01/01/1848
The first comic weekly paper in the United States is published in Philadelphia
04/04/1848
Verdi's opera "Nabucco" has its United States premiere in New York City
10/23/1850
- 10/24/1850
The first National Women's Rights Convention held in Worcester, Massachusetts
01/01/1858
"Miss Leslie," America's most popular cooking writer, dies in New Jersey
02/06/1858
Yale students and local volunteer firemen battle in New Haven and a young fireman is fatally shot
07/20/1858
Admission charged to a Baseball Park for the first time
09/03/1858
Louisiana Vigilance Committee forces disperse massed "Anti-Vigilance" outlaws at Bayou Tortue
01/05/1859
New York City sleigh-riders complain that the salting of Broadway is ruining their outings after the snow-storm
02/16/1859
The Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania opens
04/25/1859
Congressman Daniel Sickles is acquitted in his trial for the murder of Philip Barton Key
06/17/1859
Searing winds hit Santa Barbara, California, destroying birds, small animals, and all foliage in the town
08/13/1859
Inmate burns the Massachusetts State Reform School at Westboro to the ground
10/03/1859
- 10/04/1859
The touring All-England Cricket Team plays against a United States team in Hoboken
10/15/1859
Famous trotting horse Flora Temple breaks world record for the mile in Kalamazoo, Michigan
12/01/1859
Pennsylvania has a public debt of more than thirty-eight million dollars
02/01/1860
Rabbi gives opening prayer in the House of Representatives for the first time
02/16/1860
Continental Hotel, biggest in the land, opens for business in Philadelphia
02/22/1860
The first official baseball game in California is played in San Francisco
02/26/1860
Unindentified white men murder scores of Wiyot Indians in northern California
03/06/1860
Christopher Spencer receives a patent for his magazine-fed, lever action rifle
03/17/1860
California enacts law to protect young dancing girls
03/30/1860
Last survivor of the 1778 Wyoming Massacre dies in Ohio
04/03/1860
The Pony Express begins its first run
04/13/1860
J. W. Richardson rides into St. Joseph, Missouri ending the first west to east run of the Pony Express
04/19/1860
In Boston, Henry Longfellow completes his famous poem, "Paul Revere's Ride"
04/24/1860
In New York, a clandestine prizefight on Ryker's Island ends in a sixty-one round draw
04/25/1860
Angry mob of gamblers in Pennsylvania ransack the offices of the Scranton morning newspaper
04/29/1860
Bret Harte publishes his first short story in San Francisco, California
07/04/1860
The town of Olathe in Kansas plans a free meal for a thousand for the Fourth of July but two thousand show up
07/09/1860
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Northwestern Mutual Life makes its first real estate loan
07/18/1860
Harvard College graduates its largest ever class, watched by Stephen Douglas and Charles Sumner
07/26/1860
In San Francisco, Emperor Norton I dissolves the United States republic and declares an absolute monarchy
08/01/1860
On the California coast, J. C. Gore sells the ranch that will become Pebble Beach Golf Course
08/01/1860
New York teachers debate the place of black children in the state's public schools
08/11/1860
- 08/12/1860
Hurricane kills forty-seven people in Louisiana
09/19/1860
T.D. Rice, black-face minstrel originator of the "Jim Crow" character, dies in New York City
09/20/1860
Landing in Detroit, Prince Albert begins his historic visit to the United States
10/25/1860
"Grizzly" Adams dies at his home in Neponset, Massachusetts
02/10/1863
The wedding of Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren in New York City makes headline news
06/11/1863
The New York Yacht Club holds its annual regatta around Manhattan
07/30/1863
Henry Ford, who will transform American industry and transportation, is born on a farm in Michigan
04/23/1864
In New York York's Central Park, the cornerstone of the Shakespeare Monument is dedicated
09/11/1864
- 09/14/1864
The German-American gymnastics movement, the Turn Verein, holds a large festival in New York
06/13/1865
In a spectacular and destructive fire, P.T. Barnum's American Museum burns to the ground in New York City
07/15/1865
- 07/21/1865
The ninth German-American Saengerfest, a massive week-long choral convention is held in New York City
07/18/1865
On the Hudson River off Poughkeepsie, New York, a boat race for a purse of $6000 ends in controversy
07/21/1865
In Springfield, Missouri, "Will Bill" Hickok duels with Davis Hutt in the town square, shooting him in the heart
08/21/1865
- 08/23/1865
In Maryland, thousands of German-Americans are attending a three day "Schutzen Fest" held in Baltimore
08/26/1865
In Philadelphia, the city's boat clubs, "the Schuylkill Navy," hold their first regatta since the outbreak of the Civil War
09/04/1865
The annual North American festival of German-American "Turner" clubs is held in Cincinnati, Ohio
09/11/1865
- 09/13/1865
Two New York yachts with very wealthy owners compete in an ocean race off Long Island
09/24/1865
Sensational rumors of a church being haunted by demons causes turmoil in Jersey City, New Jersey.
