1887

1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar).

Events

January

• January 20 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
• January 21 – The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed
• January 26 – Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian troops defeat Italians
• January 28 – In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, USA, the largest snowflakes on record are reported. They are 15 inches (38cm) wide and 8 inches (20cm) thick.

February

• February 2 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
• February 5- The Giuseppe Verdi opera "Otello" premieres at La Scala
• February 23 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
• February 26 – At the SCG, George Lohmann becomes the first bowler to take eight wickets in a Test innings.

March

• March 3 – Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller
• March 4 – Gottlieb Daimler unveils his first automobile
• March 13 – Chester Greenwood patents earmuffs

April

• April 4 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna Madora Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
• April 20 – George Bouton wins the world?s first motor racing contest ? he is the only participant

May

• May 3 – Earthquake in Sonora, Mexico
• May 9 – Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in London.

June

• June 8 – Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punch card calculator.
• June 18 – The Reinsurance Treaty is closed between Germany and Russia.
• June 23 – The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating that nation's first national park, Banff National Park. [1]
• June 28 – Minot, North Dakota is incorporated as a city.

July

• July 26 – L. L. Zamenhof publishes "Dr. Esperanto's International Language".
• July 27 – Giuseppe Peano marries Carola Crosio

November

• In London, police and left-wing demonstrators clash. One dead. One of the participants is George Bernard Shaw.

December

• December 25 – Glenfiddich single malt Scotch whisky first ran from the stills of Glenfiddich Distillery. The whisky is still produced today by William Grant & Sons.

Unknown Dates

• L. L. Zamenhof completes the creation of the initial version of Esperanto
• U.S. National Institutes of Health founded
• Teachers College, later part of Columbia University, is founded
• Thomas Stevens is 1st man to bicycle around the world
• Michelson-Morley experiment is performed
• Gramophone patented by Emile Berliner
• The New Gate is built in Jerusalem
• Comptometer patented by Dorr Eugene Felt
• The first All-Ireland Hurling and Football Finals are held
• Suez Canal is declared neutral
• Japan annexes Iwo Jima
• Zululand becomes a British colony
• Yellow river floods in China – 900,000 dead
• British nurses association organized
• Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn founded
• Spandau Prison in Berlin finished
• Portugal abolishes death penalty for murder

Births

January

• January 1 – Wilhelm Canaris, head of German military intelligence in World War II (d. 1945)
• January 3 – August Macke, German painter (d. 1914)
• January 19 – Alexander Woollcott, American intellectual (d. 1943)
• January 21 – Maude Davis, Oldest Person in the World (d. 2002)
• January 28 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist and conductor (d. 1982)

February

• February 1 – Charles Nordhoff, English-born author (d. 1947)
• February 2 – Pat Sullivan, Australian director and producer of animated films (d. 1933)
• February 3 – Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d. 1914)
• February 6 – Josef Frings, Archbishop of Cologne (d. 1978)
• February 11 – Ernst Hanfstängl, German-born pianist and U.S. politician (d. 1975)
• February 11  – John van Melle Dutch-born South African writer (d. 1953)
• February 18 – Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek poet (d. 1957)
• February 20 – Carl Ebert, opera manager and director (d. 1980)
• February 20  – Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (d. 1967)
• February 26 – Grover Cleveland Alexander, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1950)

March

• March 3 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (d. 1915)
• March 5 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (d. 1959)
• March 9 – Phil Mead, English cricketer (d. 1958)
• March 14 – Sylvia Beach, American publisher in Paris (d. 1952)
• March 22 – Chico Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1961)
• March 23 – Juan Gris, Spanish-born painter and graphic artist (d. 1927)
• March 23  – Prince Felix Yussupov, Russian assassin of Rasputin (d. 1967)
• March 24 – Fatty Arbuckle, American actor (d. 1933)

May

• May 2 – Eddie Collins, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1951)
• May 5 – Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1972)
• May 11 – Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (d. 1951)
• May 26 – Paul Lukas, Hungarian-born actor (d. 1971)
• May 28 – Jim Thorpe, American athlete (d. 1953)
• May 31 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and poet (d. 1975)

June

• June 2 – Orrick Johns, American poet and playwright (d. 1946)
• June 22 – Julian Huxley, British biologist (d. 1975)
• June 25 – George Abbott, American playwright (d. 1995)

July

• July 7 – Marc Chagall, Russian-born painter (d. 1985)
• July 16 – Shoeless Joe Jackson, baseball player (d. 1951)
• July 18 – Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician and traitor (d. 1945)
• July 22 – Gustav Hertz, German physicist (d. 1975)
• July 28 – Marcel Duchamp, French-born artist (d. 1968)
• July 29 – Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-born composer (d. 1951)

August

• August 12 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist (d. 1961)
• August 15 – Edna Ferber, American novelist (d. 1968)
• August 17 – Emperor Karl of Austria (d. 1922)
• August 17  – Marcus Mosiah Garvey, American publisher, entrepreneur, and black nationalist (d. 1940)
• August 20 – Jules Laforgue, French poet (b. 1860)
• August 24 – Harry Hooper, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1974)

September

• September 1 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (d. 1961)
• September 3 – Frank Christian, jazz musician (d. 1973)
• September 16 – Nadia Boulanger, French composer and composition teacher (d. 1979)
• September 28 – Avery Brundage, American sports official

October

• October 6 – Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (d. 1965)
• October 8 – Huntley Gordon, Canadian-born actor (d. 1956)
• October 22 – John Reed, American journalist (d. 1920)
• October 28 – Marcel Duchamp, French artist (d. 1968)
• October 31 – Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese Nationalist (d. 1975)

November

• November 6 – Walter Johnson, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1946)
• November 10 – Arnold Zweig, German writer (d. 1968)
• November 17 – Bernard Montgomery, World War II British commander (d. 1976)

December

• December 12 – Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (d. 1974)
• December 22 – Srinivasa Aaiyangar Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (d. 1920)

Deaths

• February 27 – Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (b. 1833)
• March 8 – Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman and reformer (b. 1813)
• May 14 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher and abolitionist (b. 1808)
• July 17 – Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b. 1802)
• July 25 – John Taylor, American religious leader (b. 1808)
• August 8 – Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier (b. 1808)
• August 20 – Jules Laforgue, French poet (b. 1860)
• October 17 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (b. 1824)
• November 2 – Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano (b. 1820)
• November 8 – Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter (b. 1851)
• November 19 – Emma Lazarus, American poet (b. 1859)
• December 5 – Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (b. 1804)