What Happened in 1874

Brochure on Blind Tom Wiggins is published

The Marvelous musical prodigy, Blind Tom,: the Negro boy pianist, whose performances at the great St. James and Egyptian halls, London, and Salle... Read more

Oscar Wilde Attends Magdalen College in Oxford

While at Magdalen College, Wilde became particularly well known for his role in the aesthetic and decadent movements. He wore his hair long, openly... Read more

Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans Patent Lamps

In North America, parallel developments were taking place. On July 24, 1874 a Canadian patent was filed by a Toronto medical electrician named... Read more

Douglass Becomes President of Freedman's Savings and Trust Company

Becomes president of the troubled Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company. Works with the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee to save the bank,... Read more

John Younger Is Shot

The Adams Express Company turned to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in 1874 to stop the James-Younger Gang. The Chicago-based agency worked... Read more

Harry Houdini Is Born

Harry Houdini was born in Budapest, Hungary, to a Jewish family. A copy of his birth certificate was found and published in The Houdini Birth... Read more

Conde Nast Is Born

On March 26, 1874, publisher Condé Nast was born. A successful advertising executive for Collier's, he introduced the concept of "class... Read more

Jesse James Gets Married

Jesse and his cousin Zee married on April 24, 1874, and had two children who survived to adulthood: Jesse James, Jr. (b. 1875) and Mary Susan James... Read more

Patrick Francis Healy Is Inaugurated As President Of Georgetown University

Patrick Francis Healy, SJ, was inaugurated as president of Georgetown University on July 31, 1874. The Reverend Father John Carroll (later... Read more

Sullivan Studies at the École des Beaux-Arts

After six fruitful months with William Le Baron Jenney, Louis Henry Sullivan decided to return to school for theoretical grounding, this time to... Read more

Loss of the Cospatrick

On the night of 17 November 1874, the immigrant ship Cospatrick was in the south Atlantic, several hundred kilometres south-west of Cape Town. The... Read more

Winston Churchill Is Born

A descendant of the famous aristocratic Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father, used the surname Churchill in public... Read more