Events Date 1884 | History by KabAstro

"Manon"

Jan 19 Jules Massenet's opera "Manon" premieres in Paris

Jan 26 1st Dutch Wagner version of Elizabeth aria
Feb 1 1st volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, published
Feb 7 Canadian Rugby Football Union forms
Feb 18 General Charles Gordon arrives in Khartoum

Event of Interest

Feb 18 Russian police seize all copies of Leo Tolstoy's book "What I Believe In"

Feb 19 "Enigma Outbreak" of over 60 tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana kill hundreds, if not over a thousand (hence the "enigma") people

Treaty of Interest

Feb 26 British & Portuguese treaty signed in Congo by Leopold II

King of the Belgians Leopold II of Belgium

Mar 8 1st performance of Edward MacDowell's 2nd Piano Suite

Susan B. Anthony Addresses Congress

Mar 8 Susan B. Anthony addresses U.S. House Judiciary Committee arguing for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote, 16 years after legislators 1st introduced a federal women's suffrage amendment.

Mar 12 Mississippi establishes 1st US state college for women
Mar 13 Siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins by Mahdist forces, lasts 10 months
Mar 17 John Joseph Montgomery makes 1st glider flight at Otay, California
Mar 27 1st long-distance telephone call, Boston-NY
Mar 28 46th Grand National: Ted Wilson aboard 10/1 shot Voluptuary wins by 4 lengths from Frigate
Apr 2 London prison for debtors closed
Apr 10 US Senate accepts Belgian administration of Congo

On Freemasonry

Apr 20 Pope Leo XIII encyclical "On Freemasonry"

Apr 21 Potters Field reopened as Madison Park
Apr 22 Thomas Stevens leaves San Francisco on the first bicycle trip around the world, takes him 2 years and 9 months
Apr 22 US recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
Apr 24 National Medical Association of Black physicians organizes in Atlanta
May 1 Catcher Moses Walker is acknowledged as the first African-American to play major league baseball joining the Toledo Blue Stockings
May 1 Construction begins on Chicago's 1st skyscraper (10 stories)
May 1 Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.
May 13 Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) forms in New York
May 14 Anti-Monopoly party forms in US
May 16 10th Kentucky Derby: Isaac Murphy aboard Buchanan wins in 2:40.25
May 16 Italian inventor Angelo Moriondo receives patent for 1st espresso machine
May 17 Alaska becomes a US territory
May 19 Ringling Brothers circus premieres in Baraboo, Wisconsin
May 22 1-armed pitcher Hugh Daily fanned 13 hitters
May 23 12th Preakness: S Fisher aboard Knight of Ellerslie wins in 2:39.5
May 24 Anti-Monopoly party & Greenback Party forms People's Party in US
May 26 Australian cricket fast bowler Fred Spofforth takes 7-34 & 7-3 against an England XI in a tour match in Birmingham; match over in just 4 hours
May 29 Europe's first steam cable trams start in Highgate, London
Jun 3 John Lynch (R-MS) chosen 1st black major-party national convention chair
Jun 4 18th Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard Panique wins in 2:42
Jun 5 William Sherman refuses Republican presidential nomination saying "I will not accept if nominated & will not serve if elected"
Jun 16 America's 1st purpose-built roller coaster ride, the Switchback Railway, opens at Coney Island, New York, built by LaMarcus Thompson
Jun 24 John Lynch is 1st black elected chairman of Republican convention
Jun 24 The East Cleveland Street Railway Company begins the first U.S. commercial electric streetcar line in Cleveland, Ohio, on the Bentley-Knight system
Jul 3 Dow Jones publishes its first stock index, the Dow Jones Transportation Average
Jul 4 1st US bullfight held (Dodge City Ks)

Statue of Liberty

Jul 4 Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris

Jul 5 German consul-general Gustav Nachtigal takes possession of Cameroon
Jul 5 US Congress accept 2nd Chinese Exclusion Act
Jul 8 Benjamin Waugh and others found The London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, in London; later expanded to become the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
Jul 10 First day of Test Cricket at Old Trafford, Manchester (1st Test, England v Australia) is washed out
Jul 15 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: 4 consecutive Wimbledon titles for William Renshaw; beats Herbert Lawford 6-0, 6-4, 9-7
Jul 19 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Maud Watson becomes inaugural female champion by beating her sister Lillian Watson 6–8, 6–3, 6–3
Jul 21 1st Test Cricket match played at Lord's

