April 21 – Hammond, Indiana is incorporated a city, forming Northwest Indiana.
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 13 – LaMarcus Adna Thompson opens "Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway", one of the earliest roller coasters, 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 Mfa (based on the felt area) affected a very large portion of the eastern United States. The shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). Chimneys were toppled in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Property damage was severe in Jamaica and Amityville in New York.[1]
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 YorkGrover Cleveland defeats RepublicanJames 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 (the cowboys were terrorizing the area's Hispanos and Baca was working against them).
December 6 – The Washington Monument is completed.
December 16 – The World Cotton CentennialWorld'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 38.18 inches (969.8 mm) and San Diego 25.97 inches (659.6 mm).[2]
September 15 – The Providence Grays win their Second(and Final) 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 (died 1970)
January 12 –
Louis Horst, choreographer, composer, pianist (died 1964)
March 10 – Stuart Holmes, actor and sculptor (died 1971)
March 11 – Sheridan Downey, U.S. Senator from California from 1939 to 1950 (died 1961)
March 21 – George D. Birkhoff, mathematician (died 1944)
March 22 – Arthur H. Vandenberg, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1928 to 1951 (died 1951)
March 31 – James P. Pope, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1933 to 1939 (died 1966)
April 1 – George A. Wilson, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1943 to 1949 (died 1953)
April 17 – Leo Frank, factory superintendent and convicted murderer (died 1915)
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 (died 1972)
May 26 – Charles Winninger, stage and film actor (died 1969)
June 21 – Garrett L. Withers, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1949 to 1950 (died 1953)
June 22 – James Rector, Olympic athlete (died 1949)
August 9 – John S. McCain Sr., U.S. Navy admiral (died 1945)