Explore the major historical events, famous births, and notable deaths that occurred in the year 1889. This year saw 79 significant events. 11 notable figures were born. 1 notable figure passed away.
Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in Mayerling in an apparent suicide pact
Eiffel Tower officially opens for dignitaries and an award ceremony in Paris, France; designed by Gustave Eiffel and built for the Exposition Universelle, at 300 meters high, it holds the record for the tallest man-made structure for 41 years
George Eastman begins selling Kodak flexible roll film for the first time
Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) in Paris opens with the recently completed Eiffel Tower serving as the entrance arch; the lifts in the tower are not ready, so intrepid visitors have to climb 1,710 steps to reach the top
Polish pianist, and politician Ignacy Jan Paderewski (38) weds Polish baroness, social activist, and humanitaran Helena Maria von Rosen (32) in Warsaw, Russian Empire, until her death in 1934
Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years.
John L. Sullivan successfully defends the last officially sanctioned bare-knuckle world heavyweight prizefighting championship when Jake Kilrain's trainer throws in the towel after 75 one-minute rounds near Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Explorer Fridtjof Nansen (27) weds mezzo-soprano singer Eva Nansen (30)
Nintendo Koppai (later Nintendo Company, Limited) is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda
Future Prime Minister of Canada Robert Borden (34) weds Canadian suffragette Laura Bond (27), until his death
Daniel Stover and William Hance patent a bicycle with a backpedal brake
Admissions convention meets in Ellensburg, WA, asks for statehood
Dr Herman Hollerith receives 1st US patent for a mechanical tabulating machine
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa.
Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. known by locals as The Curry.
A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound.
Astronomical Society of Pacific holds 1st meeting in San Francisco
Flood ravages Dutch coast
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production,...
The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Kyūjitai: 大日本帝國憲法; Shinjitai: 大日本帝国憲法, romanized: Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kenpō), known informally as the Meiji Constitution (明治憲法, Meiji Kenpō), was the...
1st train load of fruit (oranges) leaves LA for east
Caesar Franck's "Symphony in D minor" premieres at the Paris Conservatory, with a performance by L'Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire, led by Jules Garcin
US President Cleveland signs bill to admit Dakotas, Montana & Washington state to the union
Kansas passes 1st US antitrust law
US President Harrison announced the government would open the 1.9 million-acre tract of Indian Territory for settlement precisely at noon on April 22
Battle at Gallabat (Metema): Mahdi's beat Abyssinian emperor John IV
Battle at Metema (Gallabad): Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV, defeated
August Strindberg's play "Froken Julie" premieres in Copenhagen
6 US & German warships sunk by a typhoon in Apia harbour, Samoa, 200 die
The Woolwich Ferry is a free vehicle and pedestrian ferry across the River Thames in East London, connecting Woolwich on the south bank with North Woolwich on the north.
This article describes the history of South African cricket from its known beginnings until the end of the First World War in 1918. Test and first-class cricket were both introduced retrospectively...
English cricketer Johnny Briggs takes 15-26 (7-17 & 8-11) at Newlands as South Africa are all out for 47 with Bernard Tancred not out on 26, then follow-on and are again all out for 43
1st dishwashing machine marketed (Chicago)
Savings Bank of Order of True Reformers opens in Richmond, Virginia
A 1.9 million-acre tract of Indian Territory for white colonial settlement in Oklahoma officially starts at 12pm
First US national holiday on the centennial of Washington's inauguration
International Workers' Day, also called Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international...
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is launched in London, England, led by Benjamin Waugh
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.
Johnstown Flood; 2,209 die in Johnston, Pennsylvania when the South Fork Dam, located on the Little Conemaugh River fails
The Canadian Pacific Railway (French: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) (reporting marks CP, CPAA, MILW, SOO), also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a...
Boston Beaneaters MLB pitcher John Clarkson is first to throw an "immaculate inning" (strikes out 3 batters on 9 pitches) in a 4-2 win over Philadelphia Quakers at South End Grounds
The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington, on June 6, 1889.
Armagh is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish.
Two feet of snow accumulates in Rawlins, Wyoming
Louisville Colonels set ML baseball record with 26th consecutive loss
Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George...
Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico.
Dan Rylands patents the screw cap
William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut patents the coin-operated telephone
First ship-to-shore wireless message ("Sherman is sighted") is received in the US from Lightship No. 70 to a coastal receiving station at Cliff House in San Francisco
First American international professional lawn tennis contest in Newport, Rhode Island
German Christine Hardt patents the first modern brassiere
King Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda abdicates
Alexander Dey patents the dial time recorder
First General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter as the distance between two lines on a standard bar made of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice
Dutch soccer club HFC Haarlem is founded, becomes national champions in 1946, goes bankrupt in 2010, and merges with HFC Kennemerland to form the new club Haarlem Kennemerland
The Conferences of American States, commonly referred to as the Pan-American Conferences, were meetings of the International American Nation in Conferences for Regional cooperation in 1889. The...
