Historical Events for Year 1880
Jan 1st - Building of Panama Canal, begins
Jan 6th - Record snow cover in Seattle-120 cm
Jan 9th - 6' (1.8 meters) of snow falls in Seattle in 5 days
Jan 9th - The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow.
Jan 21st - 1st US sewage disposal system separate from storm drains, Memphis
Jan 27th - Thomas Edison patents electric incandescent lamp.
Feb 1st - The first edition of theatrical newspaper The Stage is published.
Feb 2nd - SS Strathleven arrives in London with 1st Australian frozen mutton
Feb 4th - Steele MacKay's "Hazel Kirke," premieres in NYC
Feb 10th - Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Arcanum about Christian marriage
Feb 12th - National Croquet League organizes (Phila)
Feb 13th - Work begins on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels's primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.
Feb 16th - American Society of Mechanical Engineers forms (NYC)
Feb 17th - Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt
Feb 29th - Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland & Italy completed
Mar 4th - NY Daily Graphic publishes 1st half-tone engraving, by S H Horgan
Mar 10th - General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria
Mar 10th - Salvation Army of England sets up US welfare & religious activity
Mar 23rd - Flour rolling mill patented (John Stevens of Wisc)
Inventor Thomas Edison Mar 24th - Tobacco Growers' Mutual Insurance Company incorporates in CT
Mar 31st - 1st town completely illuminated by electric lighting (Wabash, IN)
Apr 18th - An F4 tornado strikes Marshfield, Missouri, killing 99 people and injuring 100.
Apr 24th - Amateur Athletic Association, governing body for men's athletics in England & Wales, is founded in Oxford, England
May 10th - General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria
May 18th - 6th Kentucky Derby: George Lewis aboard Fonso wins in 2:37.5
May 28th - 8th Preakness: L Hughes aboard Grenada wins in 2:40.5
May 31st - League of American Wheelmen (1st US bicycle association), forms in Newport RI
Jun 1st - 1st pay telephone installed
Jun 1st - US census at 50,155,783
Jun 7th - War of the Pacific: The Battle of Arica, assault and capture of Morro de Arica (Arica Cape), that ended the Campaña del Desierto (Desert Campaign).
Jun 10th - Charlie Jones becomes 1st to hit 2 HRs in 1 inning
Jun 12th - 1st baseball perfect game-John Richmond of Worcester beats Cleve
Jun 12th - John Lee Richmond pitches 1st major league perfect game, Worcester 1, Cleveland's Forest City 0
Jun 14th - 14th Belmont: L Hughes aboard Grenada wins in 2:47
Jun 16th - Salvation Army forms in London
Jun 17th - John Ward, Providence, pitches perfect game vs Buffalo
Jun 24th - First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada, at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français.
Jun 28th - Ned Kelly the Australian bushranger captured at Glenrowan.
Jun 29th - France annexes Otaheite (Tahiti)
Jul 16th - Dr. Emily Stowe becomes the first woman licenced to practice medicine in Canada.
Jul 19th - SF Public Library starts lending books
Jul 21st - Compressed air accident kills 20 workers on Hudson River tunnel, NY
Jul 23rd - 1st commercial hydroelectric power planet begins, Grand Rapids, Mich
Jul 27th - A P Abourne patents a process for refining coconut oil
Jul 27th - Battle of Maiwand, at which Dr Watson is wounded, breaks out
Aug 14th - Construction of Cologne Cathedral completed (began in 1248)
Sep6th - Commencement of 1st Test Cricket in England, v Australia at The Oval
Sep 6th - W G Grace scores 152 in debut Test Cricket innings, v Aust The Oval
Sep 7th - Geo Ligowsky patents device to throw clay pigeons for trapshooters
Sep 9th - President Hayes visits SF
Sep 10th - Pierre de Brazza signs treaty with King Makoko of Congo
Sep 23rd - Jules Ferry forms French government
Sep 30th - Henry Draper takes that 1st photograph of Orion Nebula
Oct 1st - John Philip Sousa becomes new director of US Marine Corps Band
Oct 4th - University of California founded in Los Angeles
Oct 15th - Koln cathedral completed, 633 years after it begun
Oct 15th - Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
Oct 20th - Amsterdam Free University opens
Oct 27th - Theodore Roosevelt marries Alice Hathaway Lee, on his 22nd birthday
Nov 2nd - James A Garfield (R) elected president
Nov 8th - Sarah Bernhardt, French actress, made US debut at NY's Booth Theater
Nov 11th - Australian Bushranger Ned Kelly is hanged at Melbourne Gaol.
Nov 21st - Henry Stanley & Pierre de Brazza quarrel about possession of Congo
Nov 24th - Southern University forms
Dec 8th - 5,000 armed Boers gather in Paardekraal South-Africa
Dec 16th - Republic of South-Africa forms
Dec 20th - Battle at Bronker's Spruit, Transvaal: Farmers beat Britten
Dec 20th - NY's Broadway lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great White Way".