January 1 | Canada begins using decimal currency system |
January 14 | French Emperor Napoleon III escapes attempt on his life by Felice Orsini, an Italian patriot who was later executed |
January 25 | Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" 1st played, at wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Victoria, to crown prince of Prussia |
January 28 | John Brown organized raid on Arsenal at Harper's Ferry |
January 30 | Charles Halle founds Halle Orchestra in Manchester |
January 30 | William Wells Brown published 1st Black drama, "Leap to Freedom" |
February 11 | 1st apparition of Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes France |
February 13 | Sir Richard Burton and John Speake explore Lake Tanganyika, Africa |
February 21 | Edwin T. Holmes installs 1st electric burglar alarm (Boston, Massachusetts) |
February 22 | Dion Boucicault's "Jessie Brown," premieres in New York City |
March 2 | Frederick Cook, New Orleans, patents a cotton-bale metallic tie |
March 8 | Opera "I Pagliacci" is produced (Naples) |
March 9 | Albert Potts of Philadelphia patents the street mailbox |
March 18 | Dutch Van der Brugghen government resigns |
March 23 | Streetcar patented (E A Gardner of Philadelphia) |
March 30 | Pencil with attached eraser patented by Hyman L. Lipman |
April 12 | 1st U.S. billiards championship (Michael J Phelan wins in Detroit) |
May 4 | War of Reform (Mexico); Liberals establish capital at Vera Cruz |
May 8 | John Brown holds antislavery convention |
May 11 | Minnesota admitted as 32nd U.S. state |
May 15 | Royal Italian Opera opens in Covent Garden London |
May 22 | Confederacion Granadina (now Colombia) forms |
May 28 | Dion Boucicault's "Foul Play," premieres in London |
May 30 | Hudson's Bay Co rights to Vancouver Island revoked |
June 2 | Donati Comet 1st seen named after it's discoverer |
June 16 | Abraham Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand" |
June 21 | Louisiana chess prodigy Paul Morphy arrives in Europe |
June 29 | Great fire in London harbor |
June 29 | Treaty of Algun, China cedes north bank of Amur River to Russia |
July 2 | Partial emancipation of Russian serfs |
July 6 | Lyman Blake patents shoe manufacturing machine |
July 20 | Fee 1st charged to see a baseball game (50 cents ) (New York beats Brooklyn 22-18) |
July 20 | Gathering of Plombieres - Napoleon III meets Cavour |
July 23 | Jewish Disabilities Removal Act passed by British Parliament |
July 26 | Baron Lionel de Rothschild is 1st Jew elected to British Parliament |
July 28 | Nadar takes 1st airborne photo, in a balloon |
July 28 | William Herschel of the Indian Civil Service in India |
July 29 | 1st commercial treaty between U.S. and Japan signed |
July 29 | U.S. citizens allowed to live anywhere in Japan |
August 2 | 1st mailboxes installed in Boston and New York City streets |
August 2 | Government of India transferred from East India Company to Crown |
August 5 | Cyrus W. Field completes 1st transatlantic telegraph cable |
August 15 | Regular mail to Pacific coast begins |
August 16 | Britain's Queen Victoria telegraphs President James Buchanan |
August 17 | 1st bank in Hawaii opens |
August 18 | Netherlands and Japan sign trade agreement |
August 21 | 1st Lincoln-Douglas debate (Illinois) |
August 24 | Richmond "Daily Dispatch" reports 90 blacks arrested for learning |
September 1 | 1st transatlantic cable fails after less than 1 month |
September 8 | Lincoln makes a speech about when you can fool people |
September 10 | John Holden hits 1st recorded home run (Brooklyn vs New York) |
September 13 | Hamburg-US ship Austria catches fire and sinks, 471 die |
September 16 | 1st overland mail for California |
September 28 | Donati's comet becomes 1st to be photographed |
October 21 | In Paris, the Can-Can is 1st performed |
October 21 | Jacques Offenbach's opera "Orphee aux Enfers," premieres in Paris |
October 26 | Hamilton Smith patents rotary washing machine |
October 27 | RH Macy and Co opens 1st store, (6th Ave-NYC) Gross receipts $1106 |
October 28 | Macy's Department store opens in New York City |
November 9 | 1st performance of New York Symphony Orchestra |
November 17 | Origin of Modified Julian Period |
December 12 | 1st Canadian coins circulated (1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent and 20 cent) |
December 16 | Dutch government decides to vacate Schokland Island |
December 18 | Passy, at Paris: 1st "Samedi soir" i/d villa of lovers Rossini |