Brooklyn Bridge Opens
Jan 3 Construction begins on New York's Brooklyn Bridge; completed May 24, 1883
"Liebeslieder Walzer"
Jan 5 Johannes Brahms' collection of lovesongs, "Liebeslieder Walzer" premieres
Standard Oil Formed
Jan 10 Standard Oil Company created by John D. Rockefeller (30%), his brother and other business partners. Then controlled about 10% of world oil.
Democratic Party Symbol
Jan 15 Donkey first used as symbol of Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly
Revels Elected Senator
Jan 20 Hiram R. Revels elected to fill unexpired term of Albert Brown as US Senator from Mississippi
- Jan 23 Marias Massacre: Approximately 200 Piegan Blackfeet Indians (mostly women, children, and elderly men) killed by US Army, in Montana Territory, spawning outrage and preventing the military from regaining control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs [1] [2]
- Jan 25 Soda fountain patented by Gustavus Dows
- Jan 26 US Congress authorises Virginia to rejoin the union
- Jan 27 1st sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) (DePauw U in Greencastle, Indiana)
- Jan 27 After accepting 15th amendment, Virginia is readmitted to the Union
- Jan 27 Manitoba & Northwest Territories incorporated
- Feb 2 Cardiff Giant (supposed petrified human) proved to be gypsum
- Feb 3 US state of Iowa ratifies the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution allowing suffrage for all races and colors
- Feb 5 1st motion picture shown to a theater audience, Philadelphia
Event of Interest
Feb 9 US President Ulysses S Grant signs law resulting in US Army Signal Service’s establishment of its "Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce", later known as the National Weather Service
- Feb 10 City of Anaheim in California incorporates for the 1st time, but disincorporates after two years as the tax burden was too high
- Feb 10 The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) forms in NYC
- Feb 12 Official proclamation sets April 15 as last day of grace for US silver coins to circulate in Canada
- Feb 12 Utah becomes the second territory in the United States to pass a law allowing women the vote, after Wyoming in 1869
- Feb 14 Esther Morris appointed US' first female in Justice of the Peace in South Pass City, Wyoming, after previous justice, R.S. Barr, resigned to protest passage of Wyoming Territory's women's suffrage amendment in 1869
- Feb 14 Seraph Young becomes the first woman to legally vote in the modern United States, two days after the Utah legislature passed a law allowing women the vote
- Feb 15 Ground broken for Northern Pacific Railway near Duluth, Minnesota
- Feb 23 Mississippi is readmitted to US after the Civil War
- Feb 25 Hiram R. Revels is sworn in as 1st African American member of Congress as US Senator from Mississippi (R)
- Feb 26 Beach Pneumatic Transit - 1st attempt to demonstrate a subway in New York opens (pneumatic powered)
- Feb 28 The Bulgarian Exarchate (Orthodox Church) is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire
Battle of Cerro Corá
Mar 1 War of the Triple Alliance finally ends with the Battle of Cerro Corá and the death of Paraguayan Dictator Francisco Solano López after over 5 years of bloodshed between Paraguay and Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay
Thomas Scott
Mar 4 On command of Louis Riel, Thomas Scott is executed by a firing squad. Riel rejects all appeals and requests to intervene in an attempt to demonstrate to the Canadian government that the Métis must be taken seriously
- Mar 7 Cincinnati Red Stockings, 1st pro BB team, begin 8-mo tour of Midwest & East
- Mar 9 32nd Grand National: George Stevens wins consecutive GN's aboard 7/2 favourite The Colonel; his 5th and final GN victory
- Mar 14 California legislature approves act making Golden Gate Park possible
- Mar 16 Hiram R. Revels makes 1st official speech by an African American in the US Senate
- Mar 17 Mass legislature authorizes incorporation of Wellesley Female Seminary
- Mar 18 1st US National Wildlife Preserve (Lake Meritt in Oakland California)
- Mar 18 Antonio Carlos Gomes' "Il Guarany" premieres at La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy, 1st Brazilian opera successful outside Brazil
- Mar 19 Antônio Carlos Gomes' opera "Il Guarany" premieres at Teatro La Scala in Milan, Italy
- Mar 22 Ohio State University is established as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, a public land grant college, in Columbus. Ohio
