1893

January 1

• First US college extension courses for credit, University of Chicago. [1]
• Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar. [1]

January 2

• First US commemoratives and first US stamp to picture a woman issued. [1]

January 4

• US President Harrison grants amnesty to Mormon polygamy. [1]

January 6

• Great Northern Railway connects Seattle with east coast. [1]

January 7

• Death of Josef Stefan in Vienna, Austria; physicist at the University of Vienna; the Stefan-Boltzmann law of physics. [37]
• Hermann Sudermanns "Heimat" premieres in Berlin. [1]

January 9

• Mohara Arab ivory/slave trader, dies in battle and is eaten. [1]

January 10

• Richard Drigo's ballet "The Magic Flute" premieres, Saint Petersburg. [1]

January 11

• Benjamin F Butler US General /presidential candidate (anti-monopoly), dies at age 74. [1]

January 13

• British Independent Labor Party forms (Keir Hardie as its leader). [1]

January 16

• Johan Philip Koelman painter/sculptor/architect, dies at age 74. [1]

January 17

• -17 degrees F (-27 degrees C), Millsboro DE (state record). [1]
• Queen Liliuokalani deposed, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic. [1]
• Rutherford B Hayes 19th US President (1877-81), dies in Fremont Ohio at age 70. [1]

January 19

• Julius Eichberg composer, dies at age 68. [1]

January 22

• Vincenz Lachner composer, dies at age 81. [1]

January 23

• José Zorrilla y Moral Spanish poet (Granada), dies at age 75. [1]

January 27

• James G Blaine US minister of foreign affairs, dies at age 62. [1]

January 28

• Edward Mcdowell's "Hamlet and Ophelia" premieres in Boston. [1]

January 31

• "Westminster Gazette" begins publishing. [1]

February 1

• Giacomo Puccini's Opera "Manon Lescaut" premieres in Turin. [1]
• Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey. [1] [5]

February 2

• First movie close-up (of a sneeze), Edison studio, West Orange New Jersey. [1]

February 9

• Canal builder De Lesseps and others sentenced to prison for fraud. [1]
• Verdi's opera "Falstaff" premieres in Milan. [1]

February 13

• Ignacio M Altamirano Mexican author (El Zarco), dies at age 58. [1]

February 26

• Two Clydesdale horses set record by pulling 48 tons on a sledge, Michigan. [1]

February 28

• Edward Acheson, Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum". [1]

March 1

• Diplomatic Appropriation Act, authorizes the US rank of ambassador. [1]

March 2

• First federal railroad legislation passed; required safety features. [1]

March 3

• Columbian Isabella silver quarter authorized. [1]
• US Congress authorizes first federal road agency, in Department of Agriculture. [1]

March 4

• Francis Dhanis' army attacksthe Lualaba, occupies Nyangwe. [1]
• Grover Cleveland (Democrat) inaugrated as 24th US President (second term). [1]

March 5

• Hippolyte Taine French philosopher/historian, dies at age 64. [1]
• Richard Samuel Hughes composer, dies at age 37. [1]

March 9

• Congo cannibals killed 1000s of Arabs. [1]

March 10

• Ivory Coast becomes a French colony. [1]
• New Mexico State University cancels its first graduation ceremony, as its only graduate Sam Steele was robbed and killed the night before. [1]

March 19

• Karel Komzak composer, dies at age 69. [1]

March 30

• Thomas F Bayard becomes first US ambassador in Great Britain. [1]

April 4

• Alphonse de Candolle Swiss botanist, dies at age 86. [1]

April 5

• Cleveland passes Park Act (forerunner of Metroparks). [1]

April 6

• Mormon temple in Salt Lake City dedicated. [1]

April 8

• The Critic reports that the ice cream soda is our national drink. [1]

April 9

• Disma Fumagalli composer, dies at age 66. [1]

April 12

• Battle at Hoornkrans Southwest-Africa German Schutztruppen chases away Hottentotten under Hendrik Witbooi. [1]

April 19

• John Addington Symonds critic/poet, dies. [1]

April 22

• Francis Dhanis army occupies Kasongo. [1]
• Paul Kruger elected President of Transvaal for third time. [1]

April 26

• First Cleveland Board of Park Commissioners forms. [1]

April 27

• John Murray Corse US General (Union), dies on his 58th birthday. [1]

