Explore the major historical events, famous births, and notable deaths that occurred in the year 1869. This year saw 79 significant events. 8 notable figures were born. 1 notable figure passed away.
US postage stamps featuring scenes are issued for the first time, depicting a post horse and rider, a locomotive, a shield, an eagle, and a ship, the Adriatic
Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table of the elements to the Russian Chemical Society
The Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 were baseball's first all-professional team, with ten salaried players.
Harriet Tubman (1822–1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist. Tubman escaped slavery and rescued approximately 70 enslaved people, including members of her family and friends.
The Hudson's Bay Company (abbreviated HBC and colloquially Hudson's Bay) is a Canadian holding company of department stores and commercial property.
Cincinnati Red Stockings play their first official baseball game, defeating the Great Western Base Ball Club 45-9
The Golden Spike is driven, completing the first US Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, connecting the Central Pacific Railroad with the Union Pacific
The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
French "Carmen" composer Georges Bizet (30) weds Genevieve Halevy (20) in Paris, until his death in 1875
World's first oil tanker, "The Charles," departs the United States for Europe, carrying 7,000 barrels of oil
German airship inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin (31) weds Isabella Freiin von Wolff from the house of Alt-Schwanenburg, in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, until his death in1917
Business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt marries second wife and cousin Frank Armstrong Crawford in London, Ontario
Heinz food producer Henry John Heinz marries Sarah Sloan Young
Golf's first recorded hole-in-one is scored by Tom Morris at Prestwick's 8th hole in Scotland
Das Rheingold, WWV 86A, is the first of the four epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (English: The Ring of the Nibelung).
On September 24, 1869, a gold panic broke out in the United States, triggering a financial crisis.
Sardinia king Victor Emmanuel II (49) weds his mistress Rosa Vercellana (36) in Italy
Suez Canal in Egypt opens, linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas
Clipper Cutty Sark is launched in Dumbarton, Scotland, one of the last clippers ever built and the only one still surviving - now serving as a museum ship in Greenwich, England [1]
Elegant California Theater opens in San Francisco
American industrialist James Oliver invents removable tempered steel plow blade
Booth Theater at 23rd & 6th opens in NYC (Romeo & Juliet)
World's largest alluvial gold nugget, the Welcome Stranger, is found by John Deason and Richard Oates (weighing 97.14 kg) in Moliagul, Australia
Harper's Weekly publishes the first picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers
Assay offices are institutions set up to assay (test the purity of) precious metals. This is often done to protect consumers from buying fake items. Upon successful completion of an assay (i.e.
Tennessee (locally ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States.
Louisiana governor signs public accommodations law
The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government or any state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color,...
John Menard is 1st African American to make a speech in the US Congress
The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States.
The West first learns of the Giant Panda via French missionary Armand David who receives a skin from a hunter
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK; ), sometimes called the Klan, is an American Protestant-led white supremacist and far-right hate group.
Defeat of Maori Ngāti Ruanui leader Riwha Titokowaru in Taranaki, New Zealand by British forces
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States.
The Ku Klux Klan, sometimes called the Klan, is an American Protestant-led white supremacist and far-right hate group.
Ebenezer Bassett, 1st African American diplomat, begins service as Minister to Haiti
1st international cricket match, held in San Francisco, won by California
1st professional baseball exhibition game - Cincinnati Red Stockings 24, Cincinnati amateurs 15
Hawaiian YMCA organized
The Folies Bergère is a cabaret music hall in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret.
Robert Tanner Freeman is 1st African American to graduate from Harvard Dental School
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodists with its original campus in Newbury, Vermont.
Cleveland's Forest City play their 1st baseball game, against the Cincinnati Red Stockings
Ives W. McGaffey of Chicago patents the first vacuum cleaner, calling it a "sweeping machine"
'Agnes' arrives in New Orleans with 1st ever shipment of frozen beef
Mike McCoole (US) defeats Tom Allen (England) in bare-knuckle bout
Amsterdam typographer strike
Dutch newspaper stamp tax repealed
Black candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Dr J. H. Harris defeated
Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès was a French chemist and inventor who is famous for his invention of margarine.
Children's Hospital Boston is founded by Dr. Francis Henry Brown and other Harvard Medical School graduates, as a 20-bed facility in the South End of Boston, Massachusetts
O. B. Brown patents a moving picture projector
Self-proclaimed Emperor Joshua Abraham Norton of the USA issues an edict abolishing the Democratic and Republican parties
The Meiji government in Japan establishes six new ministries, including one for Shinto
First carload of rail freight (boots and shoes) arrives in San Francisco from Boston after a 16-day trip
American inventor Cornelius Swarthout patents a stovetop waffle iron
The first international boat race is held on the River Thames; Oxford beats Harvard
The San Francisco and Oakland Railroad (SF&O) was built in 1862 to provide ferry-train service from a San Francisco ferry terminal connecting with railroad service through Oakland to San Antonio.
