What Happened in 1888

Frank Lloyd Wright Works for Adler & Sullivan

After less than a year had passed in Silsbee’s office, Wright learned that Adler & Sullivan, the forerunning firm in Chicago, were "looking for... Read more

"The Twilight Of The Gods And Other Tales" Is Released

The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales is a collection of fantasy short stories by Richard Garnett, generally considered a classic in the genre.... Read more

Schoolhouse Blizzard

In one (blizzard) which visited Dakota and the States of Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas in January, 1888, the mercury fell within... Read more

The National Geographic Society Incorporated

The National Geographic Society began as a club for an elite group of academics and wealthy patrons interested in travel. On January 13, 1888, 33... Read more

Walt Whitman Corrects His Poem "Oh Captain, My Captain"

On February 9, 1888, Walt Whitman penned a note to the publishers of The Riverside Literature Series No. 32 calling attention to mistakes in their... Read more

Great Blizzard of 1888

The notorious "Blizzard of 1888" literally paralyzed The Northeast after three days of snow, wind and freezing temperatures. Two-and-a-half to four... Read more

Tesla Delivers Lecture: A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers

At an AIEE meeting on May 16, 1888, Nikola Tesla delivered a lecture entitled A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers,... Read more

Jim Thorpe is Born

Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe is considered one of the most versatile athletes in modern sports. He won Olympic gold medals in the 1912... Read more

Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols Murdered in Whitechapel

Polly's Last Hours About 11 p.m. 30 August Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols was seen walking the Whitechapel Road, at 1.30 a.m. she was seen to leave a... Read more

Mohandes Gandhi Travels to London to Train as a Barrister

On 4 September 1888, less than a month shy of his 19th birthday, Gandhi traveled to London, England, to study law at University College London and... Read more

Annie Chapman Murdered in Spitalfields

Annie Chapman's Last Hours Shortly after midnight on the morning of her death, Chapman, like Mary Ann Nichols, found herself without money for... Read more

T. S. Eliot Is Born

Eliot was born into the Eliot family, a bourgeois family, originally from New England, who had moved to St. Louis, Missouri. His father, Henry Ware... Read more

Elizabeth Stride Murdered in Whitechapel

Elizabeth Stride was killed on the night of the "Double Event" that saw the murder of Catherine Eddowes less than an hour later. Stride's body was... Read more

Catherine Eddowes Murdered in the City of London

At 8.30 pm on Saturday the 29 September Eddowes was found lying in the road drunk on Aldgate High Street by PC Louis Robinson and taken into... Read more

Mud Run Disaster

The full length of the lead engine telescoped into the rear car and drove it two thirds of its length into the next car; which was in turn pushed... Read more

Roundhay Garden Scene, the Earliest Surviving Motion Picture, Filmed

Roundhay Garden Scene is an 1888 British short film directed by inventor Louis Le Prince. It was recorded at 12 frames per second and is the... Read more

Borki Train Disaster

On October 17 [N.S. October 29], 1888, the imperial train returning from the south derailed at the station of Borki, leaving twenty-one dead and... Read more

Mary Jane Kelly Murdered in Spitalfields

On the morning of 9 November 1888, the day of the annual Lord Mayor's Day celebrations, Kelly's landlord John McCarthy sent his assistant, Thomas... Read more