigration. [1]

August 5

• Standard Oil of New Jersey is established. [5]

August 7

• Hatfields of south West Virginia and McCoys of east Kentucky feud, 100 wounded or die. [1]

August 8

• Snow falls on Lake Michigan. [1]

August 20

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow. [5]

September 4

• First district lit by electricty (New York's Pearl Street Station). [1]

September 5

• The first United States Labor Day parade (10,000 workers) is held in New York City. [1] [5]

September 10

• First international conference to promote anti-semitism meets in Dresden Germany (Congress for Safeguarding of Non-Jewish Interests). [1]

September 13

• Britain invades Egypt. [1]

September 18

• Pacific Stock Exchange opens (as the Local Security Board). [1]

October 22

• In Southeast Oklahoma, a magnitude 4.9 earthquake occurs. [53]

November 7

• Near Denver, Colorado, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurs. [53]

December 2

• Amsterdam Artis Zoo opens aquarium. [1]

December 6

• A Trollope writer, dies. [1]
• Atmosphere of Venus detected during transit. [1]

December 10

• John Brahms' "Gesang der the Parzen" premieres. [1]

December 11

• Boston's Bijou Theatre, first American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity, first performance, Gilbert and Sullivan's "Iolanthe". [1]
• Victorien Sardous "Fedora", with Sarah Bernhardt, premieres in Paris. [1]

December 14

• Henry Morton Stanley returns to Brussels from the Congo. [1]

December 22

• First string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison. [1]

December 31

• Léon Michel Gambetta French attorney/premier (1881-82), dies at age 44. [1]