1878

January 8

• Secret meeting of King Leopold II's agent and Henry Morton Stanley. [1]

January 9

• Victor Emmanuel II king of Sardinia (1849-61)/Italy (1861-78), dies at age 57. [1]

January 10

• US Senate proposes female suffrage. [1]

January 14

• US Supreme court rules race separation on trains unconstitutional. [1]

January 19

• Henri V Regnault French physicist/chemist, dies at age 67. [1]

January 28

• First telephone exchange (New Haven Connecticut). [1]
• George W Coy hired as first full-time telephone operator. [1]
• Yale Daily News published, first college daily newspaper. [1]

February 1

• George Cruikshank English illustrator (Grimm), dies at age 85. [1]

February 2

• Greece declares war on Turkey. [1]

February 7

• Pius IX "Pio Nono", [Giovanni Ferretti], Pope (1846-78), dies at age 85. [1]

February 8

• Elias M Fries Swedish botanist (mycologicum), dies at age 83. [1]

February 10

• Peace of Zanjón. [1]
• Peter Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony in F, premieres. [1]

February 11

• First US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms. [1]
• First weekly Weather report published in United Kingdom. [1]

February 16

• Silver dollar became US legal tender. [1]

February 17

• First telephone exchange in San Francisco opens with 18 phones. [1]
• José Amador de los Ríos Spanish historian/poet, dies at age 59. [1]

February 18

• Peter D Regout industrialist (Sphinx, Maastricht), dies at age 76. [1]

February 19

• Charles F Daubigny French restaurateur/painter, dies at age 61. [1]
• Thomas Alva Edison patents the gramophone (phonograph). [1] [5]

February 21

• First telephone directory (with 50 names) issued (New Haven Connecticut). [1]

February 22

• Franz Hunten composer, dies at age 84. [1]
• Greenback Labor Party formed (Toledo Ohio). [1]

February 28

• US congress authorizes large-size silver certificate. [1]

March 3

• Bulgaria liberated from Turkey (Peace of San Stefano). [1]

March 16

• King Oskar II of Sweden sells St. Barthelemew island to France. [7]
• William Banting English undertaker, dies. [1]

March 24

• Albin Masek composer, dies at age 73. [1]
• British frigate Eurydice sunk; 300 lost. [1]

March 26

• Hastings College of Law founded. [1]
• Sabi Game Reserve, world's first official designated game reserve, opens. [1]

March 27

• Dobri Voynikov composer, dies at age 44. [1]
• George Gilbert Scott architect, dies. [1]

April 1

• Eugene Gautier composer, dies at age 56. [1]

April 2

• First issue of Rotterdam's Newspaper. [1]

April 5

• Wilhelm Speyer composer, dies at age 87. [1]

April 9

• First Lady Lucy Hayes begins egg rolling contest on White House lawn. [1]

April 10

• California State Cable Car Railroad Company starts service. [1]

April 12

• William M "Boss" Tweed New York politician, dies. [1]

April 15

• Harley Procter introduces Ivory Soap. [1]

April 21

• New York installs first firehouse pole. [1]
• Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Inscrutabili. [1]
• Temistocle Solera composer, dies at age 62. [1]
• The ship Azor leaves Charleston with 206 blacks for Liberia. [1]

April 23

• First Dutch test drive of steam tram. [1]
• Friedrich Preller landscape painter, dies. [1]

May 2

• US stops minting 20-cent coin. [1]

May 4

• Phonograph shown for first time at Grand Opera House. [1]

May 14

• Vaseline is first sold (registered trademark for petroleum jelly). [1]

May 19

• Blanche Kelso Bruce appointed register of treasury by President Garfield. [1]

May 22

• Franz von Holstein composer, dies at age 52. [1]

May 23

• Attorney John Henry Smyth named minister to Liberia. [1]

May 24

• CA Parker (Harvard) wins first American bike race, Beacon Park Boston. [1]

May 25

• Gilbert and Sullivans opera "HMS Pinafore" premieres in London. [1]

May 27

• Carlo Marsili composer, dies at age 49. [1]

May 31

• German battleship Grosser Kurfürst sinks, 284 killed. [1]
• US Congress accept decrease in dollar circulation. [1]

