| January 4 | Last sighting of an eastern cougar (Ontario) |
| January 8 | Chrome tanning process for leather patented by Augustus Schultz |
| January 18 | General Charles Gordon departs London for Khartoum |
| January 19 | Jules Massenet's opera "Manon," premieres in Paris |
| January 26 | 1st Dutch Wagner version of Elizabeth aria |
| February 1 | 1st volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, published |
| February 7 | Canadian Rugby Football Union forms |
| February 18 | General Charles Gordon arrives in Khartoum |
| February 18 | Police seize all copies of Tolstoy's "What I Believe In" |
| February 19 | Tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana kill 800 people |
| February 26 | British and Portuguese treaty signed in Congo by Leopold II |
| March 8 | 1st performance of Edward MacDowell's 2nd Piano suite |
| March 12 | Mississippi establishes 1st U.S. state college for women |
| March 13 | Siege of Khartoum Sudan begins |
| March 13 | U.S. adopts Standard Time |
| March 17 | John Joseph Montgomery makes 1st glider flight, Otay, California |
| March 27 | 1st long-distance telephone call, Boston - New York |
| April 2 | London prison for debtors closed |
| April 10 | U.S. Senate accepts Belgian administration of Congo |
| April 20 | Pope Leo XIII encyclical "On Freemasonry" |
| April 21 | Potters Field reopened as Madison Park |
| April 22 | Thomas Stevens starts 1st bike trip around world (2 years 9 mos) |
| April 22 | U.S. recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State |
| April 24 | National Medical Association of Black physicians organizes in Atlanta |
| May 1 | Construction begins on Chicago 1st skyscraper (10 stories) |
| May 1 | Moses Walker became 1st black player in major league |
| May 13 | Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) forms |
| May 14 | Anti-Monopoly party forms in U.S. |
| May 16 | 10th Kentucky Derby: Isaac Murphy aboard Buchanan wins in 2:40 |
| May 17 | Alaska becomes a U.S. territory |
| May 19 | Ringling Brothers circus premieres |
| May 22 | 1-armed pitcher Hugh Daily fanned 13 hitters |
| May 23 | 12th Preakness: S Fisher aboard Knight of Ellerslie wins in 2:39 |
| May 24 | Anti-Monopoly party and Greenback Party forms People's Party in US |
| May 26 | Fred Spofforth takes 7-34 and 7-3 vs. England XI in 4 hours |
| May 29 | 1st steam cable trams start in highgate |
| June 3 | John Lynch (R-MS) chosen 1st black major-party national convention chair |
| June 4 | 18th Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard Panique wins in 2:42 |
| June 5 | William Sherman refuses Republican presidential nomination saying "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected" |
| June 16 | On Coney Island, the 1st roller coaster begins operating |
| June 24 | John Lynch is 1st black elected chairman of Republican convention |
| July 3 | Dow Jones published it's 1st stock avg |
| July 4 | 1st U.S. bullfight held (Dodge City Ks) |
| July 4 | Statue of Liberty presented to U.S. in Paris |
| July 5 | German consul-general Gustav Nachtigal takes possession of Cameroon |
| July 5 | U.S. Congress accept 2nd Chinese Exclusion Act |
| July 10 | 1st Test Cricket to be played at Old Trafford 1st day washed out |
| July 21 | 1st Test Cricket match played at Lord's |
| August 2 | Dutch Queen Emma appointed regent |
| August 5 | Cornerstone for Statue of Liberty laid on Bedloe's Island (New York City) |
| August 7 | Germany annexes Angra Pequena (Southwest-Africa) |
| August 11 | 1st double-century stand in Test cricket, McDonnell/Murdoch 207 Australia |
| August 12 | Bill Murdoch scores 1st Test Cricket double-century, 211 at The Oval |
| August 28 | 1st known photograph of a tornado is made near Howard, South Dakota |
| August 28 | Mickey Welsh strikes-out 1st 9 men he faces |
| September 10 | Congressman John R Lynch presides over Republican National Convention |
| September 20 | 6.2 mile Arlberg railroad tunnel completed in Austria |
| September 20 | Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for President and Vice President |
| September 24 | Dixey, Rice and Gill's musical "Adonis," premieres in New York City |
| September 26 | Suriname army shoots on British-Indian contract workers, 7 killed |
| October 6 | Naval War College forms in Newport RI |
| October 13 | Greenwich established as universal time meridian of longitude |
| October 14 | George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film |
| October 22 | General Gordon receives letter of Mahdi |
| October 22 | Sporting Life announces that both pennant winners will meet in 3 game series Oct 23-25 at Polo Grounds New York City to determine baseball champion |
| October 23 | 1st World Series OKed by AA, Providence (NL) beats New York Mets (AA) 6-0 |
| October 25 | 1st World Series OK by AA, Providence (NL) sweeps New York Mets (AA) in 3 |
| October 27 | Architect Henry Hardenberghs Dakota-complex opens in New York City |
| November 4 | Grover Cleveland (D) beats James G Blaine (R) for 1st President term |
| November 6 | British protectorate proclaimed over southeast New Guinea |
| November 6 | Montreal Foot Ball Club (QFRU) defeats Toronto Argonauts (ORFU) 30-0 in 1st CRFU Championship game |
| November 8 | German government recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State |
| November 15 | Colonization of Africa orgainized at International conference in Berlin |
| November 17 | Cops arrest John L Sullivan in 2nd round for being "cruel" |
| November 22 | T Thomas Fortune starts New York Freeman (New York Age) newspaper |
| November 25 | John B Meyenberg of St. Louis patents evaporated milk |
| December 6 | Aluminum capstone set atop Washington Monument, Wash, DC |
| December 9 | Levant Richardson patents ball-bearing skate |
| December 12 | 1st Test match played at the Adelaide Oval |
| December 16 | Great Britain recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State |
| December 19 | Italy recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State |
| December 24 | Austria-Hungary admits King Leopold II's Congo Free State |
| December 27 | Netherlands recognizes king Leopold II's Congo Free State |
| December 30 | Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony in E, premieres in Leipzig |
