1883

January 4

• Nicolas Ledesma composer, dies at age 91. [1]

January 10

• Fire at uninsured Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee WI kills 71; General Tom Thumb of P T Barnum fame, escapes unhurt. [1]

January 13

• Fire in circus Ferroni in Berditschoft Poland kills 430. [1]
• Henrik Ibsen's "En Folkefiende" premieres in Oslo. [1]

January 16

• Pendleton Act creates basis of US Civil Service system. [1]

January 21

• Jacopo Tomadini composer, dies at age 62. [1]

January 23

• Gustave Doré French illustrator, dies at age 51. [1]

January 24

• Friedrich von Flotow German baron/composer, dies at age 70. [1]

February 1

• French Lieutenant-Colonel Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes reaches Bamako on the Niger. [1]
• Pavel Melnikov Russian historian/author, dies. [1]

February 7

• Lieutenant-Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes founds Fort Bamako Niger. [1]

February 8

• Louis Waterman begins experiments to invent the fountain pen. [1]

February 10

• Fire at un-insured New Hall Hotel in Milwaukee Wisconsin, kills 71. [1]

February 13

• Pavel Melnikov [Petsjerski], Russian historian, dies at age 64. [1]
• Wilhelm Richard Wagner German composer (Die Walküre), dies in Venice at age 69. [1]

February 14

• First state labor union legislation; New Jersey legalizes unions. [1]

February 16

• "Ladies Home Journal" begins publication. [1]

February 17

• A Ashwell patents free-toilet in London. [1]
• Napoleon Coste composer, dies at age 76. [1]

February 21

• Second French government of Ferry begins. [1]

February 23

• Alabama becomes first US state to enact an antitrust law. [1]
• American Anti-Vivisection Society organized (Philadelphia). [1]

February 27

• Oscar Hammerstein patents first cigar-rolling machine. [1]

February 28

• First US vaudeville theater opens (Boston). [1]

March 3

• US Congress authorizes the first steel vessels in US navy. [1]

March 4

• Alexander H Stephens Vice President Confederate States, dies at age 71. [1]
• John Gordon Cashmans begins "Vicksburg Evening Post" in Mississippi. [1]

March 14

• Karl Marx, German philosopher (Communist Manifesto), dies at age 64. [1] [5]

March 15

• Karol Studzinski composer, dies at age 55. [1]

March 19

• Jan Matzeliger invents first machine to manufacture entire shoes. [1]

March 20

• Unity treaty of Paris signed; protects industrial property. [1]

March 24

• First telephone call between New York and Chicago. [1]

March 31

• First performance of César Franck's "Le Chasseur Maudit". [1]
• Utrecht begins water pipe system. [1]

April 2

• Battle at Bamako French assault on Fabous arm forces attack. [1]

April 12

• French troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes occupy Bamako Senegal. [1]

April 13

• Alfred Packer convicted of cannibalism. [1]

April 14

• Leo Delibes' opera "Lakmé", premieres in Paris France. [1]

April 16

• Paul Kruger chosen President of Transvaal. [1]

April 18

• Agnes Tyrrell composer, dies at age 36. [1]

April 22

• Octave Fouque composer, dies at age 38. [1]

April 23

• John Heemskerk Azn forms Dutch government. [1]

April 24

• 28 Surinamers depart to Amsterdam World's Fair. [1]

May 1

• "Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his first Wild West Show. [1]
• Amsterdam World's Fair opens. [1]
• New York Athletic Club hires Bob Rogers as first American pro sports trainer. [1]

May 4

• John Gordon Cashmans begins "Vicksburg Evening Post" (Mississippi). [1]

May 15

• Italy signs military treaty with Austria-Hungary and Germany. [1]

May 17

• Buffalo Bill Cody's first wild west show premieres in Omaha. [1]
• Lydia Estes Pinklham patent-medicine manufacturer, dies. [1]

May 20

• The eruption of Krakatoa that ultimately leads to the volcano's destruction begins. [5]
• William Chambers author/publisher, dies. [1]

May 23

• Cyprian K Norwid Polish painter/poet/playwright (Wanda), dies. [1]

May 24

• In New York State, the Brooklyn Bridge opens over the East River, connecting New York and Brooklyn. Construction took 14 years and caused 27 deaths. With a span of 1595 feet, the Brooklyn Bridge is the largest suspension bridge ever built to date. [1] [129]

May 26

• Abd el-Kader Algerian sultan/religious ruler, dies at about age 74. [1]