June 4

• Cyprus ceded by Turkey to Britain for administrative purposes. [1]

June 15

• First attempt at motion pictures (used 12 cameras, each taking 1. [1]

June 18

• C H F Peters discovers asteroid #188 Menippe. [1]

July 9

• An improved corncob pipe patented by Henry Tibbe, Washington, Mo. [1]
• Corncob pipe patented (Henry Tibbe). [1]

July 13

• Treaty of Berlin amended terms of Treaty of San Stefano. [1]

July 20

• First telephone introduced in Hawaii. [1]

August 21

• The American Bar Association is founded at Sarasota, New York. [1] [5]

September 1

• First female telephone operator starts work (Emma Nutt in Boston). [1]

September 30

• First Portuguese immigrants arrive in Hawaii. [1]

October 15

• Edison Electric Light Company incorporated. [1]

November 20

• War starts between Britain and Afghanistan. [306.162]

December 3

• Settlers arrive at Petach Tikvah Israel. [1]

December 9

• Joseph Pulitzer buys Saint Louis Dispatch for $2,500. [1]

December 12

• Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing "St Louis Dispatch". [1]

December 18

• French SS Byzantin sinks after collision in Dardanellen, 210 killed. [1]

December 25

• Anna Claypoole Peale US painter of miniatures, dies. [1]

December 26

• First US store to install electric lights, Philadelphia. [1]

December 28

• Jose Bernardo Alcedo composer, dies at age 90. [1]
• Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Quod apostolici muneris (socialism). [1]

1879

January 1

• John Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major premieres in Leipzig. [1]

January 2

• British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die. [1]

January 7

• Dutch King Willem II marries Emma von Waldeck-Pyrmont. [1]

January 9

• Cheyenne prisoners led by Dull Knife revolt at Fort Robinson. [1]
• Don Joaquin BF Espartero fieldmarshall/viceroy of Navarra, dies at age 86. [1]
• Kirland Warbler discovered on Andros Island in Bahamas. [1]

January 11

• Zulu war against British colonial rule in South Africa begins. [1]

January 12

• British Zulu War begins Lieutenant-General Chelmsford invades Zululand. [1]

January 13

• In St. Augustine, Florida, a large magnitude earthquake occurs. Felt from Daytona Beach to Savannah, Georgia. [53]
• WF Hendrik the Navigator prince of Netherlands/viceroy of Luxembourg, dies at age 58. [1]

January 16

• January record 13" of snow falls in New York City, New York (broken Jan 7, 1996). [1]

January 20

• British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana. [1]

January 21

• Henrik Ibsen's "Et Dukkehjem" premieres in Copenhagen. [1]

January 22

• Anthony Durnford British Colonel, dies in battle. [1]
• George Shepstone British political affiliate, dies in battle. [1]
• James Shields (Democrat) elected US senator from Missouri after previously serving as US senator from Illinois and Minnesota. [1]
• Zulus attack British Army camp in Isandhlwana South Africa. [1]

January 23

• Adolf Jensen composer, dies at age 42. [1]

January 29

• Antonia MB Antonucci Italian cardinal/diplomat, dies at age 80. [1]
• Custer Battlefield National Monument, Montana established. [1]

January 30

• French President MacMahon resigns. [1]

February 5

• Joseph Swan demonstrates light bulb using carbon glow. [1]

February 8

• Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute. [5]

February 10

• First electric arc light used (California Theater). [1]
• Henry Morton Stanley departs to the Congo. [1]
• Honoré V Daumier French painter/lithographer, dies at age 70. [1]
• Wolter R baron van Hoëvell Dutch vicar/abolitionist, dies at age 66. [1]

February 11

• Honore Daumier caricaturist/painter, dies. [1]
• Willem J van Zeggelen Dutch author/novelist/writer, dies at age 67. [1]

February 12

• At New York City's Madison Square Garden, the first artificial ice rink in North America opens. [1] [5]
• News about slaughtering of Isandlwana reaches London. [1]

February 14

• Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta. [1]

February 15

• US Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before the Supreme Court. [1]

February 18

• Arabs capture Egyptian premier Nabar Pasha. [1]

February 21

• Peter P van Bosse Dutch liberal minister of Finance, dies at age 69. [1]

