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"The Greatest Show on Earth"
P.T. Barnum challenged this popular social ideology by opening his American Museum on lower Broadway in New York City. Promoting the Museum as a place for family entertainment, enlightenment and instructive amusement, Barnum's American Museum became a shrine for advancing public knowledge of fine arts, music, literature and the marvels of nature, showcasing natural curiosities alongside artistic and historic exhibitions -
8- Hour Workday
In Washington,Congress enacts an 8-hour workday for workers employed by the government. -
The Golden Spike
Two sets of railroad tracks were joined and the continent united with elaborate ceremony at Promontory, Utah. The impact was immediate and dramatic. Travel time between America's east and west coasts was reduced from months to less than a week. -
Montgomery Ward
Begins to sell goods to rural customers in Chicago. Day and month unknown. -
John D. Rockefeller
Founded Standard Oil in Cleveland, Ohio. Month and day unknown. -
Great Chicago Fire
Destroyed thousands of buildings, killed an estimated 300 people and caused an estimated $200 million in damages. -
Women's Christian Temperance Union
Founded in Hillsboro, Ohio. -
Alexander Graham Bell
Received a patent for the telephone; three days later, he and associate Thomas Watson successfully tested their invention. Elisha Gray, Antonio Meucci and Thomas Edison all claimed to have invented the telephone first, and the issue is still a source of controversy. -
Thomas Edison
Invented the phonograph in New Jersey. Day and month unknown. -
American Federation of Labor
In Washington, Membership was restricted to skilled craftsmen. Day and month unknown. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Made in Washington, it was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Day and month unknown. -
Pendleton Act
In Washington, established a Civil Service Commission and filling government positions by merit system. -
American and Canadian Time Zones
American and Canadian railroads begin using four continental time zones to end the confusion of dealing with thousands of local times. The bold move was emblematic of the power shared by the railroad companies. -
Joseph Pulitzer
Pulitzer, then thirty-six and in St. Louis, Missouri, purchased the New York World for $346,000 from businessman Jay Gould who was losing forty thousand dollars a year on the paper. Day and month unknown. -
U. S. Supreme Court over Civil Rights Act of 1875
In Washington, Ruled that the Civil Rights act of 1875, forbidding discrimination in hotels, trains, and other public spaces, was unconstitutional and not authorized by the 13th or 14th Amendments of the Constitution. Day and month unknown. -
Home Insurance Company
Construction began in Chicago on the first building with a steel skeleton, William Jenneys ten-story Home Insurance Company. Day and month unknown. -
Haymarket Square
Labor protest rally near Chicago’s Haymarket Square turned into a riot after someone threw a
bomb at police which killed seven officers and wounded 60. -
Samuel Gompers
The same year the Knights of Labor was dealt its fatal blow at Haymarket Square, Gompers met with the leaders of other craft unions to form the American Federation of Labor in New York City. Day is unknown. -
Interstate Commerce Act
Was signed by President Grover Cleveland. Although the act was passed long before he entered the White House, the Interstate Commerce Act is important to Roosevelt. As president, he would use it to regulate America’s railroads. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
Made in Washington, was the first United States Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies. It falls under antitrust law. -
James Naismith
Physical education instructor at the YMCA Training College, invents basketball in Kansas. Day and month unknown. -
Populist Party
Delegates from farm and labor organizations met in Cincinnati No decision was made to form a political party, but when the Republican and Democratic parties both straddled the currency question at the 1892 presidential conventions, a convention was held at-Omaha-and the Populist party was formed. Day and month unknown. -
Ellis Island Immigration Station
3 large ships wait to land. Seven hundred immigrants passed through Ellis Island that day, and nearly 450,000 followed over the course of that first year. Over the next five decades, more than 12 million people will pass through the island on their way into New York, U. S. -
Homestead Steelworks strike
Was an industrial lockout and strike in Homestead, Pennsylvania. -
Pullman Strike
Nationwide railroad strike in the United States on. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland in Pullman, Illinois -
William Jennings Bryan
Delivered the most famous speech in American political history at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. -
Income Tax Rejected
Supreme court strikes down income tax in Washington. Day and month unknown. -
Andrew Carnegie
He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J.P. Morgan for $480 million creating the U.S. Steel Corporation. Day and month unknown.