May 27

• Czar Alexander III crowned in Moscow. [1]

May 28

• August Freyer composer, dies at age 79. [1]

May 29

• Albrecht of Prussia mistress of John van Rossum, dies at age 73. [1]
• WFLC Marianne princess of Orange-Nassau, dies. [1]

May 30

• Rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse caused a stampede that kills 12. [1]

May 31

• French fleet under Pierre begins siege of Tamatave, Madagascar. [1]

June 2

• Chicago's "El" opens to traffic. [1]

June 9

• First commercial electric railway line begins operation (Chicago El). [1]

July 4

• Buffalo Bill Cody presents first wild west show, North Platte, Nebr. [1]

July 27

• Montgomery Blair lawyer (Dred Scot V Sandford), dies at age 70. [1]

July 28

• In Ischia, Italy, volcano Epomeo erupts, causing a magnitude 5.6 earthquake. The thermal resort of Casamicciola is devastated, over 2,000 people killed, over 1,200 houses were destroyed. [1] [53]

August 12

• The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam. [5]

August 26

• Krakatoa erupts with increasingly large explosions; kills 36,000. [1] [5]

August 27

• Krakatoa, west of Java, explodes with a force of 1,300 megatons. [1]

August 29

• Seismic sea waves created by the Krakatoa eruption create a rise in the English Channel 32 hours after the explosion. [1]

September 8

• Northern Pacific Railroad's last spike driven at Independence Creek, Mont. [1]

September 24

• National black convention meets in Louisville, Kentucky. [1]

October 4

• Orient Express' first run, linking Turkey to Europe by rail. [1]

October 15

• US Supreme Court declares Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional. [1]

October 20

• Treaty of Ancon, Peru cedes Tarapaca to Chile. [1]

October 22

• First New York Horse Show held (Madison Square Garden). [1]
• Original Metropolitan Opera House (New York City) grand opening (Faust). [1]

November 3

• Race riots in Danville Virginia (4 blacks killed). [1]

November 18

• Standard time zones established by railroads in US and Canada. [1]

November 26

• Sojourner Truth abolitionist, women's rights advocate, dies. [1]

December 2

• Johannes Brahms' third Symphony in F, premieres. [1]

December 3

• 48th US Congress (1883-85) convenes. [1]

December 9

• New Brunswick adopts Eastern Standard Time (until 1902). [1]

December 20

• International cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls. [1]

December 22

• August Strindberg's "Lycko-Pers Reja" premieres. [1]

December 25

• Marek Konrad Sokolowski composer, dies at age 65. [1]

1884

January 4

• Last sighting of an eastern cougar (Ontario). [1]

January 6

• Death of Gregor Mendel in Brunn, Austria-Hungary at age 61; Augustinian monk, pioneer of the science of genetics. [1] [37]
• Paul Taglioni "the Great", Italian/Austrian choreographer, dies at age 75. [1]

January 8

• Chrome tanning process for leather patented by Augustus Schultz. [1]

January 18

• General Charles Gordon departs London for Khartoum. [1]

January 19

• Jules Massenet's opera "Manon" premieres in Paris. [1]

January 21

• Auguste Franchomme composer, dies at age 75. [1]

January 24

• Johann Christian Gebauer composer, dies at age 75. [1]

January 26

• First Dutch Wagner version of Elizabeth aria. [1]

February 1

• First volume of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is published (covering A to Ant). [1] [5] [129]

February 8

• Arnold Henry Guyot Swiss/US geologist/meteorologist, dies at age 76. [1]

February 18

• General Charles Gordon arrives in Khartoum. [1]
• Police seize all copies of Tolstoy's "What I Believe In". [1]

February 19

• Tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana kill 800 people. [1]

February 21

• John Pike Hullah composer, dies at age 71. [1]

February 23

• Tambo Tambo Australian aboriginal/US circus attraction, dies at age 23. [1]

February 26

• British and Portuguese treaty signed in Congo by Leopold II. [1]

March 8

• First performance of Edward MacDowell's second Piano suite. [1]

March 12

• Mississippi establishes first US state college for women. [1]

March 13

• Siege of Khartoum Sudan begins. [1]
• US adopts Standard Time. [1]

March 17

• John Joseph Montgomery makes first glider flight, Otay California. [1]

March 19

• Alfonse Charles Renaud de Vilback composer, dies at age 54. [1]

March 27

• First long-distance telephone call, Boston-New York. [1]

March 30

• Hans Hampel composer, dies at age 61. [1]

