1886 Timeline

1886 Frank Lloyd Wright admitted to University of Wisconsin Madison
Wright was admitted to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a special student in 1886. There he joined Phi Delta Theta fraternity, took classes part-time for two semesters, and worked w...
1886 Nikola Tesla forms Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing Company
The Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing was a company formed by Nikola Tesla in 1886. Located in Rahway, New Jersey, the company was formed after Tesla left Thomas Edison's employment, a...
1886 Jan 29 Benz Applies for a Patent for the First Automobile
The Karl Benz Patent Motorwagen (or motorcar), built in 1885, is widely regarded as the first automobile, that is, a vehicle designed to be propelled by a motor. The vehicle was awarde...
1886 Feb 2 First Groundhog Day Celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
According to folklore, if a groundhog emerging from its burrow on this day fails to see its shadow, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If on the other hand, t...
1886 Feb 16 The Bostonians by Henry James is Published
The Bostonians is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Century Magazine in 1885–1886 and then as a book in 1886. This bittersweet tragicomedy centers on an odd trian...
1886 Feb 24 Thomas Edison Marries Mina Miller
On February 24, 1886, at the age of thirty nine, Edison married 20-year-old Mina Miller in Akron, Ohio. She was the daughter of inventor Lewis Miller, co-founder of the Chautauqua Institu...
1886 Mar 27 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Born
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to and addressed by his surname, Mies...
1886 May 1 Haymarket and May Day
On May 1, 1886, Chicago unionists, reformers, socialists, anarchists, and ordinary workers combined to make the city the center of the national movement for an eight-hour day. Between Apr...
1886 May 8 First Coca-Cola Is Sold
Dr. John S. Pemberton, a pharmacist and inventor of patent medicines, sold the first Coca-Cola on May 8, 1886, at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Robi...
1886 Jun 2 Grover Cleveland Marries Frances Folsom
President Grover Cleveland wed Frances Folsom in a White House ceremony on June 2, 1886. Daughter of Cleveland's late law partner, the bride was twenty-seven years younger than her husban...
1886 Aug 31 Charleston Earthquake of 1886
This is the most damaging earthquake to occur in the Southeast United States and one of the largest historic shocks in Eastern North America. It damaged or destroyed many buildings in the...
1886 Sep 14 Sigmund Freud Marries Martha Bernays
In 1877, Sigmund Freud was an ambitious 21 year-old who planned to devote his life to science. When Freud was 26, his commitment to laboratory science came to an end. He had met the love ...
1886 Oct 6 Reno Gang Robs Ohio & Mississippi Passenger Train
On October 6, 1866, thieves boarded an eastbound Ohio & Mississippi Railroad passenger train near Seymour, Indiana, and entered an Adams Express Company car. Pointing guns at Adams Expres...
1886 Oct 24 The Maracaibo Incident
"During the night of the 24th of October last [1886], which was rainy and tempestuous, a family of nine persons, sleeping in a hut a few leagues from Maracaibo [Venezuela], were awakened b..." —Walter Cowgill
1886 Oct 28 Statue of Liberty Dedicated
The Statue of Liberty National Monument officially celebrated her 100th birthday on October 28, 1986. The people of France gave the Statue to the people of the United States over one hund...
1886 Dec 2 Theodore Roosevelt Marries Edith Kermit Carow
Following the election, he went to London in 1886 and married his childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carow. They honeymooned in Europe, and Roosevelt led a party to the summit of Mont Bla...
1886 Dec 6 State of the Union Address by President Grover Cleveland
The following is an excert from the State of the Union address related to the US relationship with Hawaii: "I express my unhesitating conviction that the intimacy of our relations with...