| January 3 | Admissions convention meets in Ellensburg, WA, asks for statehood |
| January 8 | 1st Computer patented |
| January 8 | Dr. Herman Hollerith receives 1st U.S. patent for a tabulating machine |
| January 10 | Ivory Coast declared a protectorate of France |
| January 16 | 128 degrees F (53 degrees C), Cloncurry, Queensland (Australian record) |
| January 23 | Dr. Daniel Hale Williams forms Provident Hospital in Chicago |
| January 30 | John Herschel uses camera obscura to photograph 48" (120cm) telescope |
| January 30 | Victoria beat NSW after following on (NSW all out 63 needed 76) |
| February 7 | Astronomical Society of Pacific holds 1st meeting in San Francisco |
| February 8 | Flood ravages Dutch coast |
| February 11 | Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet convenes in 1890 |
| February 12 | Cesar Francks Symphony in D, premieres |
| February 12 | Henrik Ibsens "Fruen fra Haven," premieres in Oslo |
| February 14 | 1st train load of fruit (oranges) leaves Los Angeles for east |
| February 22 | Dakotas, Montana and Washington admitted to union |
| February 22 | President Cleveland signs bill to admit Dakotas, Montana and Washington state |
| March 2 | Kansas passes 1st U.S. antitrust |
| March 4 | Benjamin Harrison inaugurated as 23rd president |
| March 9 | Battle at Gallabat (Metema): Mahdi's beat Abyssinian emperor John IV |
| March 9 | Kansas passes 1st general antitrust law in U.S. |
| March 12 | Battle at Metema (Gallabad): Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV, defeated |
| March 12 | Start of South Africa's 1st Test, vs. England, Port Elizabeth |
| March 14 | August Strindberg's "Froken Julie," premieres in Copenhagen |
| March 15 | 6 U.S. and German warships perish in harbor of Apia Samoa, 200 die |
| March 23 | President Harrison opens Oklahoma for white colonization |
| March 25 | 1st Test Cricket match played at Newlands, Cape Town vs. England |
| March 26 | Bernard Tancred carries bat for 26* out of 47! South Africa vs. England |
| March 26 | Johnny Briggs took 15-26 (7-17 and 8-11) vs. South Africa at Newlands |
| March 26 | South Africa all out 47, then follow-on all out 43 vs. England |
| March 30 | John T. Reid opens 1st U.S. golf course in Yonkers, New York |
| March 31 | 300m Eiffel Tower officially opens, commemorates French Revolution |
| April 1 | 1st dishwashing machine marketed in Chicago |
| April 3 | Savings Bank of Order of True Reformers opens in Richmond, Virginia |
| April 5 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Copper Beeches" |
| April 6 | George Eastman places Kodak Camera on sale for 1st time |
| April 22 | Oklahoma land rush officially started; some were "sooner" |
| April 30 | 1st U.S. national holiday, on centennial of Washington's inauguration |
| April 30 | George Washington Bridge linking New York City and New Jersey opens |
| May 1 | 1st International Workers Day, according to 2nd International |
| May 1 | Bayer introduces aspirin in powder form (Germany) |
| May 2 | Abyssinian emperor Menelik II/Italy signs Treaty of Wichale |
| May 6 | Universal Exposition opens in Paris, Eiffel Tower completed |
| May 9 | 15th Kentucky Derby: Thomas Kiley aboard Spokane wins in 2:34 |
| May 10 | 17th Preakness: W Anderson aboard Buddhist wins in 2:17 |
| May 18 | Jules Massenets opera "Esclarmonde," premieres in Paris |
| May 29 | August Strindberg's "Hemsoborna," premieres in Copenhagen |
| May 30 | Brassier invented |
| May 31 | Johnstown Flood; 2,209 die in Pennsylvania |
| June 6 | Great Fire in Seattle destroys 25 downtown blocks |
| June 8 | Start of Sherlock Holmes Adventure "Boscombe Valley Mystery" |
| June 12 | Single tornado kills 119, injures 146, New Richmond, Wisconsin |
| June 13 | 2' of snow accumulates in Rawlins Wyoming |
| June 13 | 23rd Belmont: W Hayward aboard Eric wins in 2:47 |
| June 19 | Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Man with the Twisted Lip" |
| June 22 | Louisville Colonels set ML baseball record with 26th consecutive loss |
| July 1 | Frederick Douglass named Minister to Haiti |
| July 1 | U.S. Mint at Carson City, Nevada reopens |
| July 4 | Washington state constitutional convention holds 1st meeting |
| July 8 | John L. Sullivan KOs Jake Kilrain in 75 rounds (last bare-knuckle bout) |
| July 8 | Wall Street Journal begins publishing |
| July 11 | Tijuana in Mexico becomes a city |
| July 30 | Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Naval Treaty" |
| August 10 | Dan Rylands patents screw cap |
| August 13 | William Gray patents coin-operated telephone |
| August 23 | 1st ship-to-shore wireless message received in U.S. (SF) |
| August 29 | 1st American International pro lawn tennis contest (Newport RI) |
| August 31 | Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Cardboard Box" |
| September 6 | King Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda resigns |
| September 7 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Engineer's Thumb" |
| September 11 | Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Crooked Man" |
| September 24 | Alexander Dey patents dial time recorder |
| September 28 | Carlos I crowned King of Portugal (1889-1908) |
| October 1 | Soccer team HFC Haarlem forms |
| October 1 | Washington voters adopt state constitution in referendum |
| October 2 | 1st Pan American conference (Washington D.C.) |
| October 6 | Moulin Rogue opens in Paris |
| October 6 | Thomas Edison shows his 1st motion picture |
| October 15 | Amsterdam Central Station officially opens |
| October 18 | 1st all New York City World Series New York Giants (NL) play Brooklyn (AA) |
| October 20 | Gerhart Hauptmann's "Vor Sonnenaufgang," premieres in Berlin |
| October 24 | Softball rules adopted by Mid Winter Indoor Baseball League |
| October 29 | New York Giants (NL) beat Brooklyn (AA) in world series 6 games to 3 |
| October 29 | Queen Victoria grants Cecil Rhodes rights to Zambezia |
| October 29 | Stanley Park dedicated in Vancouver, BC |
| November 1 | North and South Dakota entered the union as the 39th and 40th states |
| November 2 | North Dakota becomes 39th and South Dakota becomes 40th state |
| November 3 | Chaplain Ariens founds 1st roman catholic workers group |
| November 4 | Players League begins, declaring independence from baseball's NL |
| November 8 | Montana admitted as 41st state |
| November 11 | Washington admitted as 42nd state |
| November 14 | New York World reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) began her attempt to surpass fictitious journey of Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg by traveling around world in less than 80 days She succeeded, by finishing trip following January in 72 days, 6 |
| November 14 | New York World's Nellie Bly (Liz Cochrane) begins 72 day world trip |
| November 15 | Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, deposed; republic proclaimed |
| November 17 | Union Pacific begins daily through service, Chicago-Portland and SF |
| November 18 | Oahu Railway begins public service in Hawaii |
| November 20 | Gustav Mahlers 1st Symphony |
| November 23 | Debut of 1st jukebox (Palais Royale Saloon, San Francisco) |
| November 27 | 1st permit issued to drive a car through Central Park (Curtis P Brady) |
| November 27 | Hermann Sudermann's "Ehre," premieres in Berlin |
| December 4 | Stanley's expedition reaches Bagamoyo in Indian Ocean |
| December 7 | Gilbert and Sullivans "Gondoliers," premieres in London |
| December 9 | President Harrison visits opening of Chicago Auditorium |
| December 13 | Belgium rules on women/child labor law |
| December 14 | American Academy of Political and Social Science organized, Philadelphia |
| December 19 | Bishop Museum founded in Hawaii |
| December 24 | Daniel Stover and William Hance patent bicycle with back pedal brake |