Baptist minister Izumi Yosuke supposedly invents the rickshaw in Yokohama, Japan
Jay Gould (May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould business dynasty.
First postcards are issued in Vienna, Austria
A strong hurricane known as the Saxby Gale devastates the Bay of Fundy region in Maritime Canada. Incredibly, British naval officer Stephen Martin Saxby predicts the storm 10 months earlier in December 1868 through astronomy.
First shipment of fresh oysters comes overland from Baltimore
1st American steeplechase horserace at Westchester, NY
Deli Me forms T B V tobacco in Sumatra
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
In the first US college football game, players use their hands, feet, heads, or sides to advance the ball, but they cannot run with it; Rutgers College beats New Jersey (now Princeton) 6-4
Free postal delivery formally inaugurated
Englishman James Moore wins the first bicycle race, racing 13 km from Paris to Rouen, France
Hudson Bay Company signs deed of transfer of Prince Rupert's Land (3.9 million sq. km) to the British Crown, who then cedes it to Canada for £300,000, or $1.5 million (effective 1870) [1]
Women's suffrage, or the right of women to vote, was established in the United States over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, first in various states and localities, then...
Colored National Labor Union, 1st Black labor convention meets at Union League Hall in Washington, D.C.
The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding...
The Knights of Labor (K of L), officially the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was the largest American labor movement of the 19th century, claiming for a time nearly one million...
Kappa Sigma (ΚΣ), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869.
Canada's Hamilton Football Club plays its 1st game
Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed.
The Knights of Labor (K of L), officially the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was the largest American labor movement of the 19th century, claiming for a time nearly one million...
Grigori Rasputin mystic, known for russian mystic, was born on 1869-01-21. Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (21 January [O.S. 9 January] 1869 – 30 December [O.S.
Neville Chamberlain is born
Albert Kahn, American architect, known for american architect, was born on 1869-03-21.
Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino revolutionary leader, known for filipino revolutionary leader, was born on 1869-03-22.
Felix Salten, Austrian austro-hungarian jewish author and literary critic, known for austro-hungarian jewish author and literary critic, was born on 1869-09-06.
Typhoid Mary is born
Victor Emmanuel III is born
Henri Matisse, French artist, known for french artist, was born on 1869-12-31. Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original…
Franklin Pierce dies
US postage stamps featuring scenes are issued for the first time, depicting a post horse and rider, a locomotive, a shield, an eagle, and a ship, the Adriatic
Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table of the elements to the Russian Chemical Society
The Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 were baseball's first all-professional team, with ten salaried players.
Harriet Tubman (1822–1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist. Tubman escaped slavery and rescued approximately 70 enslaved people, including members of her family and friends.
The Hudson's Bay Company (abbreviated HBC and colloquially Hudson's Bay) is a Canadian holding company of department stores and commercial property.
Cincinnati Red Stockings play their first official baseball game, defeating the Great Western Base Ball Club 45-9
The Golden Spike is driven, completing the first US Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, connecting the Central Pacific Railroad with the Union Pacific
The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
French "Carmen" composer Georges Bizet (30) weds Genevieve Halevy (20) in Paris, until his death in 1875
World's first oil tanker, "The Charles," departs the United States for Europe, carrying 7,000 barrels of oil
German airship inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin (31) weds Isabella Freiin von Wolff from the house of Alt-Schwanenburg, in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, until his death in1917
Business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt marries second wife and cousin Frank Armstrong Crawford in London, Ontario
Heinz food producer Henry John Heinz marries Sarah Sloan Young
Golf's first recorded hole-in-one is scored by Tom Morris at Prestwick's 8th hole in Scotland
Das Rheingold, WWV 86A, is the first of the four epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (English: The Ring of the Nibelung).
On September 24, 1869, a gold panic broke out in the United States, triggering a financial crisis.
Sardinia king Victor Emmanuel II (49) weds his mistress Rosa Vercellana (36) in Italy
Suez Canal in Egypt opens, linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas
Clipper Cutty Sark is launched in Dumbarton, Scotland, one of the last clippers ever built and the only one still surviving - now serving as a museum ship in Greenwich, England [1]
Elegant California Theater opens in San Francisco
American industrialist James Oliver invents removable tempered steel plow blade
Booth Theater at 23rd & 6th opens in NYC (Romeo & Juliet)
World's largest alluvial gold nugget, the Welcome Stranger, is found by John Deason and Richard Oates (weighing 97.14 kg) in Moliagul, Australia
Harper's Weekly publishes the first picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers
Assay offices are institutions set up to assay (test the purity of) precious metals. This is often done to protect consumers from buying fake items. Upon successful completion of an assay (i.e.