Society of Independent Artists

Jul 29 Society of Independent Artists founded in Paris by Albert Dubois-Pillet, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac

Post-Impressionist Painter Georges Seurat

Jul 30 Nonpareil Dempsey [John Edward Kelly] fights George Fulljames, possibly the 1st middleweight fight with boxing gloves
Aug 5 Cornerstone for Statue of Liberty laid on Bedloe's Island (NYC)
Aug 7 Germany annexes Angra Pequena / German South West-Africa (modern Namibia)
Aug 11 First double-century stand in Test cricket; Percy McDonnell (103) Billy Murdoch (211) for Australia in drawn 3rd Test v England in London
Aug 12 Bill Murdoch scores 1st Test Cricket double-century, 211 at The Oval

US Men's Championship

Aug 27 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport R.I.: Richard Sears makes it 4 straight US singles titles; beats Howard Taylor 6-0, 1-6, 6-0, 6-2

1st Photograph of a Tornado

Aug 28 First known photograph of a tornado is made near Howard, South Dakota

One of the 1st known photographs of a tornado, taken in 1884 by F.N. Robinson

Aug 28 MLB pitcher Mickey Welsh makes record for most consecutive batters struck out to begin a game, striking out the 1st 9 men he faces
Sep 4 Britain ends its policy of penal transportation to New South Wales in Australia
Sep 10 Congressman John R. Lynch presides over Republican National Convention
Sep 20 6.2 mile Arlberg railroad tunnel completed in Austria
Sep 20 Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for US President and Vice President
Sep 23 American Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical tabulating machine, the beginning of data processing
Sep 24 Dixey, Rice & Gill's musical "Adonis" premieres in NYC
Sep 26 Suriname army shoots on British-Indian contract workers, 7 killed
Oct 3 British Open Men's Golf, Prestwick GC: Jack Simpson wins in windy conditions by 4 strokes from fellow Scots Douglas Rolland and Willie Fernie
Oct 6 Naval War College forms in Newport, Rhode Island
Oct 13 International Meridian Conference in Washington DC establishes Greenwich in London, England as the universal time meridian of longitude

Photographic Film

Oct 14 George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film

Inventor and Founder of the Eastman Kodak Company George Eastman

Oct 15 Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn pitches his 60th win of season for MLB Providence Grays in 8-0 win over Quakers at Philadelphia
Oct 22 General Gordon receives letter of Mahdi
Oct 22 International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. adopts Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) worldwide, creating 24 international time zones with longitude zero at the Greenwich meridian
Oct 22 Sporting Life announces that both pennant winners will meet in 3 game series Oct 23-25 at Polo Grounds NYC to determine baseball champion
Oct 25 1st "World Championship" Baseball Series, Polo Grounds, NYC: Providence Grays (NL) beat NY Mets (American Association), 12-2 in 6 innings for 3 game sweep; game abandoned because of bitter cold
Oct 27 Architect Henry Hardenberghs Dakota apartment complex opens in NYC
Nov 1 Gaelic Athletic Association is established in a meeting at Hayes' Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary; Clare teacher Michael Cusack is credited as founder; objective to promote Irish sport & games

Grover Cleveland Elected

Nov 4 Grover Cleveland (D) beats James G. Blaine (R) for his 1st presidential term (only American president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms)

Nov 6 British protectorate proclaimed over southeast New Guinea
Nov 6 Montreal Foot Ball Club (QFRU) defeats Toronto Argonauts (ORFU) 30-0 in 1st CRFU Championship game
Nov 8 German government recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
Nov 15 European Colonization and trade in Africa is officially regulated at the international Berlin Conference, formalizing European powers "Scramble for Africa"

Sullivan Arrested

Nov 17 Cops arrest boxer John L. Sullivan in his 2nd round for being "cruel"

Heavyweight Boxing Champion John L. Sullivan

Nov 22 T Thomas Fortune starts NY Freeman (NY Age) newspaper
Nov 25 John B Meyenberg of St Louis patents evaporated milk
Dec 1 American Old West: Near Frisco, New Mexico, deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting Charles McCarthy.
Dec 1 Society of Independent Artists hold 1st exhibition in Polychrome Pavilion, Paris, includes Georges Seurat's "Bathers at Asnières"
Dec 6 Aluminum capstone set atop Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., making it the tallest human-built structure in the world (overtaking Cologne Cathedral)
Dec 9 Levant Richardson patents ball-bearing skate