April 30

• Edouard Manet French painter (Olympia), dies at age 61. [1]
• Gyula Beliczay composer, dies at age 57. [1]

May 1

• World Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago, Illinois, USA. [1] [117.19]

May 3

• Josef Rudolf Zavrtal composer, dies at age 73. [1]

May 4

• Cowboy Bob Pickett invents bulldogging. [1]
• George Washington Hewitt composer, dies at age 82. [1]

May 5

• Panic of 1893: Great crash on New York Stock Exchange. [1]

May 10

• Imperial Institute in London opens. [1]

May 14

• Earnest E Kummer German mathematician (surface of Kummer), dies at age 83. [1]
• Johan T Buys Dutch lawyer, dies at age 65. [1]

May 19

• Heavy rain washes "quick clay" into a deep valley, kills 111 (Norway). [1]

May 22

• Montréal Athletic Association beat Ottawa Generals 2-1, in first Cup Game. [1]

May 27

• Audath Yisroel forms at Kattowitz (Katowice) Poland. [1]

June 1

• The opera "Falstaff" is produced (Berlin). [1]

June 20

• Lizzie Borden found innocent in New Bedford Massachusetts [1]

June 21

• First Ferris wheel premieres (Chicago's Columbian Exposition). [1]

June 30

• Excelsior diamond (blue-white 995 carats) discovered. [1]

July 4

• A Borrelly discovers asteroid #369 Aeria. [1]

July 9

• Daniel H Williams performs "world's first successful heart coperation". [1]

July 11

• The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto. [5]

July 14

• A Charlois discovers asteroid #370 Modestia. [1]

July 15

• Commodore Perry arrives in Japan. [1]

July 16

• A Charlois discovers asteroid #371 Bohemia. [1]

August 7

• 53rdUS Congress (1893-95) convenes. [1]

August 10

• Chinese deported from San Francisco under Exclusion Act. [1]
• Rudolf Diesel's prime model first runs on its own power. [5]

August 14

• Paris Police Ordinance (France) issues first driving licenses, includes required test. [1] [5] [55.51]

August 15

• US no longer allowed exclusive rights in Bering Sea. [1]

September 11

• Bronx Gas and Electric Company opens on Frisby and Tremont Ave. [1]

September 16

• Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma opened to white settlement homesteaders. [1]

September 19

• The Electoral Act gives all women in New Zealand the right to vote. [5]

September 21

• Frank Duryea drives first US-made gas-propelled vehicle (car). [1]

October 1

• Third worst hurricane in US history kills 1,800 (Mississippi). [1]

October 9

• "Chicago Day" at the World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Attendance is 751,026, largest single-day attendance for any peace-time event in history. [117.20]

October 27

• Hurricane hits coast between Savannah Georgia and Charleston South Carolina. [1]

October 30

• Sir John Abbott Prime Minister of Canada (Conservative) (1891-92), dies at age 72. [1]

October 31

• The World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois closes. [117.20]

November 28

• Women vote in a national election for the first time: The New Zealand general election. [5]

December 1

• Eduard Franck composer, dies at age 76. [1]

December 3

• Allan Wilson British/Rhodesian major, dies in battle. [1]
• Ndebeles destroy Rhodesia. [1]

December 5

• First electric car (built in Toronto) could go 15 miles between charges. [1]

December 9

• George Elvey composer, dies at age 77. [1]

December 11

• Eleven fishing ships wash up at Wadden Sea, 22 killed. [1]

December 14

• Karolina Pawlowa writer, dies at age 86. [1]

December 15

• Dvoráks "From the New World" premieres at Carnegie Hall New York City. [1]

December 16

• Anton Dvorak's "New World Symphony" premieres. [1]

December 17

• Levinus T Keuchenius Dutch Minister of Colonies (1888-90), dies at age 71. [1]
• Russia ratifies Duple Alliance with France. [1]

December 20

• First state anti-lynching statute approved, in Georgia. [1]

December 22

• Benedikt Randhartinger composer, dies at age 91. [1]
• Johann Czerski German chaplain, dies at age 80. [1]

December 23

• The opera "Hansel und Gretel" is produced (Weimar). [1]

December 24

• Henry Ford completes his first useful gas motor. [1]

December 25

• Birth of Ropert L Ripley Santa Rosa California, cartoonist (Believe It or Not). [1]

December 28

• French lieutenant Boiteux annexes Tumbuktu. [1]