Tennessee (locally ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States.
Louisiana governor signs public accommodations law
The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government or any state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color,...
John Menard is 1st African American to make a speech in the US Congress
The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States.
The West first learns of the Giant Panda via French missionary Armand David who receives a skin from a hunter
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK; ), sometimes called the Klan, is an American Protestant-led white supremacist and far-right hate group.
Defeat of Maori Ngāti Ruanui leader Riwha Titokowaru in Taranaki, New Zealand by British forces
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States.
The Ku Klux Klan, sometimes called the Klan, is an American Protestant-led white supremacist and far-right hate group.
Ebenezer Bassett, 1st African American diplomat, begins service as Minister to Haiti
1st international cricket match, held in San Francisco, won by California
1st professional baseball exhibition game - Cincinnati Red Stockings 24, Cincinnati amateurs 15
Hawaiian YMCA organized
The Folies Bergère is a cabaret music hall in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret.
Robert Tanner Freeman is 1st African American to graduate from Harvard Dental School
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodists with its original campus in Newbury, Vermont.
Cleveland's Forest City play their 1st baseball game, against the Cincinnati Red Stockings
Ives W. McGaffey of Chicago patents the first vacuum cleaner, calling it a "sweeping machine"
'Agnes' arrives in New Orleans with 1st ever shipment of frozen beef
Mike McCoole (US) defeats Tom Allen (England) in bare-knuckle bout
Amsterdam typographer strike
Dutch newspaper stamp tax repealed
Black candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Dr J. H. Harris defeated
Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès was a French chemist and inventor who is famous for his invention of margarine.
Children's Hospital Boston is founded by Dr. Francis Henry Brown and other Harvard Medical School graduates, as a 20-bed facility in the South End of Boston, Massachusetts
O. B. Brown patents a moving picture projector
Self-proclaimed Emperor Joshua Abraham Norton of the USA issues an edict abolishing the Democratic and Republican parties
The Meiji government in Japan establishes six new ministries, including one for Shinto
First carload of rail freight (boots and shoes) arrives in San Francisco from Boston after a 16-day trip
American inventor Cornelius Swarthout patents a stovetop waffle iron
The first international boat race is held on the River Thames; Oxford beats Harvard
The San Francisco and Oakland Railroad (SF&O) was built in 1862 to provide ferry-train service from a San Francisco ferry terminal connecting with railroad service through Oakland to San Antonio.
Baptist minister Izumi Yosuke supposedly invents the rickshaw in Yokohama, Japan
Jay Gould (May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould business dynasty.
First postcards are issued in Vienna, Austria
A strong hurricane known as the Saxby Gale devastates the Bay of Fundy region in Maritime Canada. Incredibly, British naval officer Stephen Martin Saxby predicts the storm 10 months earlier in December 1868 through astronomy.
First shipment of fresh oysters comes overland from Baltimore
1st American steeplechase horserace at Westchester, NY
Deli Me forms T B V tobacco in Sumatra
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
In the first US college football game, players use their hands, feet, heads, or sides to advance the ball, but they cannot run with it; Rutgers College beats New Jersey (now Princeton) 6-4
Free postal delivery formally inaugurated
Englishman James Moore wins the first bicycle race, racing 13 km from Paris to Rouen, France
Hudson Bay Company signs deed of transfer of Prince Rupert's Land (3.9 million sq. km) to the British Crown, who then cedes it to Canada for £300,000, or $1.5 million (effective 1870) [1]
Women's suffrage, or the right of women to vote, was established in the United States over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, first in various states and localities, then...
Colored National Labor Union, 1st Black labor convention meets at Union League Hall in Washington, D.C.
The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding...
The Knights of Labor (K of L), officially the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was the largest American labor movement of the 19th century, claiming for a time nearly one million...
Kappa Sigma (ΚΣ), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869.
Canada's Hamilton Football Club plays its 1st game
Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed.
The Knights of Labor (K of L), officially the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was the largest American labor movement of the 19th century, claiming for a time nearly one million...
Grigori Rasputin mystic, known for russian mystic, was born on 1869-01-21. Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (21 January [O.S. 9 January] 1869 – 30 December [O.S.
Neville Chamberlain is born
Albert Kahn, American architect, known for american architect, was born on 1869-03-21.
Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino revolutionary leader, known for filipino revolutionary leader, was born on 1869-03-22.
Felix Salten, Austrian austro-hungarian jewish author and literary critic, known for austro-hungarian jewish author and literary critic, was born on 1869-09-06.
Typhoid Mary is born
Victor Emmanuel III is born
Henri Matisse, French artist, known for french artist, was born on 1869-12-31. Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original…