1888

January 3

• First wax drinking straw patented, by Marvin C Stone in Washington DC. [1]

January 5

• Dutch Heidemaatschappij established. [1]
• Henri Herz composer, dies at a day before 85th birthday. [1]

January 13

• National Geographic Society founded (Washington DC). [1]

January 14

• Stephen Heller composer, dies at age 74. [1]

January 21

• Stephan Hale Alonzo Marsh composer, dies at age 83. [1]

January 27

• The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C., for "the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge". [1] [129]

January 29

• Edward Lear poet/author, dies at age 75. [1]

January 30

• Asa Gray US botanist (Flora of North America), dies at age 77. [1]
• Harry Moses 297 not out for New South Wales against Victoria. [1]

February 5

• Anton Mauve Dutch painter/cousin of Vincent Van Gogh, dies at age 49. [1]

February 24

• Louisville Kentucky becomes first government in US to adopt Australian ballot. [1]

February 28

• Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes. [1]
• Vincent d'Indy's Wallenstein-trilogy, premieres. [1]

March 4

• Amos Bronson Alcott US theory/poet (Table Talk), dies at age 88. [1]

March 6

• Louisa May Alcott US author (Old-fashioned Girl), dies at age 55. [1]

March 10

• First performance of César Franck's "Psyche". [1]
• Ciro Pinsuti Italian pianist/composer, dies at age 57. [1]

March 11

• Great blizzard of '88 strikes northeast US. [1]

March 12

• Second day of the Great blizzard of '88 in northeast US (400 die). [1]
• Henry Bergh founder (ASPCA), dies at age 76. [1]

March 13

• Great Blizzard of 1888 rages. [1]

March 14

• Second largest snowfall in New York City, New York history (21 inches). [1]

March 21

• Arthur Pinero's "Sweet Lavender" premieres in London. [1]

March 25

• Socialist leader Domela Nieuwenhuis elected to Dutch second chamber. [1]

March 29

• Charles-Henri Valentin Alkan composer, dies at age 74. [1]

April 14

• William Fisk Sherwin composer, dies at age 62. [1]

April 15

• Matthew Arnold English poet, dies at age 65. [1]

April 16

• Drentse and Friese peat cutters go on strike. [1]

April 24

• Eastman Kodak forms. [1]

April 29

• Old Kavallison, Congo Stanley meet Emin Pasha. [1]

April 30

• Hailstones kill about 250 in Moradabad district of Delhi India. [1]

May 4

• Italy and Spain sign military covenant. [1]

May 7

• Edouard Lalo's opera "Le roi d'Ys" premieres in Paris France. [1]
• George Eastman patents "Kodak box camera". [1]

May 12

• Crouching start first used by Charles Sherrill of Yale. [1]

May 13

• Brazil abolishes slavery. [1]
• DeWolf Hopper first recited "Casey at the Bat". [1]
• Princess Isabel of Brazil signs "Lei Auréa" abolishing slavery. [1]

May 16

• CPR opens Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver British Columbia. [1]

May 22

• Leroy Buffington patents a system to build skyscrapers. [1]

June 1

• In Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, California, formal opening of Ewing duplex-pendulum seismometer, Ewing horizontal-pendulum seismometers, and Gray-Ewing vertical seismometers. [1] [53]

June 3

• "Casey at the Bat" published (San Francisco Examiner). [1]

June 13

• US Congress creates the Department of Labor. [1]

June 25

• Republican Convention, in Chicago, nominates Benjamin Harrison. [1]

June 29

• The first known recording of classical music, Handel's Israel in Egypt, is made on wax cylinder. [5]

July 4

• First organized rodeo competition held, Prescott, Arizona. [1]

July 11

• 118 degrees F (48 degrees C), Bennett, Colorado (state record). [1]
• Pennsylvania's Monongehela River rises 32 feet after 24 hour rainfall. [1]

July 15

• Bandai volcano (Japan) erupts for first time in 1,000 years. [1]

August 5

• Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany in the first long distance automobile trip. [5]

August 7

• Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia patents revolving door. [1]

August 11

• California Theatre closed (now a Pac Tel Phone Store). [1]

August 12

• Bertha, wife of inventor Karl Benz, makes first motor tour. [1]

August 19

• First beauty contest (Spa, Belgium), 18-year-old West Indian wins. [1]

August 21

• William Seward Burroughs patents the first successful adding machine in the United States. [5]

August 30

• Lord Walsingham kills 1070 grouse in a single day. [1]

August 31

• Mary Ann Nicholls a 42-year-old prostitute, is found stabbed to death. [1]

September 1

• In North Canterbury, New Zealand, a magnitude 7.0-7.3 earthquake occurs. [53]

September 4

• George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film. [1] [5]