December 30

• Russia signs military accord with France. [1]
• Samuel White Baker English explorer, dies at age 72. [1]

December 31

• Jacob G de Scheffer Dutch vicar/theologist, dies at age 74. [1]

1894

January 1

• Death of Heinrich Hertz in Bonn, Germany; physicist, discovered how to produce, send, and receive radio waves. The radio frequency measurement "hertz" is named for him. [37]
• Denmark adopts Mid-European time. [1]
• Manchester Ship Canal in England opens to traffic. [1]

January 4

• France ratifies Duple Alliance with Russia. [1]

January 7

• Motion picture experiment of comedian Fred Ott filmed sneezing. [1]

January 8

• Columbus World's fair in Chicago destroyed by fire. [1]
• Pierre-Joseph van Beneden paleontologist (life of tapeworms), dies at age 84. [1]

January 9

• "Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze" released in movie theaters. [1]
• Georges Feydeau's "Un à la Patte" premieres in Paris. [1]

January 13

• Revolution in Sicily crushed by government troops. [1]

January 19

• François Haverschmidt Dutch writer, dies at age 58. [1]

January 21

• Guillaume Jean Joseph Nicolas Lekeu composer, dies at age 24. [1]

January 23

• G W Bunbury of Dublin sets shorthand record of 250 wpm for 10 minutes. [1]

January 27

• Midwinter Fair opens in Golden Gate Park. [1]

January 30

• Pneumatic hammer patented by Charles King of Detroit. [1]
• US flag fired on in Rio; prompt satisfaction exacted by Admiral Benham. [1]

February 2

• US warship Kearsarge wrecked on Roncador Reef, near Solomon Island. [1]

February 3

• First US steel sailing vessel, Dirigo, launched, Bath Maine. [1]

February 4

• Antoine J "Adolphe" Sax instrument maker (saxophone), dies at age 79. [1]

February 5

• Female suffrage organization in Amsterdam forms. [1]

February 8

• Enforcement Act repealed, making it easier to disenfranchise blacks. [1]

February 11

• Pasqual Juan Emilio Arrieta y Corera composer, dies at age 70. [1]

February 13

• Auguste and Louis Lumière patent the Cinematographe, a combination movie camera and projector. [5]
• Franjo Racki Croatian historian/politician, dies at age 65. [1]

February 14

• Venus is both a morning star and evening star. [1]

February 16

• British troops occupy Ilorin, Gold Coast. [1]

February 19

• Ernesto Camillo Sivori composer, dies at age 78. [1]

February 21

• Gustave Caillebotte French shipbuilding designer/painter, dies at age 45. [1]

February 24

• Nicaragua captures Tegucigalpa, Honduras (National Day, sort of). [1]

February 25

• James Morrison Steele Mackaye US actor/author/director, dies at age 51. [1]

March 3

• First Greek-language publication in US begins, "New York Atlantis". [1]
• 4th and last British government of Gladstone resigns. [1]

March 4

• Great fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings destroyed. [1]

March 5

• Seattle authorizes first municipal employment office in US. [1]

March 8

• New York passes first state dog license law. [1]

March 12

• Pittsburgh issues free season tickets for ladies on Tuesday and Friday. [1]

March 13

• J L Johnstone of England invents horse racing starting gate. [1]

March 16

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

March 17

• US and China sign treaty preventing Chinese laborers from entering US. [1]

March 20

• Lajos Kossuth Hungarian freedom fighter/president (1849), dies at age 91. [1]

March 21

• Jacob Rosenhaim composer, dies at age 80. [1]

March 24

• 37 miners killed at Franklin Washington. [1]
• Robert Prescott Stewart composer, dies at age 68. [1]

March 25

• Coxey's Army of the unemployed sets out from Massillon Ohio for Washington DC. [1]

March 27

• Verney L Cameron English explorer (Tanganyika), dies at age 49. [1]

April 5

• Eleven strikers killed in riot at Connellsville Pennsylvania. [1]

April 8

• Bankim C Chattopadhyaya writer (Mrinalini, Anandamath), dies at age 55. [1]

April 9

• First performance of Anton Bruckner's 5th Symphony in B in Graz. [1]

April 12

• British and Belgian secret accord on dividing Central-Africa. [1]

April 14

• First public showing of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope (moving pictures). [1]

April 19

• Jules Massenet's opera "Werther", premieres in New York City. [1]