Moulin Rouge is a cabaret in Paris, on the Boulevard de Clichy, at the Place Blanche, the intersection and end of the Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and...
Barnard College is founded in New York City after Columbia University refuses to admit women
Amsterdam Centraal station is the largest railway station in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands.
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding.
Queen Victoria grants Cecil Rhodes rights to Zambezia
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations.
North Dakota ( də-KOH-tə) is a landlocked U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota and Sioux peoples.
Chaplain Ariëns founds first Roman Catholic Workers group
Players League begins, declaring independence from baseball's NL
Louisa Woosley is the first woman ordained as a minister in any Presbyterian denomination in the US (Cumberland Presbyterian Church)
The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as...
Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George...
The Proclamation of the Republic (Portuguese: Proclamação da República) was a military coup d'état that established the First Brazilian Republic on November 15, 1889.
Union Pacific begins daily through service, Chicago-Portland & San Francisco
Oahu Railway begins public service in Hawaii
Debut of the first jukebox at the Palais Royale Saloon, San Francisco
Curtis P. Brady is issued the first permit to drive a car through Central Park in New York
Explorer Henery Morton Stanley's expedition reaches Bagamoyo in Indian Ocean
Belgium rules on women and child labor law
American Academy of Political & Social Science organized in Philadelphia
The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaiʻi State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian...
Warner Baxter, American actor, known for american actor, was born on 1889-03-29. Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s.
Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian, known for british historian, was born on 1889-04-14.
Charlie Chaplin comic actor and filmmaker, known for english comic actor and filmmaker, was born on 1889-04-16. Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr.
Adolf Hitler is born
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher and logician, known for austrian philosopher and logician, was born on 1889-04-26.
Igor Sikorsky, American russian-american aviation pioneer, known for russian-american aviation pioneer, was born on 1889-05-25.
Jean Cocteau, French writer and film director, known for french writer and film director, was born on 1889-07-05.
Ante Pavelić, Croatian croatian fascist politician and dictator, known for croatian fascist politician and dictator, was born on 1889-07-14.
Walter Lippmann, American journalist, known for american journalist, was born on 1889-09-23.
Gabriela Mistral, American chilean author and diplomat, known for chilean author and diplomat, was born on 1889-04-07.
Martin Heidegger, German philosopher, known for german philosopher, was born on 1889-09-26.
John Ericsson, American swedish-american engineer, known for swedish-american engineer, died on 1889-03-08. John Ericsson was a Swedish-American engineer and inventor.
Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in Mayerling in an apparent suicide pact
Eiffel Tower officially opens for dignitaries and an award ceremony in Paris, France; designed by Gustave Eiffel and built for the Exposition Universelle, at 300 meters high, it holds the record for the tallest man-made structure for 41 years
George Eastman begins selling Kodak flexible roll film for the first time
Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) in Paris opens with the recently completed Eiffel Tower serving as the entrance arch; the lifts in the tower are not ready, so intrepid visitors have to climb 1,710 steps to reach the top
Polish pianist, and politician Ignacy Jan Paderewski (38) weds Polish baroness, social activist, and humanitaran Helena Maria von Rosen (32) in Warsaw, Russian Empire, until her death in 1934
Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years.
John L. Sullivan successfully defends the last officially sanctioned bare-knuckle world heavyweight prizefighting championship when Jake Kilrain's trainer throws in the towel after 75 one-minute rounds near Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Explorer Fridtjof Nansen (27) weds mezzo-soprano singer Eva Nansen (30)
Nintendo Koppai (later Nintendo Company, Limited) is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda
Future Prime Minister of Canada Robert Borden (34) weds Canadian suffragette Laura Bond (27), until his death
Daniel Stover and William Hance patent a bicycle with a backpedal brake
Admissions convention meets in Ellensburg, WA, asks for statehood
Dr Herman Hollerith receives 1st US patent for a mechanical tabulating machine
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa.
Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. known by locals as The Curry.
A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound.
Astronomical Society of Pacific holds 1st meeting in San Francisco
Flood ravages Dutch coast
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production,...
The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Kyūjitai: 大日本帝國憲法; Shinjitai: 大日本帝国憲法, romanized: Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kenpō), known informally as the Meiji Constitution (明治憲法, Meiji Kenpō), was the...
1st train load of fruit (oranges) leaves LA for east
Caesar Franck's "Symphony in D minor" premieres at the Paris Conservatory, with a performance by L'Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire, led by Jules Garcin
US President Cleveland signs bill to admit Dakotas, Montana & Washington state to the union
Kansas passes 1st US antitrust law
US President Harrison announced the government would open the 1.9 million-acre tract of Indian Territory for settlement precisely at noon on April 22
Battle at Gallabat (Metema): Mahdi's beat Abyssinian emperor John IV
Battle at Metema (Gallabad): Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV, defeated
August Strindberg's play "Froken Julie" premieres in Copenhagen
6 US & German warships sunk by a typhoon in Apia harbour, Samoa, 200 die
The Woolwich Ferry is a free vehicle and pedestrian ferry across the River Thames in East London, connecting Woolwich on the south bank with North Woolwich on the north.
