| January 1 | 1st football game between black colleges-Atlanta U 10, Tuskegee 0 |
| January 1 | Brooklyn merges with New York to form present City of New York |
| January 8 | Michael Eagan wins 1st U.S. national amateur handball championship |
| January 10 | Henrik Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman," premieres in Helsingfors |
| January 10 | Vincent d'Indy's "Istar" premieres in Amsterdam and Brussels |
| January 11 | M H Cannon becomes 1st woman state senator in U.S. (Utah) |
| January 14 | 6,960-m (22,834') Cerro Aconcagua (Argentina) 1st climbed |
| January 16 | John Dewey's essay "My Pedagogic Creed" appears in School Journal |
| January 23 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Abbey Grange" |
| January 26 | Battle at Bida Gold Coast: British troops beat Nupe's army |
| January 27 | British troops occupy Bida Gold Coast (Ghana) |
| February 5 | Marcel Proust meets Jean Lorrain in a pistol duel |
| February 10 | N.Y. Times begins using slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print" |
| February 11 | White Rose Mission opens on East 97th Street, New York City |
| February 17 | National Organization of Mothers forms (Parent Teacher Association) |
| March 4 | William McKinley inaugurated as 25th president of US |
| March 9 | Cleveland Spiders sign Louis Sockalexis, full-blooded Penobscot |
| March 9 | Indian, fans start calling the team Indians (in 1915 becomes official) |
| March 9 | Premiere of (parts of) Gustav Mahler's 3rd Symphony (Berlin) |
| March 12 | Vincent d'Indy's opera "Fervaal," premieres in Brussel |
| March 15 | 1st indoor fly casting tournament opens, at Madison Square Garden |
| March 16 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of The Devil's Foot" |
| March 17 | After Bob Fitzsimmons KOs much larger Jim Corbett to win world HW championship he says, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall" |
| March 19 | Yale defeated Penn, 30-10 in 1st major college basketball game |
| March 20 | 1st known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10 |
| March 20 | 1st U.S. orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary (RIETS) incorporates in New York |
| March 20 | France signs treaty with emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia |
| March 29 | Japan adopts Gold Standard |
| April 19 | 1st American marathon ran, John J McDermott wins in 2:55:10 (Boston) |
| April 19 | 1st Boston Marathon won by John McDermott of New York in 2:55:10 |
| April 19 | 1st performance of Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande" |
| April 22 | New York City Jewish newspaper "Forward" begins publishing (still active) |
| April 24 | 1st reporter, William Price (Washington Star), assigned to White House |
| April 27 | Grant's Tomb (famed of song and legend) dedicated |
| May 4 | 23rd Kentucky Derby: Buttons Garner aboard Typhoon II wins in 2:12 |
| May 4 | Fire in Paris bazaar at Rue Jean Goujon kills 200 |
| May 8 | 22nd Preakness: T Thorpe aboard Paul Kauvar wins in 1:51 |
| May 11 | Washington Senator catcher Charlie Farrell throws out 8 attempted stealers |
| May 12 | 1800-1900 year old fossil of "girl of Yde" found in Drente, Netherlands |
| May 12 | Battle at Thessalie: Turkish army beats Greece |
| May 14 | Great Britain signs treaty with emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia |
| May 18 | Irish Music Festival 1st held (Dublin) |
| May 18 | New York Giant William Joyce sets record of 4 triples in 1 game |
| May 18 | Paul Dukas "L'Apprenti Sorcier Pruimtabak on the Market," premieres |
| May 21 | Yerkes Observatory 40" (1m) refractor used for 1st time |
| May 29 | 31st Belmont: J Scherrer aboard Scottish Cheiftain wins in 2:23 |
| June 12 | Possibly most severe quake in history strikes Assam India, shock waves felt over an area size of Europe (negligible death toll) |
| June 15 | Liberals/social-democrats win Dutch 2nd Parliamentary election |
| June 17 | William Frank Powell, New Jersey educator, named minister to Haiti |
| June 24 | Hail injures 26 in Topeka, Kansas |
| June 28 | Marquis C de Bonchamps' expedition reaches Gore Ethiopia |
| June 29 | Chicago beats Louisville 36-7 (baseball) |
| July 1 | Bronx acquires Hutton Square |
| July 8 | Harbor Hospital formally opens |
| July 11 | Solomon Andree leaves Spitsbergen by balloon towards North Pole |
| July 17 | 1st ship arrives in Seattle carrying gold from Yukon |
| July 18 | 3rd U.S. Golf Open: James Foulis wins |
| July 18 | Cap Anson, is 1st to get 3,000 hits |
| July 21 | Tate Gallery opens in England |
| July 26 | 37.5 cm rainfall at Jewell, Maryland (state record) |
| July 27 | 14.75" (37.5 cm) of rainfall, Jewell, Maryland (state 24-hhourr record) |
| July 27 | Dutch government of Pierson/Goeman Borgesius resigns |
| August 3 | John McNally's musical "Good Mr. Best," premieres in New York City |
| August 4 | Henry A. Rucker appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for Georgia |
| August 10 | Automobile Club of Great Britain established (now: Royal Auto Club) |
| August 17 | W B Purvis patents electric railway switch |
| August 19 | 1st electric taxi's drive in London |
| August 21 | Oldsmobile begins operation as a General Motors Corp division |
| August 27 | Roger Bresnahan debuts as Washington Senator pitcher (later HOF catcher) |
| August 31 | General Kitchener occupies Berber, North of Khartoum |
| September 7 | George Davis (Giants) home run off Sport McAllister (Spiders) in DH |
| September 10 | Police shoot at striking mine workers in Penns, kills 20 |
| September 17 | 3rd U.S. Golf Open: Joe Lloyd shoots a 162 at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois |
| September 18 | Gustave Kecker/Hugh Martin's musical "Belle of New York City," premieres in New York City |
| September 21 | New York Sun runs famous "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus," editorial |
| September 23 | 1st frontier days rodeo celebration (Cheyene Wyoming) |
| September 25 | 1st British bus service opens |
| October 4 | George Bernard Shaw's "Devil's Disciple," premieres in New York City |
| October 5 | Solomon Andrees baloon/polar expedition reaches White Island |
| October 8 | Emperor Karl Joseph I named Gustav Mahler director of Opera |
| October 15 | Aaron/Samuel Bloch carry 1st Mail Pouch |
| October 15 | King Leopold II takes Belgian crown |
| October 21 | Yerkes Observatory of University of Chicago is dedicated |
| October 22 | World's 1st car dealer opens in London |
| November 6 | Peter Pan opens in New York at Empire Theater |
| November 23 | Andrew J Beard invents "jerry coupler," to connect railroad cars |
| November 23 | Pencil sharpener patented by J L Love |
| November 24 | Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union forms in Kingston |
| November 25 | Spain grants Puerto Rico autonomy |
| November 29 | 1st motorcycle race (Surrey England) |
| December 12 | Anti-Jewish violence breaks out in Bucharest Romania |
| December 12 | Rudolph Dirks' 1st Katzenjammer cartoon strip in New York Journal |
| December 16 | 1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated |
| December 27 | Stanley Cup: Montreal Victorias beat Ottawa Capitals, 15-2 |
| December 28 | Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac," premieres in Paris |
| December 30 | Province of Zululand annexed to Natal colony |
| December 31 | Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into New York City (1/1/1898) |
