References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 June 28.

1880 January 1 Building of Panamá Canal, begins. [1] 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 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 3 Birth of Anne C Veth Dutch cartoonist/art critic. [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 18 Birth of Christopher K H de Nerée tot Babberich cartoonist. [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] 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 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 at age 85. [1] 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 vs 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] [129] 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 First international telephone conversation, Calais, ME-St Stephen, NB. [1] US Assay Office in Saint Louis, Missouri opens. [1] July 2 President Garfield shot by Charles J Guiteau a disappointed office-seeker. [1] 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 15 First American fishing magazine, American Angler published. [1] October 26 Shootout at the OK corral, in Tombstone, Az. [1] 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 18 Morgan Earp brother of Wyatt Earp, shot and killed while playing billiards in Tombstone. [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] 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 7 Hatfields of south West Virginia and McCoys of east Ky feud, 100 wounded or die. [1] August 8 Snow falls on Lake Michigan. [1] September 4 First district lit by electricty (New York's Pearl Street Station). [1] September 5 10,000 workers march in first Labor Day parade in New York City. [1] 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]