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February 15, 1879 - President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill that allowed female attorneys to argue in Supreme Court cases.
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The first five and dime store is opened in Utica, New York by Frank W. Woolworth with $300 of borrowed money, priced all items at five cents and pioneered the concept of fixed prices vs. haggling. It would fail weeks later. Woolworth, along with his brother Charles Sumner Woolworth, opened a second store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in April 1879, including ten cent items, making the second store a success. By their 1911 incorporation, they had 586 stores.
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Albert Einstein, who would later revolutionize modern Physics, is born in Germany.
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The Gilmore's Garden in New York City is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and opens to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
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Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House premieres at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.
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The French-American Union announces that enough money has been raised to complete the construction of the Statue of Liberty, although further funding will be required to construct the pedestal on which it will sit in New York Harbor.
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Inventor Thomas A. Edison uses electric Christmas lights for the first time, hanging them outside his lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
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Alexander II, son of Nicholas I, is assassinated.
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The American Red Cross is incorporated by Clara Barton.
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Outlaw Billy the Kid is shot and killed by lawman Pat Garrett in the New Mexico territory.
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The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place in Tombstone, Arizona, pitting Doc Holliday along with Virgil, Morgan, and Wyatt Earp against Tom and Frank McLaury, Billy and Ike Clanton, and Billy Claiborne.
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The first commemoration of Labor Day is held in New York City when 10,000 workers hold a labor march.
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After more than a decade of construction, the Brooklyn Bridge is opened with an enormous celebration.
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The enormous volcano at Krakatoa erupts, blowing itself apart and throwing enormous quantities of volcanic dust into the atmosphere.
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Mark Twain publishes "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective Sherlock Holmes makes his debut in a story published in Beeton's Christmas Annual magazine.
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Britain celebrates the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, commemorating the 50th year of her reign.
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Jack the Ripper's first victim is discovered in London.
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Artist Vincent Van Gogh died in France at the age of 37 after shooting himself two days earlier.
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At the urging of John Muir, The U.S. Congress designated Yosemite a National Park.
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