1884 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: Chester A. Arthur
• Vice President: vacant
• Chief Justice: Morrison Waite
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: John G. Carlisle
• Congress: 48th

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

• March 27-29 - Cincinnati riots of 1884.
• 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.
• May 17 - Alaska becomes a United States territory.
• June - Switchback Railway, one of the earliest roller coasters, was built at Coney Island.
• 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 affected a very large portion of the eastern United States. The shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII. Chimneys were toppled in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Property damage was severe in Jamaica and Amityville in New York.
• August 28 - The first recorded photo of a tornado is taken by F.N. Robinson in Howard, South Dakota.
• 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 - 1884 United States presidential election: 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.
• 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 and San Diego.
• Ringling Brothers Circus established.
• American Historical Association established.

  Ongoing

• Gilded Age
• Depression of 1882–85

  Sport

• September 15 – The Providence Grays win their Second National League pennant with a 10–2 win over the Cleveland Blues, in the first ever game to be called, the World Series

  Births

• January 1 - Edwin C. Johnson, U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1955 to 1957
• January 12 -
• * Louis Horst, choreographer, composer, pianist
• * Texas Guinan, actress and producer
• January 26 - Roy Chapman Andrews, adventurer and naturalist
• February 15 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, inventor, athlete, magician, and businessman
• February 18 -
• * Mary M. Crawford, surgeon
• * Burt Mustin, character actor
• March 10 - Stuart Holmes, actor and sculptor
• March 11 - Sheridan Downey, U.S. Senator from California from 1939 to 1950
• March 21 - George D. Birkhoff, mathematician
• March 22 - Arthur H. Vandenberg, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1928 to 1951
• March 31 - James P. Pope, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1933 to 1939
• April 1 - George A. Wilson, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1943 to 1949
• April 17 - Leo Frank, factory superintendent and convicted murderer
• May 8 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States from 1945 to 1953, 34th Vice President of the United States from January to April 1945
• May 26 - Charles Winninger, stage and film actor
• June 21 - Garrett L. Withers, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1949 to 1950
• June 22 - James Rector, Olympic athlete
• August 9 - John S. McCain Sr., U.S. Navy admiral
• October 9 - Martin Johnson, adventurer and filmmaker
• October 11 - Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945
• December 2 - Ruth Draper, actress and monologist

  Deaths

• 14 February
• *Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, first wife of Theodore Roosevelt
• *Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, mother of Theodore Roosevelt
• 13 March – Leland Stanford Jr., son of Governor Leland Stanford of California, in whose memory Stanford University is founded
• 21 March – Ezra Abbot, Bible scholar
• 23 March – Henry C. Lord, railroad executive
• 31 March – Frederick Leypoldt, bibliographer
• 3 May – Truman Smith, U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1849 to 1854
• 6 May – 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
• 13 May – Cyrus McCormick, inventor
• 8 June – Henry Clay Work, composer
• 12 June – Frank Pidgeon, baseball pitcher
• 1 July – Allan Pinkerton, detective
• 10 July – Paul Morphy, chess player
• 15 July – Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps, educator and author
• 23 August – LeRoy Pope Walker, 1st Confederate States Secretary of War
• 2 September – Henry B. Anthony, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island from 1859 to 1884
• 26 September – John W. Garrett, banker, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and philanthropist
• 6 November – William Wells Brown, African American writer
• Wendel Bollman, civil engineer