The new Brooklyn Academy of Music on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights was inaugurated with a Grand Ball in the evening. Built to the design of Leopold Eidlitz, the main concert hall held more than two thousand people. Dancing began at nine for hundreds of society guests and continued into the small hours of the morning.  The building stood until fire completely destroyed it in 1903. (By John Osborne)

A derailment on the Erie Railroad threw three cars of the west-bound evening express from the track in Sullivan County, New York, near Cochecten.  A brakeman was killed and several passengers suffered minor injuries.  The reported cause was a broken rail. (By John Osborne)

President Buchanan appointed fellow Dickinson College alumnus Philip Francis Thomas as Secretary of the Treasury in mid-December 1860 following Howell Cobb's resignation.  Thomas's first task was the urgent marketing of a government bond to fund the national debt.  Northern bankers held back due in part to fears that the money would find its way south with the help of Marylander Thomas.  When the bond failed, Thomas resigned.  He gave as his reasons disagreement with Buchanan's emerging policy concerning South Carolina.  (By John Osborne) 

Extremely cold weather that had plagued Quebec since the beginning of the year worsened, with morning temperatures of twenty-six below freezing reported.  In Quebec City, the wind blew strongly under clear blue skies, bringing extreme discomfort to citizens in the streets.  The mercury had not come close to reaching the freezing point over the previous seven days.  (By John Osborne)