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This page is about the year 1889. For the board game, see 1889.

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January 8 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine

January 22 - Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, DC.

January 30 - Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera commit a double suicide (or a murder suicide) in Mayerling hunting lodge

February 5 - First issue of Glasgow University Magazine is published

February 11 - Meiji Constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet convenes in 1890

February 22 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.

March 4 - Grover Cleveland, 22nd President of the United States (1885 - 1889) is succeeded by Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893).

March 9 - Yohannes IV is killed in the Battle of Metemma; Sudanese forces, who had been almost defeated, rally and destroy the Ethiopian army.

March 31 - The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated (opens May 6). Contemporary critics regard it aesthetically displeasing

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April 20 - On this date Adolf Hitler was born.

April 22 - At high noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Run of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.

May 2 - Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, giving Italy control over what will become Eritrea.

May 15 - In Samoa, three US and three German ships sink in a typhoon because the captains refuse to leave before the others - almost 200 drown. British steamer Calliope saves itself by pushing into the wind with full speed

May 31 - South Fork Dam collapses in western Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,200 people in and around Johnstown, Pennsylvania; the Johnstown Flood.

June 3 - The first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.

June 6 - The Great Seattle Fire ravages through the downtown area without any fatalities.

June 12 - 88 are killed in the Armagh rail disaster near Armagh in Northern Ireland.

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July-September

July 8 - The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published on July 8th.
August 14 - The Great London Dock Strike breaks out in England.
August - The Jewish Settlement of Moisés Ville is founded in Argentina.
September 10 - Albert Honoré Charles Grimaldi becomes Reigning Prince Albert I of Monaco
September 23 - Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.

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October-December

October 2 - In Washington, DC, the first international Conference of American States begins.
October 3 - Sister Carries goes to Chicago
October 24 - Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales, delivers the Tenterfield Oration calling for the Federation of Australia.
November 2 - North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.
November 8 - Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state.
November 11 - Washington is admitted as the 42nd U.S. state.
November 14 - Inspired by Jules Verne pioneer woman Journalist Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) begins an attempt to beat travel around the world in less than 80 days (Bly finished the journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes).
November 15 - Brazil is declared a republic by Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca and Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup (he was the second and last emperor of Brazil).

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Unknown dates

Plattsburgh Normal School is founded in Plattsburgh, New York.
Clemson University is founded in Clemson, South Carolina.
Riverside Elementary School is opened in Wichita, Kansas
Adelaide Medical Students' Society is founded in Adelaide, Australia
Wisden Cricketer's Almanac publishes its first Wisden Cricketers of the Year (actually titled Six Great Bowlers Of The Year). The cricketers chosen are George Lohmann, Bobby Peel, Johnny Briggs, Charles Turner, John Ferris and Sammy Woods.
Frederick Abel invents cordite
Diet of Japan founded
French defense minister Georges Boulanger attempts a coup but is forced to flee the country
First free elections in Costa Rica
Glele, king of Dahomey, commits suicide
Yellow fever interrupts the building of Panama Canal
Huge locust swarm crosses the Red Sea and destroys crops in the Nile Valley
Ghost Dance movement
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.
Fabian Essays in Socialism, edited by George Bernard Shaw, is published.
Capilano Suspension Bridge was founded. This is the longest suspension bridge in the world, and the park is now a favourite attraction to tourists from all over the world. It is located in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
North Carolina Legislature issues a charter for the creation of Elon College.
In March of 1889, a German naval force shelled a village in Samoa, and by doing so destroyed some American property. Three American warships then entered the Samoan harbor and were prepared to fire on the three German warships found there. Before guns were fired, a hurricane blew up and sank all the ships, American and German. A compulsory armistice was called because of the lack of warships.
Sylvie and Bruno published.
English football team Wimbledon F.C. was formed

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January-March

January 20 - Leadbelly, American musician (d. 1949)
January 21 - Edith Bratt, wife of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (d. 1971)
January 31 - Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
February 3 - Risto Ryti, Prime Minister and President of Finland (d. 1956)
February 5 - Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (d. 1962)
February 7 - Harry Nyquist, important contributor to information theory (d. 1976)
February 19 - Ernest Marsden, British physicist (d. 1970)
February 22 - Lady Olave Baden-Powell, English founder of the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
February 24 - Suzanne Bianchetti, French actress (d. 1936)
March 1 - Kanoko Okamoto, Japanese novelist, poet, and Buddhism scholar (d. 1939)
March 1 - Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (d. 1960)
March 4 - Pearl White, American silent film actress (d. 1938)
March 16 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951)
March 21 - Aleksandr Vertinsky, Russian singer and actor (d. 1957)
March 24 - Albert Hill, British athlete (d. 1969)
March 29 - Warner Baxter, American actor (d. 1951)

