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Events and People Who Made History in the Year 1879 AD
January
January 1: John Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major premieres in Leipzig
January 2: 1st Test match hat-trick, Fred Spofforth at the MCG
January 2: British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die
January 2: Dr. Benjamin E Mays, named president of Atlanta Board of Education
January 2: Northwestern League (minor baseball league) organized, Rockford, Ill
January 7: Dutch King Willem II marries Emma von Waldeck-Pyrmont
January 9: Cheyenne prisoners led by Dull Knife revolt at Fort Robinson
January 9: Kirland Warbler discovered on Andros Island in Bahamas
January 11: Zulu war against British colonial rule in South Africa begins
January 12: British Zulu War begins: Lieutenant-General Chelmsford invades Zululand
January 16: January record 13" of snow falls in New York City (broken Jan 7, 1996)
January 20: British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana
January 21: Henrik Ibsen's "Et Dukkehjem," premieres in Copenhagen
January 22: James Shields (D) elected U.S. senator from Missouri after previously serving as U.S. senator from Illinois and Minnesota
January 22: Zulus attack British Army camp in Isandhlwana South Africa
January 23: National Archery Association forms (Crawfordsville Ind)
January 29: Custer Battlefield National Monument, Montana established
January 30: French President MacMahon resigns
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February
February 5: Joseph Swan demonstrates light bulb using carbon glow
February 10: 1st electric arc light used in the California Theater
February 10: Henry Morton Stanley departs to the Congo
February 12: 1st artificial ice rink in North America (Madison Square Garden, New York City)
February 12: News about slaughtering of Isandlwana reaches London
February 14: Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta
February 15: Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before Supreme Court
February 18: Arabs capture Egyptian premier Nabar Pasha
February 22: 1st 5 and 10 store opened by Frank W. Woolworth (Utica New York)
February 25: Congress passed 1st Timberland Protection Act
February 27: Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin the artificial sweetener
February 28: "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation
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March
March 1: Library of Hawaii founded
March 3: 1st female lawyer heard by Supreme Court (Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood)
March 3: U.S. Geological Survey director authorized in Department of the Interior
March 27: Longest championship fight (136 rounds)
March 29: Tsjaikovski's opera "Jevgeni Onegin," premieres in Moscow
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April
April 8: Khedive Ismael of Egypt fires French/British ministers
April 8: Milk was sold in glass bottles for 1st time
April 18: Trial of Standing Bear-Crook on indians citizen rights begins
April 20: 1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London and Cyprus
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May
May 8: George Selden files for 1st patent for a gasoline-driven automobile
May 10: Meteor falls near Estherville, Iowa
May 16: Antonin Dvorak's "Slavic Dancing," premieres
May 16: Treaty of Gandamak to set up Afghan state between Russia and English
May 20: 5th Kentucky Derby: Charlie Shauer aboard Lord Murphy wins in 2:37
May 21: Battle of Iquiquw
May 24: 7th Preakness: L Hughes aboard Harold wins in 2:40
May 30: 92 degrees F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in May
May 30: Gilmore Garden (New York City) renamed Madison Square Garden
May 31: 1st electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition
May 31: Madison Square Garden opens
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June
June 5: 13th Belmont: George Evans aboard Spendthrift wins in 2:42.75
June 16: Gilbert and Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore" debuts at Bowery Theater New York City
June 18: W. H. Richardson, a black inventor, patents the children's carriage
June 21: F. W. Woolworth opens 1st store, failed almost immediately
June 26: Ismael Pasha resigns as khedive of Egypt
June 30: Ex-khedive Ismael Pasha leaves Cairo with train full stolen goods
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July
July 1: Ex-khedive Ismael Pasha sails from Alexandria to Naples
July 4: Africaner Union forms by Reverend SJ du Toit at Cape colony
July 4: Battle at Rorkes Drift: Britain ends attack on Zulus
July 17: 1st railroad opens in Hawaii
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August
August 4: Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Aeterni Patris
August 12: 1st National Archery Association tournament (Chicago)
August 17: Ferdinand de Lesseps forms French Panama Canal Company
August 20: Government Kappeijne of Coppello resigns
August 23: Governor-general Charles Gordon of Sudan returns to Cairo
August 28: Battle at Ulundi: Lord Chelmsford beats king Cetshwayo's Zuluz
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September
September 15: Pim Mulier forms "Haarlem Football Club"
September 19: Thomas Ray becomes youngest to break a world track and field record pole-vaulting 11' 2" at age 17 years and 198 days
September 20: U.S. Grants come to San Francisco for elaborate extended visit
September 23: Baldwin steam motors tram 1st tried in Sydney Australia
September 23: Richard Rhodes invented a hearing aid called the Audiophone
September 28: Sydney Australia inaugurates steam motor tram route
September 29: NL owners meeting in Buffalo adopt reserve clause, giving each team exclusive rights to their players
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October
October 1: Cincinnati Enquirer publishes 1st report on baseball reserve clause
October 2: Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Musgrave Ritual"
October 7: Germany and Austrian-Hungary sign Twofold Covenant
October 12: British troops occupy Kabul Afghanistan
October 19: Afghan's emir Mohammed Yakub forced to resign
October 19: Thomas Edison demonstrates electric light
October 21: Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb
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November
November 2: In a 6-day footrace a Mr. Weston loses to a horse, 900 to 885 km
November 4: Elkins patents refrigerating apparatus
November 4: James Ritty patents 1st cash register, to combat stealing by bartenders in his Dayton, Ohio saloon
November 6: Canada celebrates 1st Thanksgiving Day
November 19: National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders determines what "is" a trotter
November 28: Battle at Lydenburg South Africa: General Wolseley beats Sekhukhenes Pedi-Zulu
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December
December 5: 1st automatic telephone switching system patented
December 13: 1st federal fish hatching steamer lauched (Wilmington Delaware)
December 20: Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park
December 26: John Brahms' "Tragic Ouverture," premieres
December 28: North British Railway's train falls as Firth bridge collapses (Scot)
December 30: Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," premieres
December 31: Cornerstone laid for Honolulu's Iolani Palace
December 31: Cornerstone laid for Iolani Palace (only royal palace in U.S.)
December 31: Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
December 31: Gilbert/Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," premieres in New York City
December 31: Opera "Pirates of Penzance" is produced (New York City)
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