1884 in the United States

1884 in the United States
Years:	1881 1882 1883 – 1884 – 1885 1886 1887
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38 stars (1877–90)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1865–1918)

Events from the year 1884 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Chester A. Arthur (R-New York)
• Vice President: vacant
• Chief Justice: Morrison Waite (Ohio)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: John G. Carlisle (D-Kentucky)
• Congress: 48th

Events

December 6: Washington Monument completed.

• May 1 – The eight-hour workday is first proclaimed by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. May 1, called May Day or Labour Day, is now a holiday recognized in almost every industrialized country.
• June 13 – LaMarcus Adna Thompson opens the "Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway" at Coney Island, New York City.
• August 5 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
• August 10 – An earthquake measuring 5.5 M_fa (based on the felt area) affected a very large portion of the eastern United States. The shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). Chimneys were toppled in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Property damage was severe in Jamaica and Amityville in New York.
• September 5 – Staten Island Academy is founded.
• October – International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.
• October 6 – The United States Naval War College is established in Newport, Rhode Island.
• November 4 – United States presidential election, 1884: Democratic Governor of New York Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.
• December 1 – American Old West: Near Frisco, New Mexico, deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarthy (the cowboys were terrorizing the area's Hispanos and Baca was working against them).
• December 6 – The Washington Monument is completed.
• December 16 – The World Cotton Centennial World's Fair opens in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Undated

• Mark Twain writes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• Helen Hunt Jackson completes and publishes Ramona.
• The water hyacinth is introduced in the U.S. and quickly becomes an invasive species.
• In the “rain year” from July 1883 to June 1884, Los Angeles and San Diego receive their heaviest rainfall since instrumental records began, with Los Angeles receiving 38.18 inches (969.8 mm) and San Diego 25.97 inches (659.6 mm).^[1]
• American Historical Association established.

Ongoing

• Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896)
• Depression of 1882–85 (1882–1885)

Births

• January 1 – Edwin C. Johnson, United States Senator from Colorado from 1955 till 1957. (died 1970)
• March 11 – Sheridan Downey, United States Senator from California from 1939 till 1950. (died 1961)
• March 22 – Arthur H. Vandenberg, United States Senator from Michigan from 1928 till 1951. (died 1951)
• March 31 – James P. Pope, United States Senator from Idaho from 1933 till 1939. (died 1966)
• April 1 – George A. Wilson, United States Senator from Iowa from 1943 till 1949. (died 1953)
• May 8 – Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States from 1945 till 1953, 34th Vice President of the United States from January till April 1945. (died 1972)
• June 21 – Garrett L. Withers, United States Senator from Kentucky from 1949 till 1950. (died 1953)
• October 9 – Martin Johnson, adventurer and filmmaker (died 1937)
• October 11 – Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (died 1962)

Deaths

• February 14
  • Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, first wife of Theodore Roosevelt (born 1861)
  • Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, mother of Theodore Roosevelt (botn 1835)
• May 3 – Truman Smith, United States Senator from Connecticut from 1849 till 1854. (born 1791)
• May 6 – Judah P. Benjamin, United States Senator from Louisiana from 1853 till 1861, 1st Confederate States Attorney General, 2nd Confederate States Secretary of War, 3rd Confederate States Secretary of State, died in Paris, France. (born 1811)
• August 23 – LeRoy Pope Walker, 1st Confederate States Secretary of War (born 1817)
• September 2 – Henry B. Anthony, United States Senator from Rhode Island from 1859 till 1884. (born 1815)

External links

• Media related to 1884 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons

References