September 19

• The first beauty contest is held, the Concours de Beauté, held at Spa in Belgium. Winner is 18-year-old Bertha Soucaret of Guadeloupe. [55.22]

October 9

• In the USA, the Washington Monument officially opens to the general public. [1] [5]

October 10

• Teetotalers excursion train crushed, killing 64 (Mud Run Pennsylvania). [1]

October 17

• Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie). [5]

October 19

• Moshav Gederah is attacked by the Arabs. [1]

October 23

• Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, vested. [1]

October 30

• First ballpoint pen patented. [1]

November 3

• Jack the Ripper kills last victim. [1]

November 6

• Benjamin Harrison (Republican-Senator-Indiana) beats President Grover Cleveland (Democrat), 233 electoral votes to 168, Cleveland received slightly more votes. [1]

November 20

• William Bundy patents the timecard clock. [1]

December 2

• Franz Xaver Witt composer, dies at age 54. [1]
• Mehmed N Kemal Bey Turkish writer/journalist (Vatan), dies at age 47. [1]

December 10

• Mariano Obiols composer, dies at age 79. [1]

December 11

• French Panamá Canal company fails. [1]

December 19

• Stanley's expedition reaches Fort Bodo, East-Africa. [1]

December 23

• Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off the lower part of his left ear with a razor while staying in Arles, France. [1] [129]

December 30

• Belgium: king Leopold II installs Order of African Star. [1]

1889

January 3

• Admissions convention meets in Ellensburg Washington, asks for statehood. [1]

January 8

• Dr Herman Hollerith receives first US patent for a tabulating machine (first computer). [1] [55.44]

January 10

• Ivory Coast declared a protectorate of France. [1]
• Martin Andreas Udbye composer, dies at age 68. [1]

January 16

• In Cloncurry, Queensland, an Australian record hot temperature of 128 degrees F (53 degrees C) is recorded. [1] [54]

January 17

• Juan Montalvo Ecuadorian author (Siete Tratados), dies at age 56. [1]

January 23

• Dr Daniel Hale Williams forms Provident Hospital in Chicago. [1]

January 27

• Ivan S Aksakov Russian journalist, dies at age 65. [1]

January 30

• John Herschel uses camera obscura to photograph 48" (120cm) telescope. [1]
• Crown Prince Archduke Rudolph of Austria-Hungary and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera are found dead at the hunting lodge of Mayerling, outside Vienna, possibly a murder-suicide. [389.22] [427.62]

February 1

• Joseph Gungl composer, dies at age 78. [1]

February 3

• Belle Starr US female gangster, murdered at age 40. [1]

February 7

• Astronomical Society of Pacific holds first meeting in San Francisco. [1]

February 8

• Flood ravages Dutch coast. [1]

February 11

• Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; first Diet convenes in 1890. [1]

February 12

• César Francks Symphony in D, premieres. [1]
• Henrik Ibsen's "Fruen fra Haven" premieres in Oslo. [1]

February 14

• First trainload of fruit (oranges) leaves Los Angeles for the east. [1]

February 22

• Dakotas, Montana and Washington admitted to the union. [1]
• President Cleveland signs bill to admit Dakotas, Montana and Washington state. [1]

March 2

• Kansas passes first US antitrust. [1]

March 3

• Edward Sydney Smith composer, dies at age 49. [1]

March 4

• Benjamin Harrison inaugurated as 23rd President. [1]

March 8

• Jens/John Ericsson Sweden/US, engineer (fire extinguisher), dies at age 85. [1]

March 9

• Battle at Gallabat (Metema); Mahdi's beat Abyssinian emperor John IV. [1]
• Kansas passes first general antitrust law in US. [1]

March 12

• Battle at Metema (Gallabad); Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV, defeated. [1]
• Yohannes IV [Kasa], Emperor of Ethiopia (1872-89), dies in battle. [1]

March 14

• August Strindberg's "Froken Julie" premieres in Copenhagen. [1]
• German Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his "Navigable Balloon." [5]

March 15

• Six US and German warships perish in harbor of Apia Samoa, 200 die. [1]

March 17

• Joseph A Alberdingk Thijm [Pauwels Foreestier], poet, dies at age 68. [1]

March 18

• William Henry Monk composer, dies at age 66. [1]

March 23

• President Harrison opens Oklahoma for white colonization. [1]

March 27

• Moritz Furstenau composer, dies at age 64. [1]

March 28

• Matilde "Tillie" Ziegler killed by husband William Kemmler. [1]

March 31

• The Eiffel Tower is dedicated in Paris, France, in a ceremony presided over by Gustave Eiffel, the tower's designer, and attended by French Prime Minister Pierre Tirard. [1] [129]

April 1

• First dishwashing machine marketed (Chicago). [1]