April 20

• 136,000 mine workers strike in Ohio for pay increase. [1]

April 21

• George Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man", premieres in London. [1]

April 29

• Commonwealth of Christ (Coxey's Army) arrives in Washington DC 500 strong to protest unemployment; Coxey arrested for trespassing at Capitol. [1]

May 8

• Klara Fey German orchestra leaser (Die Kleinen Betrachtungen), dies at age 79. [1]

May 11

• American Railroad Union strikes Pullman Sleeping Car Co. [1]

May 12

• Ludwig Englander's musical "Passing Show" premieres in New York City. [1]

May 14

• Fire in the Boston bleachers spreads to 170 adjoining buildings. [1]

May 21

• August A Kundt German physicist, (test of Kundt), dies at age 54. [1]

May 23

• William Love hosts ground breaking ceremonies for Love Canal. [1]

May 24

• William Joseph Westbrook composer, dies at age 63. [1]

May 26

• Emanuel Lasker (26) becomes World Champion chess player. [1]

May 28

• Belgium Princess Josephine marries Prince Karl von Hohenzollern. [1]

June 17

• First US poliomyelitis epidemic breaks out, Rutland, Vermont. [1]

June 21

• Workers in Pittsburgh strike Pullman sleeping car company. [1]

June 28

• Labor Day established as a federal employees holiday. [1]

June 30

• Korea declares independence from China, asks for Japanese aid. [1]

July 2

• Government obtains injunction against striking Pullman Workers. [1]

July 4

• Elwood Haynes successfully tests one of first US autos at 6 MPH. [1]
• Republic of Hawaii established. [1]

July 6

• Cleveland sends 2,000 troops to Chicago to suppress Pullman strike. [1]

July 16

• Many negro miners in Alabama killed by striking white miners. [1]
• Treaty of Aoki-Kimberley signed between Japan and England. [1]

July 20

• 2000 fed troops recalled from Chicago, having ended Pullman strike. [1]

August 18

• US Congress creates Bureau of Immigration. [1]

August 31

• Philadelphia Phillies Billy Hamilton steals 7 bases. [1]

September 15

• Japan defeats China in Battle of Ping Yang. [1]

September 27

• Aqueduct racetrack opens in New York. [1]

October 1

• Civic organization, Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben founded in Omaha, Nebraska. [1]

October 17

• Ohio national guard kills three lynchers while rescuing a black man. [1]

October 29

• First election of the Hawaiian Republic. [1]

October 30

• Domenico Melegatti obtains a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially. [5]

November 1

• Vaccine for diphtheria announced by Dr Roux of Paris. [1]

November 16

• 6,000 Armenians massacred by Turks in Kurdistan. [1]

November 17

• Daily Racing Form founded. [1]

November 18

• First newspaper Sunday color comic section published (New York World). [1]

November 20

• US intervenes in Bluefields, Nicaragua. [1]

November 25

• Greenback (Independent) Party organizes in Indianapolis. [1]

December 3

• Jozef Schadde Flem architect (Antwerp Stock exchange), dies at age 76. [1]
• Robert Louis Stevenson English writer (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), dies from a cerebral hemorrhage at age 45. [1]

December 5

• Georges Feydeaus' "L'hôtel du libre échange" premieres in Paris. [1]

December 7

• Ferdinand de Lesseps French engineer/diplomat/earl, dies at age 89. [1]

December 8

• Willem JF Nuyens Dutch physician/Roman Catholic historian, dies at age 71. [1]

December 9

• Roman Catholics win Parliamentary election in Belgium. [1]

December 13

• Sarah Parker Remond US/Italian abolitionist, dies at age 68. [1]

December 22

• Debussy's "Prélude à l'apres-midi d'un faune" premieres. [1]
• Dutch coast hit by hurricane. [1]
• French officer Alfred Dreyfus court-martialed for treason, triggers worldwide charges of anti-Semitism (Dreyfus later vindicated). [1]

December 23

• Debussy's ballet "L'aprés-midi d'un faune" premieres in Paris. [1]

December 24

• Scheveningse fishing boats destroyed by storm. [1]

December 29

• Chris Rossetti writer, dies at age 64. [1]

December 30

• Amelia Jenks Bloomer suffragist (Bloomers named for her), dies at age 76. [1]

December 31

• Thomas J Stieltjes mathematician (Stieltjes-integral), dies at age 38. [1]