| January 1 | John Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major premieres in Leipzig |
| January 2 | 1st Test match hat-trick, Fred Spofforth at the MCG |
| January 2 | British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die |
| January 2 | Dr. Benjamin E Mays, named president of Atlanta Board of Education |
| January 2 | Northwestern League (minor baseball league) organized, Rockford, Ill |
| January 7 | Dutch King Willem II marries Emma von Waldeck-Pyrmont |
| January 9 | Cheyenne prisoners led by Dull Knife revolt at Fort Robinson |
| January 9 | Kirland Warbler discovered on Andros Island in Bahamas |
| January 11 | Zulu war against British colonial rule in South Africa begins |
| January 12 | British Zulu War begins: Lieutenant-General Chelmsford invades Zululand |
| January 16 | January record 13" of snow falls in New York City (broken Jan 7, 1996) |
| January 20 | British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana |
| January 21 | Henrik Ibsen's "Et Dukkehjem," premieres in Copenhagen |
| January 22 | James Shields (D) elected U.S. senator from Missouri after previously serving as U.S. senator from Illinois and Minnesota |
| January 22 | Zulus attack British Army camp in Isandhlwana South Africa |
| January 23 | National Archery Association forms (Crawfordsville Ind) |
| January 29 | Custer Battlefield National Monument, Montana established |
| January 30 | French President MacMahon resigns |
| February 5 | Joseph Swan demonstrates light bulb using carbon glow |
| February 10 | 1st electric arc light used in the California Theater |
| February 10 | Henry Morton Stanley departs to the Congo |
| February 12 | 1st artificial ice rink in North America (Madison Square Garden, New York City) |
| February 12 | News about slaughtering of Isandlwana reaches London |
| February 14 | Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta |
| February 15 | Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before Supreme Court |
| February 18 | Arabs capture Egyptian premier Nabar Pasha |
| February 22 | 1st 5 and 10 store opened by Frank W. Woolworth (Utica New York) |
| February 25 | Congress passed 1st Timberland Protection Act |
| February 27 | Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin the artificial sweetener |
| February 28 | "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation |
| March 1 | Library of Hawaii founded |
| March 3 | 1st female lawyer heard by Supreme Court (Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood) |
| March 3 | U.S. Geological Survey director authorized in Department of the Interior |
| March 27 | Longest championship fight (136 rounds) |
| March 29 | Tsjaikovski's opera "Jevgeni Onegin," premieres in Moscow |
| April 8 | Khedive Ismael of Egypt fires French/British ministers |
| April 8 | Milk was sold in glass bottles for 1st time |
| April 18 | Trial of Standing Bear-Crook on indians citizen rights begins |
| April 20 | 1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London and Cyprus |
| May 8 | George Selden files for 1st patent for a gasoline-driven automobile |
| May 10 | Meteor falls near Estherville, Iowa |
| May 16 | Antonin Dvorak's "Slavic Dancing," premieres |
| May 16 | Treaty of Gandamak to set up Afghan state between Russia and English |
| May 20 | 5th Kentucky Derby: Charlie Shauer aboard Lord Murphy wins in 2:37 |
| May 21 | Battle of Iquiquw |
| May 24 | 7th Preakness: L Hughes aboard Harold wins in 2:40 |
| May 30 | 92 degrees F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in May |
| May 30 | Gilmore Garden (New York City) renamed Madison Square Garden |
| May 31 | 1st electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition |
| May 31 | Madison Square Garden opens |
| June 5 | 13th Belmont: George Evans aboard Spendthrift wins in 2:42.75 |
| June 16 | Gilbert and Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore" debuts at Bowery Theater New York City |
| June 18 | W. H. Richardson, a black inventor, patents the children's carriage |
| June 21 | F. W. Woolworth opens 1st store, failed almost immediately |
| June 26 | Ismael Pasha resigns as khedive of Egypt |
| June 30 | Ex-khedive Ismael Pasha leaves Cairo with train full stolen goods |
| July 1 | Ex-khedive Ismael Pasha sails from Alexandria to Naples |
| July 4 | Africaner Union forms by Reverend SJ du Toit at Cape colony |
| July 4 | Battle at Rorkes Drift: Britain ends attack on Zulus |
| July 17 | 1st railroad opens in Hawaii |
| August 4 | Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Aeterni Patris |
| August 12 | 1st National Archery Association tournament (Chicago) |
| August 17 | Ferdinand de Lesseps forms French Panama Canal Company |
| August 20 | Government Kappeijne of Coppello resigns |
| August 23 | Governor-general Charles Gordon of Sudan returns to Cairo |
| August 28 | Battle at Ulundi: Lord Chelmsford beats king Cetshwayo's Zuluz |
| September 15 | Pim Mulier forms "Haarlem Football Club" |
| September 19 | Thomas Ray becomes youngest to break a world track and field record pole-vaulting 11' 2" at age 17 years and 198 days |
| September 20 | U.S. Grants come to San Francisco for elaborate extended visit |
| September 23 | Baldwin steam motors tram 1st tried in Sydney Australia |
| September 23 | Richard Rhodes invented a hearing aid called the Audiophone |
| September 28 | Sydney Australia inaugurates steam motor tram route |
| September 29 | NL owners meeting in Buffalo adopt reserve clause, giving each team exclusive rights to their players |
| October 1 | Cincinnati Enquirer publishes 1st report on baseball reserve clause |
| October 2 | Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Musgrave Ritual" |
| October 7 | Germany and Austrian-Hungary sign Twofold Covenant |
| October 12 | British troops occupy Kabul Afghanistan |
| October 19 | Afghan's emir Mohammed Yakub forced to resign |
| October 19 | Thomas Edison demonstrates electric light |
| October 21 | Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb |
| November 2 | In a 6-day footrace a Mr. Weston loses to a horse, 900 to 885 km |
| November 4 | Elkins patents refrigerating apparatus |
| November 4 | James Ritty patents 1st cash register, to combat stealing by bartenders in his Dayton, Ohio saloon |
| November 6 | Canada celebrates 1st Thanksgiving Day |
| November 19 | National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders determines what "is" a trotter |
| November 28 | Battle at Lydenburg South Africa: General Wolseley beats Sekhukhenes Pedi-Zulu |
| December 5 | 1st automatic telephone switching system patented |
| December 13 | 1st federal fish hatching steamer lauched (Wilmington Delaware) |
| December 20 | Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park |
| December 26 | John Brahms' "Tragic Ouverture," premieres |
| December 28 | North British Railway's train falls as Firth bridge collapses (Scot) |
| December 30 | Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," premieres |
| December 31 | Cornerstone laid for Honolulu's Iolani Palace |
| December 31 | Cornerstone laid for Iolani Palace (only royal palace in U.S.) |
| December 31 | Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp |
| December 31 | Gilbert/Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," premieres in New York City |
| December 31 | Opera "Pirates of Penzance" is produced (New York City) |
BrainyHistory