- Mar 30 15th Amendment to the US constitution is adopted, guarantees right to vote regardless of race
- Mar 30 Florida territorial government established
- Mar 30 Texas becomes last confederate state readmitted to Union
- Mar 31 Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey is the first African American to vote in the US under provisions of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, in a local election on town's charter [1]
- Apr 4 Golden Gate Park forms by City Order #800
- Apr 9 American Anti-Slavery Society dissolves
- Apr 13 Metropolitan Museum of Art forms in NYC, opening in the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue
- Apr 15 Last day US silver coins allow to circulate in Canada
- Apr 16 Vaudeville Theatre Strand opens in London
- May 5 The British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind adopts Braille as best format for blind people
- May 10 Jem Mace & defends his heavyweight crown against Irish champ Joe Coburn, it lasts 1 hr & 17 minutes, & neither is struck by a punch
- May 12 Royal assent passes Manitoba Act of 1870, approving Manitoba becoming a province of Canada
- May 20 Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament abolishes capital punishment in The Netherlands
- May 24 Memoria of Jackson Kemper, 1st Missionary Bishop in US
- May 25 Irish Fenians raid Eccles Hill, Quebec
- May 31 Congress passes 1st Enforcement Act (rights of blacks)
- May 31 E. J. DeSemdt patents asphalt pavement
- Jun 4 4th Belmont: W Dick aboard Kingfisher wins in 2:59.5
- Jun 5 Great Fire of Pera in a district of Constantinople, the wealthiest part of the city, kills hundreds
- Jun 9 US President Ulysses S. Grant meets with Sioux Chief Red Cloud at The White House in Washington, D.C.
- Jun 11 1st-stone Amstel Brewery opens in Amsterdam
- Jun 14 All-pro Cincinnati Red Stockings suffer 1st loss in 130 games
- Jun 22 US Congress creates Department of Justice
- Jun 26 1st section of Atlantic City (NJ) Boardwalk opens
Valkyrie Premieres
Jun 26 Richard Wagner's opera "Valkyrie", second in his Ring Cycle premieres in Munich, featuring "Ride of the Valkyries"
- Jun 28 U.S. Congress creates federal holidays (New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day), initially applicable only to federal employees
- Jun 30 Ada Kepley becomes 1st American female law college graduate (Old University of Chicago, later Northwestern)
- Jul 1 James W. Smith of South Carolina is one of 1st African Americans to attend West Point
- Jul 2 Jules Joseph d'Anethan is elected the tenth Prime Minister of Belgium
- Jul 8 Governor Holden of North Carolina declares Casswell County to be in a state of insurrection
- Jul 8 US Congress authorizes registration of trademarks
Ems Telegram
Jul 13 King Wilhelm I of Prussia sends the "Emser Depeche (Ems Telegram)" to Otto von Bismarck who publishes an edited version to purposely offend the French government precipitating the Franco-German War
Event of Interest
Jul 14 The United States Congress grants Mary Todd Lincoln a life pension in the amount of $3,000 a year
- Jul 15 Manitoba becomes the 5th Canadian province and the Northwest Territories are created and transferred to Canada by the Hudson's Bay Company
- Jul 15 The last confederate state, Georgia is readmitted to the United States
- Jul 18 Pope Pius IX and the First Vatican Council officially proclaim the concept of papal infallibility
- Jul 19 France declares war on Prussia; Franco-Prussian war begins
Empress Eugénie
Jul 23 Emperor Napoleon III appoints Empress Eugénie de Montijo as Regent of France
- Jul 24 1st trans-US rail service begins
- Jul 30 Staten Island ferry "Westfield" burns, killing 100
- Jul 30 The Republic of Klipdrift is proclaimed by Transvaal President Andries Pretorius after the discovery of diamonds in South Africa in 1866 resulted in a flood of treasure hunters; ownership of the diamond fields was contested by the Boer republics
- Aug 1 Irish Land Act gives rights to tenants of landlords in Ireland
- Aug 2 Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London
- Aug 4 British Red Cross Society forms
- Aug 6 Battle at Spicheren: Prussia beats France
- Aug 8 1st America's Cup: New York Yacht Club’s first defense of America’s Cup; 'Magic' (NYYC) defeats 'Cambria' (Royal Thames YC, England; finishes 8th) and 16 fellow defenders from NY Harbour to Sandy Hook Light Vessel on the Atlantic and return (38 miles)
- Aug 8 The Republic of Ploieşti, a failed Radical-Liberal rising against Domnitor Carol of Romania.
