The 125 churches and 3,500 adherents of the Seventh Day Adventist Church formally organized in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Men of Company A, Fifth Missouri Volunteers, USA, produced the first newspaper published in the field.  The one-page United States Volunteer appeared in DeSoto, Missouri. (By John Osborne)

Cornelius Vanderbilt's 2000 ton North Star, captained by Asa Eldridge, becomes the first private yacht to circumnavigate the globe when it returns to New York City. (By John Osborne)

Cornelius Vanderbilt sets out from New York City aboard his private yacht North Star.  Captained by Asa Eldridge, the 2000 ton vessel will travel around the world and return to New York in September 1853. (By John Osborne)

Trinity Church, with a 284 foot steeple that towers over Broadway, was dedicated.  It was the tallest building in New York City and remained so till 1893. (By John Osborne)

The Homestead Act came into effect.  It provided 160 acres of public land to any man or woman over the age of twenty-one willing to develop it for five years and then pay a small government fee to gain full ownership. (By John Osborne)

President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law.  It provided 160 acres of public land to any man or woman over the age of twenty-one willing to develop it for five years.  It came into effect on January 1, 1863. (By John Osborne)

Royal Earl House of New York City patented the first telegraph ticker machine than prints letters of the alphabet.  It reproduced fifty words a minute in Roman letters. (By John Osborne)

William Francis Channing of Boston and Moses Gerrish Farmer of Salem, Massachusetts patented the first electric fire alarm.  Boston was the first city to experiment with the system. (By John Osborne)

The Falls River Line put English-style railway coaches into service in Massachusetts.  They were built at their Old Colony South Boston machine shops. (By John Osborne)