February 22

• First 5 and 10 cent store opened by Frank W Woolworth in Utica New York. [1]

February 25

• US Congress passed first Timberland Protection Act. [1]

February 27

• Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener). [1]

February 28

• "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation. [1]

March 1

• Library of Hawaii founded. [1]

March 3

• First female lawyer heard by Supreme Court (Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood). [1]
• In Washington, D.C., the United States Geological Survey is established, in the Department of the Interior, with responsibilities: "classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain". [1] [53]

March 13

• Adolf Anderssen German world champion chess (1851-66), dies at age 60. [1]

March 29

• Tsjaikovski's opera "Jevgeni Onegin" premieres in Moscow. [1]

March 30

• David van der Kellen Dutch coin engraver, dies at age 74. [1]
• Thomas Couture French painter/author, dies at age 63. [1]

April 8

• Khedive Ismael of Egypt fires French/British ministers. [1]
• Milk is sold in glass bottles for first time. [1]

April 9

• Ernst Friedrich Richter composer, dies at age 70. [1]

April 16

• Bernadette saint/(saw Virgin Mary at Lourdes), dies in Nevers France. [1]

April 18

• Anthony Pannizim principal librarian (British Museum), dies. [1]
• Trial of Standing Bear-Crook on Indians citizen rights begins. [1]

April 20

• First mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London and Cyprus. [1]

May 4

• William Froude British civil engineer/shipbuilder (F Integer), dies at age 68. [1]

May 8

• George Selden files for first patent for a gasoline-driven automobile. [1]

May 10

• Meteor falls near Estherville IA. [1]

May 16

• Antonin Dvorák's "Slavic Dancing" premieres. [1]
• Treaty of Gandamak to set up Afghan state between Russia and English. [1]

May 21

• Battle of Iquiquw. [1]

May 24

• William Lloyd Garrison abolitionist (Liberator), dies at age 73. [1]

May 26

• Treaty of Gandermack signed between Great Britain and Afghanistan. [306.164]

May 30

• 92 degrees F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland Ohio in May. [1]
• Gilmore Garden (New York City) renamed Madison Square Garden. [1]

May 31

• First electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition. [1]
• Madison Square Garden opens its doors. [1]

June 13

• A Borrelly discovers asteroid #198 Ampella. [1]

June 16

• Gilbert and Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore" debuts at Bowery Theatre New York City. [1]

June 21

• F W Woolworth opens first store (failed almost immediately). [1]

July 9

• C H F Peters discovers asteroid #199 Byblis. [1]

July 17

• First railroad opens in Hawaii. [1]

July 27

• C H F Peters discovers asteroid #200 Dynamene. [1]

August 27

• Sir Rowland Hill introduced postage stamps, dies at age 84. [1]

August 30

• John B Hood confederate general (lost Atlanta), dies at age 48. [1]

August 31

• William Barber 6th US chief engraver (1844-79), dies. [1]

September 20

• US Grant comes to San Francisco for elaborate extended visit. [1]

September 23

• Baldwin steam motors tram first tried in Sydney Australia. [1]

September 28

• Sydney Australia innaugurates steam motor tram route. [1]

October 21

• In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Alva Edison succeeds in creating an electric lamp, with carbonized cotton filament, burning for 14.5 hours. [1] [55.54]

November 1

• US parent office grants Thomas Edison patent on electric lamp. [55.54]

November 2

• In a six-day footrace a Mr Weston loses to a horse, 900 to 885 km. [1]

November 4

• James and John Ritty patent first cash register, to combat stealing by bartenders in their Dayton, Ohio saloon. [1]

November 19

• National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders determines what "is" a trotter. [1]

December 5

• First automatic telephone switching system patented. [1]

December 13

• First federal fish hatching steamer launched (Wilmington Delaware). [1]

December 20

• Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park. [1]

December 26

• Jean Leonard Marie Poiseuille dies. [1]
• John Brahms' "Tragic Ouverture" premieres. [1]

December 28

• North British Railway's train falls as Firth bridge collapses (Scotland). [1]

December 30

• Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" premieres. [1]

December 31

• Cornerstone laid for Honolulu's Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US). [1]
• Edison gives first public demonstration of his incandescent lamp. [1]
• Gilbert/Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]