April 3

• Savings Bank of the Order of True Reformers opens in Richmond Virginia. [1]

April 4

• Thomas T H Jorissen historian, dies at age 56. [1]

April 6

• George Eastman places Kodak Camera on sale for first time. [1]

April 18

• In Potsdam, germany, Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz makes the first known recordings of a distant earthquake, taken place in Tokyo, Japan, an hour earlier. [53]

April 19

• Warren De La Rue astronomer/chemist, dies. [1]

April 22

• Oklahoma land rush officially starts; as many as nine out of ten of these settlers had jumped the gun, earning themselves the name "Sooners". [1]

April 30

• First US national holiday, on centennial of Washington's inauguration. [1]

May 1

• First International Workers Day, according to the second International. [1]
• Bayer introduces aspirin in powder form (Germany). [1]

May 2

• Abyssinian emperor Menelik II/Italy signs Treaty of Wichale. [1]

May 6

• Universal Exposition opens in Paris, France; the Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public. [1] [5]

May 15

• Alfred Potocki premier Austrian/Governor/Viceroy of Galicia, dies. [1]

May 17

• William Roxby Beverly artist, dies. [1]

May 18

• Jules Massenets opera "Esclarmonde" premieres in Paris France. [1]

May 28

• Willem M d'Ablaing lawyer, dies at age 37. [1]

May 29

• August Strindberg's "Hemsoborna" premieres in Copenhagen. [1]

May 30

• The brassiere is invented. [1]

May 31

• Johnstown Flood; 2,209 die in Pennsylvania. [1]

June 3

• The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon. [5]
• The Canadian Pacific Railway is completed from coast to coast. [5]

June 6

• Great Fire in Seattle destroys 25 downtown blocks. [1]

June 8

• Cable Cars begin service in Los Angeles. [1]

June 12

• Single tornado kills 119, injures 146 (New Richmond Wisc). [1]

June 13

• 2 feet of snow accumulates in Rawlins, Wyoming. [1]

June 19

• Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "The Man with the Twisted Lip". [1]

June 28

• Maria Mitchell first US woman astronomer, dies at age 71. [1]

July 1

• Frederick Douglass named Minister to Haiti. [1]
• US mint at Carson City, Nevada reopens. [1]

July 4

• Washington state constitutional convention holds first meeting. [1]

July 8

• John L Sullivan wins by KO in 75 rounds in last bare-knuckle bout. [1]
• Wall Street Journal begins publishing. [1]

August 13

• Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his "Navigable Balloon". [5]

August 23

• First ship-to-shore wireless message received in US (San Francisco). [1]

September 28

• The first General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a metre as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice. [5]

October 1

• Washington voters adopt state constitution in referendum. [1]

October 2

• First Pan American conference (Washington DC). [1]

October 6

• Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture. [1]

October 29

• Stanley Park dedicated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [1]

November 2

• North Dakota becomes 39th and South Dakota becomes the 40th state of the USA. [1] [453.70]

November 8

• Montana admitted as 41st state. [1]

November 11

• Washington admitted as 42nd state. [1]

November 14

• New York World's Nellie Bly (Liz Cochrane) begins 72 day world trip. [1]

November 15

• Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, deposed; republic proclaimed. [1]

November 17

• Union Pacific begins daily through service, Chicago-Portland and San Francisco. [1]

November 18

• Oahu Railway begins public service in Hawaii. [1]

November 23

• The first jukebox makes its debut at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco, California. For a nickel, one can listen to a few minutes of music through a tube of an Edison tinfoil phonograph. [5] [457]

November 27

• First permit issued to drive a car through Central Park (Curtis Brady). [1]

December 3

• Baltasar Saldoni composer, dies at age 82. [1]

December 4

• Stanley's expedition reaches Bagamoyo in Indian Ocean. [1]

December 6

• Joseph H "Jozef" Neuhuys painter, dies at age 48. [1]

December 7

• Gilbert and Sullivan's "Gondoliers" premieres in London. [1]

December 9

• President Harrison visits opening of Chicago Auditorium. [1]

December 10

• Ludwig Anzengruber Austrian playwright, dies at age 50. [1]

December 12

• Robert Browning English poet (Ring and Book), dies at age 77. [1]

December 13

• Belgium rules on women/child labor law. [1]

December 14

• American Academy of Political and Social Science organized, Philadelphia. [1]

December 15

• Ferdinand II king of Portugal, dies at age 73. [1]

December 19

• Bishop Museum founded in Hawaii. [1]

December 21

• Joseph B Lightfoot English theologist/bishop of Durham, dies at age 61. [1]

December 24

• Daniel Stover and William Hance patent bicycle with back pedal brake. [1]

December 31

• Ion Creanga Romanian (fairy tales) author, dies at age 52. [1]