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April-June

April 7 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957) April 8 - Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (d. 1983) April 11 - Nick LaRocca, American musician (d. 1961) April 15 - Thomas Hart Benton, American painter (d. 1975) April 16 - Charlie Chaplin, English actor and film director (d. 1977) April 20 - Adolf Hitler, Austrian dictator of Nazi Germany (d. 1945) April 21 - Paul Karrer, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971) April 23 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942) April 26 - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-born philosopher (d. 1951) April 30 - Fritz Pfeffer, German-Dutch housemate of Anne Frank, (d. 1944) May 12 - Otto Frank, German publisher, businessman, father of Anne Frank (d. 1980) May 18 - Thomas Midgley, American chemist and inventor (d. 1944) May 25 - Igor Sikorsky, Russian developer of the helicopter (d. 1972) June 21 - Ralph Craig, American athlete (d. 1972) June 23 - Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (d. 1966)

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July-September

July 5 - Jean Cocteau, French writer (d. 1963)
July 17 - Erle Stanley Gardner, American author (d. 1970)
August 5 - Conrad Aiken, American writer (d. 1973)
August 12 - Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (Dick and Jane) (d. 1981)
August 21 - Sir Richard O'Connor, English General in WWII (d. 1981)
September 7 - Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (d. 1953)
September 8 - Robert Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio (d. 1953)
September 11 - Suzanne Duchamp, French painter (d. 1963)
September 14 - Maria Esther Capovilla, Supercentenarian (d. 2006)
September 18 - Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (d. 1970)
September 20 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete (d. 1975)
September 25 - C. K. Scott-Moncrieff, Scottish writer and translator (d. 1930)
September 26 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (d. 1976)

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October-December

October 3 - Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1938)
October 8 - C. E. Woolman, American airline executive (d. 1966)
October 13 - Douglass Dumbrille, Canadian-born actor (d. 1974)
November 1 - Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, Canadian-born peace activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1982)
November 6 - Nintendo was founded.
November 14 - Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India (d. 1948)
November 19 - Vasily Blyukher, Soviet military commander (d. 1938)
November 20 - Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (d. 1953)
November 30 - Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1977)
December 9 - Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (d. 1966)
December 11 - Walter Knott, farmer and creator of Knott's Berry Farm (d. 1981).

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Unknown dates

James Alexander Allan, Australian poet (d. 1956)

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Deaths

January 30 - Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (suicide) (b. 1858)
January 30 - Baroness Mary Vetsera (suicide) (b. 1871)
February 3 - Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
March 8 - John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (b. 1803)
March 9 - Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia
March 24 - The Leatherman (b. 1833)
April 23 - Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, French writer (b. 1808)
May 9 - William S. Harney, U.S. Army general (b. 1800)
May 14 - Volney E. Howard, American politician (b. 1809)
May 12 - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian satirist (b. 1826)
June 8 - Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (b. 1844)
June 15 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (b. 1850)
July 10 - Julia Gardiner Tyler, First Lady of the United States (b. 1820)
August 19 - Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, French writer (b. 1838)
September 16 - Bob Younger, American outlaw and youngest of the Younger outlaws
September 23 - Wilkie Collins, British novelist (b. 1824)
October 11 - James Prescott Joule, English physicist (b. 1818)
October 19 - King Luis I of Portugal (b. 1838)
October 25 - Émile Augier, French dramatist (b. 1820)
November 18 - William Allingham, Irish author (b. 1824 or 1828)
December 6 - Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America (b. 1808)
December 12 - Robert Browning, English poet (b. 1812)
December 31 - Ion Creangă, Romanian writer (b. 1837 or 1839)

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Heads of State

Argentina - Miguel Juarez Celman (1886-1890)
China - Guāngxù Emperor of China, Qing Dynasty (1875-1908)
Denmark - Christian IX, King of Denmark (1863-1906)
France - Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of France (1887-1894)
Germany - Wilhelm II, German Kaiser (1888-1918)
Holy See - Pope Leo XIII, Bishop of Rome (1878-1903)
Japan - Mutsuhito, Meiji emperor (1867-1912)
Norway - Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway (1872-1905)
Ottoman Empire - Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1909)
Russia - Alexander III, Tsar of Russia (1881-1894)
Spain - Alfonso XIII of Spain, King of Spain (1886-1931)
United States -
Grover Cleveland, President of the United States (1885-1889)
Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States (1889-1893)