This article describes the history of South African cricket from its known beginnings until the end of the First World War in 1918. Test and first-class cricket were both introduced retrospectively...
English cricketer Johnny Briggs takes 15-26 (7-17 & 8-11) at Newlands as South Africa are all out for 47 with Bernard Tancred not out on 26, then follow-on and are again all out for 43
1st dishwashing machine marketed (Chicago)
Savings Bank of Order of True Reformers opens in Richmond, Virginia
A 1.9 million-acre tract of Indian Territory for white colonial settlement in Oklahoma officially starts at 12pm
First US national holiday on the centennial of Washington's inauguration
International Workers' Day, also called Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international...
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is launched in London, England, led by Benjamin Waugh
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.
Johnstown Flood; 2,209 die in Johnston, Pennsylvania when the South Fork Dam, located on the Little Conemaugh River fails
The Canadian Pacific Railway (French: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) (reporting marks CP, CPAA, MILW, SOO), also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a...
Boston Beaneaters MLB pitcher John Clarkson is first to throw an "immaculate inning" (strikes out 3 batters on 9 pitches) in a 4-2 win over Philadelphia Quakers at South End Grounds
The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington, on June 6, 1889.
Armagh is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish.
Two feet of snow accumulates in Rawlins, Wyoming
Louisville Colonels set ML baseball record with 26th consecutive loss
Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George...
Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico.
Dan Rylands patents the screw cap
William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut patents the coin-operated telephone
First ship-to-shore wireless message ("Sherman is sighted") is received in the US from Lightship No. 70 to a coastal receiving station at Cliff House in San Francisco
First American international professional lawn tennis contest in Newport, Rhode Island
German Christine Hardt patents the first modern brassiere
King Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda abdicates
Alexander Dey patents the dial time recorder
First General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter as the distance between two lines on a standard bar made of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice
Dutch soccer club HFC Haarlem is founded, becomes national champions in 1946, goes bankrupt in 2010, and merges with HFC Kennemerland to form the new club Haarlem Kennemerland
The Conferences of American States, commonly referred to as the Pan-American Conferences, were meetings of the International American Nation in Conferences for Regional cooperation in 1889. The...
Moulin Rouge is a cabaret in Paris, on the Boulevard de Clichy, at the Place Blanche, the intersection and end of the Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and...
Barnard College is founded in New York City after Columbia University refuses to admit women
Amsterdam Centraal station is the largest railway station in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands.
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding.
Queen Victoria grants Cecil Rhodes rights to Zambezia
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations.
North Dakota ( də-KOH-tə) is a landlocked U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota and Sioux peoples.
Chaplain Ariëns founds first Roman Catholic Workers group
Players League begins, declaring independence from baseball's NL
Louisa Woosley is the first woman ordained as a minister in any Presbyterian denomination in the US (Cumberland Presbyterian Church)
The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as...
Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George...
The Proclamation of the Republic (Portuguese: Proclamação da República) was a military coup d'état that established the First Brazilian Republic on November 15, 1889.
Union Pacific begins daily through service, Chicago-Portland & San Francisco
Oahu Railway begins public service in Hawaii
Debut of the first jukebox at the Palais Royale Saloon, San Francisco
Curtis P. Brady is issued the first permit to drive a car through Central Park in New York
Explorer Henery Morton Stanley's expedition reaches Bagamoyo in Indian Ocean
Belgium rules on women and child labor law
American Academy of Political & Social Science organized in Philadelphia
The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaiʻi State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian...
Warner Baxter, American actor, known for american actor, was born on 1889-03-29. Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s.
Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian, known for british historian, was born on 1889-04-14.
Charlie Chaplin comic actor and filmmaker, known for english comic actor and filmmaker, was born on 1889-04-16. Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr.
Adolf Hitler is born
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher and logician, known for austrian philosopher and logician, was born on 1889-04-26.
Igor Sikorsky, American russian-american aviation pioneer, known for russian-american aviation pioneer, was born on 1889-05-25.
Jean Cocteau, French writer and film director, known for french writer and film director, was born on 1889-07-05.
Ante Pavelić, Croatian croatian fascist politician and dictator, known for croatian fascist politician and dictator, was born on 1889-07-14.
Walter Lippmann, American journalist, known for american journalist, was born on 1889-09-23.
Gabriela Mistral, American chilean author and diplomat, known for chilean author and diplomat, was born on 1889-04-07.
Martin Heidegger, German philosopher, known for german philosopher, was born on 1889-09-26.