09/25/1865
Two four-man crews race on the Hudson River for a national rowing championship and two thousand dollars
09/30/1865
Famous daredevil Harry Leslie performs while suspended from a balloon flying 2000 feet over New York City
10/08/1865
Two heavy early afternoon tremors strike San Francisco, California but start no fires and cause no fatalities
10/13/1865
At the Union Grounds in Brooklyn, the Atlantic baseball club defeats the Eckford Club 35-8
10/16/1865
In Philadelphia, 20,000 firemen march in an unprecedented gala parade
10/19/1865
A significant lunar eclipse of the Sun is visible in the morning over much of the eastern United States
10/30/1865
Two of the country's best baseball clubs meet in Philadelphia with Brooklyn's "Atlantics" victorious
11/06/1865
In New York's East River, Blackwell Island Asylum celebrates new buildings with a ball for the patients
11/08/1865
In New York, newlyweds celebrate with a two hour balloon flight from Central Park to Mount Vernon
12/07/1865
The third annual celebration of Thanksgiving Day takes place across the country
12/15/1865
In Chicago, convicted murderers Patrick Fleming and William Corbett die on the gallows
01/16/1866
The 1866 shipment of "Mercer Girls" departs New York City for Washington Territory
02/13/1866
- 02/14/1866
Off New York City, naval engine designs compete in a race between the "Winooski" and the "Algonquin"
03/13/1866
In New York City, John Deery defeats John McDevitt for the American National Billiards Championship final
05/17/1866
New York City and New Jersey boat clubs hold a large regatta on the Hudson River
05/17/1866
Newark, New Jersey celebrates the bicentennial of its founding with a large street parade.
07/04/1866
- 07/05/1866
A massive fire destroys much of Portland, Maine, leaving 10,000 homeless but killing only two.
09/14/1866
In Johnstown, Pennsylvania, disaster strikes for hundreds when a viewing platform collapses.
09/25/1866
On the edge of the Bronx, the new Jerome Park Race Course opens with its first race meeting.
10/01/1866
Crowding and spectator disturbances at the Philadelphia Athletics end with the game being called.
12/27/1866
Mississippi steamboat catches fire in the middle of the night and forty-three people are drowned.
04/22/1867
- 04/23/1867
In New York City, the English Rackets Champion wins an international match with leading U.S. player Frederick Foulkes.
05/31/1867
Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery sponsors a day to decorate the graves of thousands of C.S.A. veterans buried there.
07/01/1867
The first International Caledonian Games in North America is under way in New York City
07/13/1867
- 07/18/1867
The Tenth National Saengerfest for German-American Choral Societies is held in Philadelphia.
08/07/1867
- 08/09/1867
In New York, the summer horse racing meeting at Saratoga is under way.
09/27/1867
On Long Island, the Queens Agricultural Society successfully completes its twenty-fifth annual exhibition.
10/28/1867
Edward Payson Weston sets out to walk from Portland, Maine to Chicago in thirty days.
10/31/1867
Along the Monongahela River, large crowds turn out to watch a five-mile sculling race for $2000.
11/01/1867
In Lafayette, Indiana, a wood-sawing contest between baseball teams raises money for charity
11/03/1867
Edward Payson Weston reaches Connecticut on his 1200 mile walk from Portland, Maine to Chicago.
11/06/1867
In Madison, New Jersey, Drew Theological Seminary is formally opened
11/28/1867
Edward Payson Weston reaches Chicago on his 1238 mile walk from Portland, Maine with a day to spare.