- Aug 15 Transcontinental Railway actually completed in Colorado
- Aug 16 Fred Goldsmith demonstrates curve ball isn't an optical illusion
- Aug 17 1st ascent of Mt Rainier, Washington, by Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump
- Aug 18 Battle at Gravelotte Privat: Prussia beat France, 32,000 casualties
- Aug 24 The Wolseley Expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion
- Sep 1 French Emperor Napoleon III is captured and taken prisoner in the Battle of Sedan
- Sep 2 Napoleon III surrenders to Prussian armies at the Battle of Sedan
- Sep 4 The Third French Republic proclaimed as French overthrow Emperor Napoleon III (who ironically was the elected president of the Second French Republic) after his defeat by Prussia at Sedan
- Sep 6 Ship sinks in Gulf of Biscay; 483 die
- Sep 8 Netherlands and Britain sign "Koelietraktaat" an agreement to allow Indian contract workers from Calcutta to work in sugar plantations in Suriname
- Sep 10 Dutch Jurist Cooperation forms
- Sep 15 British Open Men's Golf, Prestwick GC: Tom Morris, Jr. wins third straight title; again beats Bob Kirk, this time by 12 strokes
- Sep 15 Dutch 1st Chamber abolishes Capital punishment (20-18)
- Sep 19 Siege of Paris by Prussian Forces begins (lasts until January 28 1871)
- Sep 20 Capture of Rome by Italian army, Pope Pius IX surrenders to King Victor Emmanuel which unifies Italy and ends 1,116 year reign of Papal States
- Sep 24 Dar Al-Kutub (National Library of and Archives of Egypt) inaugurated in Mustafa Fadel's palace, Cairo. The first national library in the Middle East. [1]
- Oct 2 Italy annexes Rome & Papal States; Rome made Italian capital
- Oct 7 Leon Gambetta flees Paris in balloon
- Oct 9 Rome is incorporated into Italy by royal decree
Mahler's 1st Concert
Oct 13 Gustav Mahler (10) gives his 1st public piano concert in Jihlava, Kingdom of Bohemia (now Czech Republic)
- Oct 19 1st African Americans (4) elected to US House of Representatives
- Oct 19 British steamship SS Cambria wrecked off the north-west of Ireland with the loss of 178 lives
- Oct 25 Pimlico Race Course opens in Baltimore
- Oct 25 Postcards first used in USA
- Nov 1 US Weather Bureau begins operations (24 locations)
- Nov 15 Bathe becomes member of Noordduitse Union
- Nov 16 Spanish Parliament, "the Cortes" formally elects Italian Prince Amedeo Ferdinando Maria as King Amadeo I of Spain
- Nov 27 The New York Times dubs baseball "The National Game"
- Nov 29 Compulsory education proclaimed in England
- Dec 12 Joseph Rainey (South Carolina) becomes 1st African American to serve in US House of Representatives
- Dec 19 After 31 days at sea in a small boat, William Halford and 3 others reach the island of Kauai, Hawaii to seek help for the shipwrecked USS Saginaw. A capsize in the breakers meant only Halford survived.
- Dec 22 Jules Janssen flies in a balloon in order to study a solar eclipse
- Dec 26 The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.
- Dec 31 J D Schneiter patents rocket mail in France, (not done)
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists