| January 1 | 1st U.S. college extension courses for credit, University of Chicago |
| January 1 | Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar |
| January 2 | 1st U.S. commemoratives and 1st U.S. stamp to picture a woman issued |
| January 4 | U.S. President Cleveland grants amnesty to Mormon polygamy |
| January 6 | Great Northern Railway connects Seattle with east coast |
| January 7 | Hermann Sudermanns "Heimat," premieres in Berlin |
| January 10 | Richard Drigo's ballet "Magic Flute" premieres, St. Petersburg |
| January 11 | Jaap Eden skates world record 1500m (2:35) |
| January 13 | British Independent Labor Party forms (Keir Hardie as its leader) |
| January 17 | -17 degrees F (-27 degrees C), Millsboro, Delaware (state record) |
| January 17 | Queen Liliuokalani deposed, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic |
| January 28 | Edward Mcdowell's "Hamlet and Ophelia," premieres in Boston |
| January 31 | "Westminster Gazette" begins publishing |
| February 1 | Puccini's Opera "Manon Lescaut," premieres in Turin |
| February 1 | Thomas Edison complete's worlds 1st movie studio (West Orange NJ) |
| February 2 | 1st movie close-up (of a sneeze), Edison studio, West Orange, NJ |
| February 5 | Alfred Naess skates world record 500m (49.4 sec) |
| February 9 | Canal builder De Lesseps and others sentenced to prison for fraud |
| February 9 | Verdi's opera "Falstaff" premieres in Milan |
| February 26 | 2 Clydesdale horses set record by pulling 48 tons on a sledge, Michigan |
| February 26 | Einar Halvorsen skates world record 500m (48 sec) |
| February 28 | Edward Acheson, Penn, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum" |
| March 1 | Diplomatic Appropriation Act, authorizes the U.S. rank of ambassador |
| March 2 | 1st federal railroad legislation passed; required safety features |
| March 3 | Columbian Isabella silver quarter authorized |
| March 3 | Congress authorizes 1st federal road agency, in Department of Agriculture |
| March 4 | Francis Dhanis' army attacksthe Lualaba, occupies Nyangwe |
| March 4 | Grover Cleveland (D) inaugrated as 24th U.S. president (2nd term) |
| March 9 | Congo cannibals killed 1000s of Arabs |
| March 10 | Ivory Coast becomes a French colony |
| March 10 | New Mexico State University cancels it's 1st graduation ceremony, its only graduate Sam Steele was robbed and killed the night before |
| March 30 | Thomas F. Bayard becomes 1st U.S. ambassador in Great Britain |
| April 3 | 1st NSW vs. Queensland F-C game, at Brisbane Exhibition Ground |
| April 5 | Cleveland passes Park Act (forerunner of Metroparks) |
| April 6 | Andy Bowen and Jack Burke box 7 hours 19 minutes to no decision (111 rounds) |
| April 6 | Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah dedicated |
| April 8 | The Critic reports that ice cream soda is our national drink |
| April 12 | Battle at Hoornkrans Southwest-Africa: German Schutztruppen chases away Hottentotten under Hendrik Witbooi |
| April 22 | Francis Dhanis army occupies Kasongo |
| April 22 | Paul Kruger elected president of Transvaal for 3rd time |
| April 26 | 1st Cleveland Board of Park Commissioners forms |
| May 1 | World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago |
| May 4 | Cowboy Bob Pickett invents bulldogging |
| May 5 | Panic of 1893: Great crash on New York Stock Exchange |
| May 10 | 19th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Kunze aboard Lookout wins in 2:39 |
| May 10 | Imperial Institute in London opens |
| May 11 | Henri Desgrange establishes 1st bicycle-world record (35.325 km) |
| May 19 | Heavy rain wash "quick clay" into a deep valley, kills 111 (Norway) |
| May 22 | Montreal Athletic Association beat Ottawa Generals 2-1, in 1st Cup Game |
| May 27 | Audath Yisroel forms at Kattowitz (Katowice) Poland |
| June 1 | Opera "Falstaff" is produced (Berlin) |
| June 10 | 27th Belmont: Willie Simms aboard Commanche wins in 1:53 |
| June 16 | R. W. Rueckheim invents Cracker Jack |
| June 19 | Lizzie Bordon acquitted |
| June 20 | Lizzie Borden acquitted in murder of parents in New Bedford Mass |
| June 21 | 1st Ferris wheel premieres at Chicago's Columbian Exposition |
| June 22 | British fleet under Vice-Admiral George Tryon leaves Beirut |
| June 27 | Great stock crash on New York stock exchange |
| June 30 | Excelsior diamond (blue-white 995 carats) discovered |
| July 1 | San Francisco Bay City Club opens 1st U.S. bicycle race track, made of wood |
| July 6 | British King George V marries princess Victoria of Teck (Queen Mary) |
| July 9 | Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs 1st successful open heart surgery without anesthesia |
| July 15 | Commodore Perry arrives in Japan |
| July 17 | Arthur Shrewsbury is 1st to score 1,000 runs in Test Cricket |
| July 18 | Harry Graham scores 107 on cricket debut Australia vs. England, Lord's |
| July 22 | Katharine Lee Bates writes "America the Beautiful," in Colorado |
| July 24 | For only time in history of U.S. Tennis championships, an event is held off the Eastern seaboard. Men's double championship in Chicago |
| July 31 | Henry Perky patents shredded wheat |
| August 1 | Henry Perky and William Ford patent shredded wheat |
| August 7 | 53rd Congress (1893-95) convenes |
| August 9 | 1st U.S. bowling magazine, Gut Holz, published in New York |
| August 10 | Chinese deported from San Francisco under Exclusion Act |
| August 14 | France issues 1st driving licenses, included required test |
| August 15 | U.S. no longer allowed exclusive rights in Bering Sea |
| August 20 | Shechita (ritual slaughtering) prohibited in Switzerland |
| August 24 | Tornado destroys coast of Savannah and Charleston, about 1000 die |
| August 30 | 13rd U.S. Mens Tennis: Robert D Wrenn beats Fred H Hovey (64 36 64 64) |
| September 4 | English author Beatrix Potter 1st tells the story of Peter Rabbit |
| September 11 | Bronx Gas and Electric Company opens on Frisby and Tremont Ave |
| September 11 | Shaku Soen is 1st Zen teacher to visit the West (Chicago) |
| September 16 | Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma opens white settlement homesteaders |
| September 19 | New Zealand is 1st country to grant all its women the right to vote |
| September 21 | Frank Duryea drives 1st U.S. made gas propelled vehicle (car) |
| September 22 | 1st auto built in U.S. (by Duryea brothers) runs in Springfield |
| October 1 | 3rd worst hurricane in U.S. history kills 1,800 (Mississippi) |
| October 6 | Nabisco Foods invents Cream of Wheat |
| October 13 | Vigilant (U.S.) beats Valkyrie II (England) in 9th America's Cup |
| October 14 | George Edwardes "Gaiety Girl" premieres in London |
| October 14 | Harry Wright suggests umps keep ball-strike count a secret |
| October 23 | C Dazey's "In Old Kentucky" premieres in New York City (27 seasons) |
| October 25 | Battle of Shangani, Matabeleland: Dr. Jameson beats Ndebeles |
| October 27 | Hurricane hits coast between Savannah Georgia and Charleston SC |
| October 28 | Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted 1st performance of "Symphony Number Six in B minor, "Pathetique" |
| October 30 | Senate approves repealing Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 |
| November 4 | Dr. Jamesons Legertje occupies Bulawayo Matabeleland |
| November 7 | State Colorado accept female suffrage |
| November 14 | Gerhart Hauptmanns "Hanneles Himmelfahrt," premieres in Berlin |
| November 18 | Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Providentissimus Deus |
| November 19 | 1st newspaper color supplement (New York World) |
| December 3 | Ndebeles destroy Rhodesia |
| December 5 | 1st electric car (built in Toronto) could go 15 miles between charges |
| December 11 | 11 fishing ships wash up at Wadden Sea, 22 killed |
| December 15 | Dvoraks "From the New World" premieres at Carnegie Hall New York City |
| December 16 | Anton Dvorak's "New World Symphony" premieres |
| December 17 | Russia ratifies Duple Alliance with France |
| December 20 | 1st state anti-lynching statue approved, in Georgia |
| December 23 | Opera "Hansel und Gretel" is produced (Weimar) |
| December 24 | Henry Ford completes his 1st useful gas motor |
| December 28 | French lieutenant Boiteux annexes Tumbuktu |
| December 30 | Russia signs military accord with France |
