January 8 Secret meeting of King Leopold II's agent and Henry Morton Stanley January 10 U.S. Senate proposes female suffrage January 28 1st telephone exchange (New Haven, CT) January 28 George W. Coy hired as 1st full-time telephone operator January 28 Yale Daily News published, 1st college daily newspaper February 2 Greece declares war on Turkey February 10 Peace of Zanjon February 10 Peter Tsjaikovsky's 4th Symphony in F, premieres February 11 1st U.S. bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms February 11 1st weekly Weather report published in UK February 12 Frederick Thayer patents catcher's mask (pat # 200,358) February 16 Silver dollar became U.S. legal tender February 17 1st telephone exchange in San Francisco opens with 18 phones February 19 Thomas Alva Edison patents gramophone (phonograph) February 21 1st telephone book issued, 50 subscribers (New Harbor, Connecticut) February 22 Greenback Labor Party forms (Toledo Ohio) February 28 U.S. congress authorizes large-size silver certificate March 3 Bulgaria liberated from Turkey (Peace of San Stefano) March 13 Oxford defeats Cambridge in their 1st golf match March 24 British frigate Eurydice sunk; 300 lost March 26 Hastings College of Law founded March 26 Sabi Game Reserve, world's 1st official designated game reserve, opens March 31 Jack Johnson is 1st black to hold a heavyweight boxing title April 2 1st issue of Rotterdam's Newspaper April 9 1st Lady Lucy Hayes begins egg rolling contest on White House lawn April 10 California St. Cable Car RR Co starts service April 15 Harley Procter introduces Ivory Soap April 21 New York installs 1st firehouse pole April 21 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Inscrutabili April 21 Ship Azor leaves Charleston with 206 blacks for Liberia April 23 1st Dutch test drive of steam tram May 2 U.S. stops minting 20 cent coin May 4 Phonograph shown for 1st time at Grand Opera House May 8 1st unassisted triple play in organized baseball, by Paul Hines May 14 Vaseline is 1st sold (registered trademark for petroleum jelly) May 19 Blanche Kelso Bruce appointed register of treasury by President Garfield May 21 4th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Carter aboard Day Star wins in 2:37 May 23 Atty John Henry Smyth named minister to Liberia May 24 CA Parker (Harvard) wins 1st American bike race, Beacon Park Boston May 25 Gilbert/Sullivans opera "HMS Pinafore," premieres in London May 27 6th Preakness: C Holloway aboard Duke of Magenta wins in 2:41.75 May 27 Australians Cricket 41 and 12-1 defeat MCC 33 and 19 May 31 German battleship Grosser Kurfurst sinks, 284 killed May 31 U.S. Congress accept decrease in dollar circulation June 4 Cyprus ceded by Turkey to Britain for administrative purposes June 8 12th Belmont: L Hughes aboard Duke of Magenta wins in 2:43 June 11 DC is given a new government by Congress, 3 commissioners appointed by president (change in 1974) June 13 Congress of Berlin meets to divide African colonization June 15 1st attempt at motion pictures (used 12 cameras, each taking 1 picture) done to see if all 4 of a horse's hooves leave the ground July 1 Treaty of Berlin divide Africa up for colonization July 7 Social-Democratic United forms in Amsterdam July 9 An improved corncob pipe patents by Henry Tibbe, Washington, Mo July 12 Fever epidemic in New Orleans begin, it will kill 4,500 July 13 Congress of Berlin discusses division of African colonization ends July 13 Treaty of Berlin amended terms of Treaty of San Stefano July 20 1st telephone introduced in Hawaii July 30 German anti-semitism begins during the Reichstag election July 30 Russian assault on Plevna Turkey, 7,300 Russian casualties August 21 American Bar Association organizes at Sarasota, New York August 21 Edward Pooley completes record 8 stumpings in a cricket match September 1 1st female telephone operator starts work (Emma Nutt in Boston) September 3 England's Princess Alice sinks; 645 die September 12 Cleopatra Needle installed in London September 30 1st Portuguese immigrants arrive in Hawaii October 15 Edison Electric Light Company incorporated October 18 Edison makes electricity available for household usage October 21 German republic chancellor Bismarck delegates end of "Socialism" November 1 Edward Scripps and John Sweeney found Penny Press (Cleveland Press) November 6 Henrik Ibsens "Samfundets Stotter," premieres in Oslo November 10 Aleksandr Ostrovsky's "Bespridannitsa," premieres in Moscow December 1 1st White House telephone installed December 3 Settlers arrive at Petach Tikvah Israel December 9 Joseph Pulitzer buys St. Louis Dispatch for $2,500 December 12 Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing "St. Louis Dispatch" December 18 French SS Byzantin sinks after collision in Dardanellen, 210 killed December 26 1st U.S. store to install electric lights, Philadelphia December 28 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Quod apostolici muneris (socialism)
