1879 in the United States

1879 in the United States
Years:	1876 1877 1878 – 1879 – 1880 1881 1882
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38 stars (1877–90)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1865–1918)

Events from the year 1879 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Rutherford B. Hayes (R-Ohio)
• Vice President: William A. Wheeler (R-New York)
• Chief Justice: Morrison Waite (Ohio)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Samuel J. Randall (D-Pennsylvania)
• Congress: 45th (until March 4), 46th (starting March 4)

Events

December 31: Edison demonstrates his light bulb.

• January – The current constitution of The State of California, USA is ratified.
• January 1 – The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The Greenback is valued the same as gold for the first time since the American Civil War.
• February 12 – At New York City's Madison Square Garden, the first artificial ice rink in North America opens.
• February 15 – Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
• February 22 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.
• March 3 – The United States Geological Survey is created.
• May 30 – New York City's Gilmore's Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt, and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
• July 19 – Doc Holliday kills for the first time after a man shoots up Holliday's New Mexico saloon.
• September 25 – Deadwood, South Dakota fire: Two-thousand people left homeless. Three hundred buildings destroyed. Total loss of property is estimated at $3 million.
• September 29 – Meeker Massacre: Nathan Meeker and others are killed in an uprising at the White River Ute Indian Reservation in Colorado.
• October 22 – Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric light bulb (it lasts 13½ hours before burning out).
• December 31 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Undated

• Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black school, is founded.
• The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is formed.
• Mary Baker Eddy founds the Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston.^[1]
• Henry George publishes Progress and Poverty.
• Laton Alton Huffman takes the photograph of Native American woman Pretty Nose.^[2]

Ongoing

• Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896)
• Depression of 1873–79 (1873–1879)

Births

• January 3 – Grace Coolidge, wife of Calvin Coolidge, First Lady of the United States, Second Lady of the United States (died 1957)
• February 3 – Guy Gillette, United States Senator from Iowa from 1936 until 1945. (died 1973)
• February 12 – George McGill, United States Senator from Kansas from 1930 util 1939. (died 1963)
• May 3 – Clyde L. Herring, United States Senator from Iowa from 1937 util 1943. (died 1945)
• August 2 – James M. Tunnell, United States Senator from Delaware from 1941 until 1947. (died 1957)
• August 27 – Otis F. Glenn, United States Senator from Illinois from 1928 until 1933. (died 1959)
• November 28 – Guy V. Howard, United States Senator from Minnesota from 1936 until 1937. (died 1954)
• December 15 – Bert H. Miller, United States Senator from Idaho in 1949. (died 1949)
• December 26 – Christie Benet, United States Senator from South Carolina in 1918. (died 1951)

Deaths

• March 2 – Wade Keyes, Acting Confederate States Attorney General in 1861 and 1863-1864 (born 1821)
• March 16 – George Goldthwaite, United States Senator from Alabama from 1871 till 1877. (born 1809)
• April 12 – Richard Taylor, Confederate general (born 1826)
• June 1 – James Shields, United States Senator from Illinois from 1849 till 1855, United States Senator from Minnesota from 1858 till 1859 and United States Senator from Missouri in 1879. (born 1810)
• June 26 – Richard H. Anderson, United States Army officer during the Mexican-American War, Confederate general during the American Civil War (born 1821)
• July 11 – William Allen, United States Senator from Ohio from 1837 till 1849. (born 1803)
• July 26 – Robert Ward Johnson, United States Senator from Arkansas from 1862 till 1865. (born 1814)
• August 30 – John Bell Hood, Confederate general (born 1831)
• September 30 – Francis Gillette, United States Senator from Connecticut from 1854 till 1855. (born 1807)
• November 1 – Zachariah Chandler, United States Senator from Michigan from 1857 till 1875 and in 1879. (born 1813)
• October 31 – Joseph Hooker, General in the Union Army during American Civil War (born 1814)
• December 31 – George S. Houston, Governor of Alabama from 1874 till 1878 and United States Senator from Alabama in 1879. (born 1811)

References

External links

• Media related to 1879 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons