| January 1 | Canada begins using decimal currency system |
| January 14 | French Emperor Napoleon III escapes attempt on his life by Felice Orsini, an Italian patriot who was later executed |
| January 25 | Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" 1st played, at wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Victoria, to crown prince of Prussia |
| January 28 | John Brown organized raid on Arsenal at Harper's Ferry |
| January 30 | Charles Halle founds Halle Orchestra in Manchester |
| January 30 | William Wells Brown published 1st Black drama, "Leap to Freedom" |
| February 11 | 1st apparition of Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes France |
| February 13 | Sir Richard Burton and John Speake explore Lake Tanganyika, Africa |
| February 21 | Edwin T. Holmes installs 1st electric burglar alarm (Boston, Massachusetts) |
| February 22 | Dion Boucicault's "Jessie Brown," premieres in New York City |
| March 2 | Frederick Cook, New Orleans, patents a cotton-bale metallic tie |
| March 8 | Opera "I Pagliacci" is produced (Naples) |
| March 9 | Albert Potts of Philadelphia patents the street mailbox |
| March 18 | Dutch Van der Brugghen government resigns |
| March 23 | Streetcar patented (E A Gardner of Philadelphia) |
| March 30 | Pencil with attached eraser patented by Hyman L. Lipman |
| April 12 | 1st U.S. billiards championship (Michael J Phelan wins in Detroit) |
| May 4 | War of Reform (Mexico); Liberals establish capital at Vera Cruz |
| May 8 | John Brown holds antislavery convention |
| May 11 | Minnesota admitted as 32nd U.S. state |
| May 15 | Royal Italian Opera opens in Covent Garden London |
| May 22 | Confederacion Granadina (now Colombia) forms |
| May 28 | Dion Boucicault's "Foul Play," premieres in London |
| May 30 | Hudson's Bay Co rights to Vancouver Island revoked |
| June 2 | Donati Comet 1st seen named after it's discoverer |
| June 16 | Abraham Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand" |
| June 21 | Louisiana chess prodigy Paul Morphy arrives in Europe |
| June 29 | Great fire in London harbor |
| June 29 | Treaty of Algun, China cedes north bank of Amur River to Russia |
| July 2 | Partial emancipation of Russian serfs |
| July 6 | Lyman Blake patents shoe manufacturing machine |
| July 20 | Fee 1st charged to see a baseball game (50 cents ) (New York beats Brooklyn 22-18) |
| July 20 | Gathering of Plombieres - Napoleon III meets Cavour |
| July 23 | Jewish Disabilities Removal Act passed by British Parliament |
| July 26 | Baron Lionel de Rothschild is 1st Jew elected to British Parliament |
| July 28 | Nadar takes 1st airborne photo, in a balloon |
| July 28 | William Herschel of the Indian Civil Service in India |
| July 29 | 1st commercial treaty between U.S. and Japan signed |
| July 29 | U.S. citizens allowed to live anywhere in Japan |
| August 2 | 1st mailboxes installed in Boston and New York City streets |
| August 2 | Government of India transferred from East India Company to Crown |
| August 5 | Cyrus W. Field completes 1st transatlantic telegraph cable |
| August 15 | Regular mail to Pacific coast begins |
| August 16 | Britain's Queen Victoria telegraphs President James Buchanan |
| August 17 | 1st bank in Hawaii opens |
| August 18 | Netherlands and Japan sign trade agreement |
| August 21 | 1st Lincoln-Douglas debate (Illinois) |
| August 24 | Richmond "Daily Dispatch" reports 90 blacks arrested for learning |
| September 1 | 1st transatlantic cable fails after less than 1 month |
| September 8 | Lincoln makes a speech about when you can fool people |
| September 10 | John Holden hits 1st recorded home run (Brooklyn vs New York) |
| September 13 | Hamburg-US ship Austria catches fire and sinks, 471 die |
| September 16 | 1st overland mail for California |
| September 28 | Donati's comet becomes 1st to be photographed |
| October 21 | In Paris, the Can-Can is 1st performed |
| October 21 | Jacques Offenbach's opera "Orphee aux Enfers," premieres in Paris |
| October 26 | Hamilton Smith patents rotary washing machine |
| October 27 | RH Macy and Co opens 1st store, (6th Ave-NYC) Gross receipts $1106 |
| October 28 | Macy's Department store opens in New York City |
| November 9 | 1st performance of New York Symphony Orchestra |
| November 17 | Origin of Modified Julian Period |
| December 12 | 1st Canadian coins circulated (1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent and 20 cent) |
| December 16 | Dutch government decides to vacate Schokland Island |
| December 18 | Passy, at Paris: 1st "Samedi soir" i/d villa of lovers Rossini |
BrainyHistory
