| January 1 | 1st practical fire engine (horse-drawn) in U.S. enters service |
| January 8 | 1st U.S. bronze equestrian statue (of Andrew Jackson) unveiled, Wash |
| January 10 | Charles Reade's "Gold," premieres in London |
| January 19 | Napoleon III marries Eugenie de Montijo |
| January 19 | Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore," premieres in Rome |
| January 21 | Envelope-folding machine patented by Russell Hawes, Worcester, Mass |
| January 30 | Emperor Napoleon III marries Eugenie Maria de Montijo y de Guzman |
| February 21 | U.S. authorizes minting of $3 gold pieces |
| March 2 | Territory of Washington organized after separating from Oregon Territory |
| March 3 | Transcontinental railroad survey is authorized by Congress |
| March 3 | U.S. Assay Office in New York City authorized |
| March 4 | Pope Pius IX recovers Catholic hierarchy in Netherlands |
| March 4 | William Rufus de Vane King (D) sworn in as 13th U.S. Vice President |
| March 6 | Giuseppe Verdi's Opera "La Traviata," premieres in Venice |
| April 1 | Cincinnati became 1st U.S. city to pay fire fighters a regular salary |
| April 14 | Harriet Tubman began her Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape |
| April 15 | Protestant church questions king Willem III RC bishops |
| April 17 | Thorbecke government resigns |
| April 17 | U.S. Marine Hospital at Presidio San Francisco forms |
| April 18 | 1st train in Asia (Bombay to Tanna, 36 km) |
| April 19 | Netherlands Van Hall government forms |
| April 20 | Harriet Tubman starts Underground Railroad |
| April 26 | Dutch King William III disbands 2nd Chamber |
| April 29 | Comet C/1853 G1 (Schweizer) approaches within 0.0839 AUs of Earth |
| May 1 | Argentina adopts it's constitution |
| May 2 | Franconi's Hippodrome opens (New York City) |
| May 6 | 1st major U.S. rail disaster kills 46 in Norwalk, Connecticut |
| May 17 | Thorbeckes liberals win 2nd-Parliamentary election |
| May 19 | Dutch prince Henry marries princess Amalia of Saxony-Weimar |
| May 23 | Buenos Aires gains independence from Argentina (reunited 1859) |
| May 31 | Elisha Kane's Arctic expedition leaves New York aboard Advance |
| July 3 | Commodore Matthew Perry reach Japan |
| July 6 | National Black convention meets, Rochester New York |
| July 6 | William Wells Brown publishes "Clotel," 1st novel by black American |
| July 8 | Commodore Matthew Perry sails his frigate Susquehanna into Tokyo Bay |
| July 9 | Admiral Perry and U.S. Navy visit Japan |
| July 14 | 1st U.S. World's fair opens, Crystal Palace New York |
| July 14 | Commodore Perry requests trade relations with Japan |
| July 18 | Completion of Grand Trunk Line, trains begin running over 1st North American railroad between Portland, Maine and Montreal |
| August 8 | Russian fleet appears at Nagasaki, Japan |
| August 24 | 1st potato chips prepared by Chef George Crum (Saratoga Springs New York) |
| September 6 | Women's Right's Convention met (New York City) |
| September 11 | 1st electric telegraph used (Merchant's Exchange to Pt Lobos) |
| September 15 | 1st U.S. woman ordained a minister, Antoinette Blackwell |
| September 24 | 1st round-the-world trip by yacht (Cornelius Vanderbilt) |
| September 24 | France annexes Caledonia |
| September 24 | Northern Daily Times, 1st provincial daily newspaper, starts in London |
| September 29 | Emigrant ship "Annie Jane" sinks off Scotland, drowning 348 |
| October 2 | Austrian law forbids Jews from owning land |
| October 12 | John Morrissey wins boxing title, when Yankee Sullivan leaves ring after 36th round to slug Morrissey's fans |
| October 19 | 1st flour mill in Hawaii begins operations |
| October 23 | Maastricht-Aken railway in Netherlands opens |
| November 9 | Origin of Carrington rotation numbers for rotation of Sun |
| November 17 | Street signs authorized at San Francisco intersections |
| November 28 | Olympia forms as capital of Washington Territory |
| December 30 | Gadsden Purchase 45,000 mi (120,000 km) by Gila River from Mexico for $10 million, area is now southern Arizona and New Mexico |