March 31

• Jan T Beelen Netherlands/Belgian catholic bible expert, dies at age 77. [1]

April 2

• London prison for debtors closed. [1]

April 3

• Carel JCH van Nispen tot Sevenaer Dutch Cath politician, dies at age 59. [1]

April 6

• Emanuel Geibel writer, dies at age 68. [1]

April 7

• Maria van Ackere-Doolaeghe Flemish poet (Avondlamp), dies at age 80. [1]

April 10

• US Senate accepts Belgian administration of Congo. [1]

April 20

• Pope Leo XIII encyclical "On Freemasonry". [1]

April 21

• Potters Field reopened as Madison Park. [1]

April 22

• Thomas Stevens starts first bicycle trip around the world (2 years 9 months). [1]
• US recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]

April 24

• National Medical Association of Black physicians organizes (Atlanta Georgia). [1]

May 1

• Construction begins on Chicago's first skyscraper (10 stories). [1]

May 7

• Judah P Benjamin confederate minister of War, dies at age 72. [1]

May 9

• Hermanus W Witteveen theologist, dies at age 69. [1]

May 12

• Bedrich Friedrich Smetana Czechoslovakia, composer (2 Widows), dies at age 60. [1]

May 13

• Cyrus Hall McCormick inventor, dies. [1]
• Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is founded. [1]

May 14

• Anti-Monopoly party forms in the US. [1]

May 17

• Alaska becomes a US territory. [1]
• Louis Brassin composer, dies at age 43. [1]

May 18

• Heinrich R Göppert German paleo-botanist, dies. [1]

May 19

• Ringling Brothers circus premieres. [1]

May 24

• Anti-Monopoly party and Greenback Party form People's Party in the US. [1]

May 29

• First steam cable trams start in highgate. [1]

May 31

• Dr John Harvey Kellogg patents "flaked cereal". [1]

June 16

• The first roller coaster in the USA opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York. The ride traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost five cents to ride. [129]

June 27

• J Palisa discovers asteroid #237 Coelestina. [1]

July 1

• V Knorre discovers asteroid #238 Hypatia. [1]

July 3

• The Customer's Afternoon Letter first publishes Charles Dow's American stock average, containing eleven railroad and industrial stocks: Chicago & North Western, Delaware Lackawanna & Western, Lake Shore, Louisville & Nashville, Missouri Pacific, New York Central, Northern Pacific pfd., Pacific Mail, St. Paul, Union Pacific, and Western Union. (This selected stock average will later become the Dow Jones Industrial Average.) [5] [228]

July 4

• First US bullfight held (Dodge City Ks). [1]
• Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris. [1]

July 10

• Paul Morphy US chess wizard, dies. [1]

August 5

• Cornerstone for Statue of Liberty laid on Bedloe's Island (New York City). [1]

August 10

• In New York City, New York, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake occurs. The total felt area was estimated at 181,000 square kilometres. [53]

August 28

• First known photograph of a tornado is made near Howard, South Dakota, USA. [1] [5]
• Mickey Welsh strikes-out first 9 men he faces. [1]

September 20

• 6.2 mile Arlberg railroad tunnel completed in Austria. [1]
• Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for President and Vice President. [1]

October 6

• Naval War College established in Newport Rhode Island. [1]

October 14

• George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film. [1]

November 4

• Grover Cleveland (Democrat) beats James G Blaine (Republican) for first presidential term. [1]

November 6

• British protectorate proclaimed over southeast New Guinea. [1]

November 15

• Colonization of Africa organized at international conference in Berlin. [1]

November 17

• Cops arrest John L Sullivan in second round for being "cruel". [1]

November 22

• T Thomas Fortune starts New York Freeman (New York Age) newspaper. [1]

November 25

• John B Meyenberg of Saint Louis patents evaporated milk. [1]

December 4

• Alice Mary Smith composer, dies at age 45. [1]

December 6

• In Washington, D.C., the monument to president George Washington, a tower of white marble, is completed. [1] [129]

December 9

• Levant Richardson patents ball-bearing skate. [1]

December 12

• First Test match played at the Adelaide Oval. [1]

December 16

• Great Britain recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]

December 19

• Italy recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]

December 24

• Austria-Hungary admits King Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]

December 27

• Netherlands recognizes king Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]

December 28

• Gerben Colmjon Frisian linguist/publisher, dies at age 56. [1]

December 30

• Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony in E, premieres in Leipzig. [1]