Explore 350 historical events from 1840–1849.
The Great New York City Fire of 1845 broke out on July 19, 1845, in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The fire started in a whale oil and candle manufacturing establishment and quick…
A fire in Manhattan, New York, destroyed 345 buildings, killed 30 people, and caused at least $5 million in damage.
The Great New York City Fire of 1845 broke out on July 19, 1845, in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The fire started in a whale oil and candle manufacturing establishment and quick…
A fire in Manhattan, New York City, destroyed 345 buildings, killed 30 people, and caused at least $5 million in damage.
The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, is established
The Báb was an Iranian religious leader who founded Bábism, and is also one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. The Báb gradually and progressively revealed his claim in hi…
Báb: A merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement
Samuel Finley Breese Morse was an American inventor and painter. After establishing his reputation as a portrait painter, Morse, in his middle age, contributed to the invention of …
Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from a committee room in th
The great auk, also known as the garefowl or penguin, is an extinct species of flightless alcid that first appeared around 400,000 years ago and was driven to extinction by human e…
The last pair of great auks is killed
Anatole France was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a m…
Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1924)
Elijah J. McCoy was a Canadian-American engineer of African-American descent who invented lubrication systems for steam engines. Born free on the Ontario shore of Lake Erie to pare…
Elijah McCoy, Canadian-American engineer (died 1929)
YMCA, formerly known as the Young Men's Christian Association, is a worldwide youth organization based in Vernier, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million benefici…
The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is founded in London
Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smit…
Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are killed by a mob at the Carthage
Lewis Thornton Powell was an American Confederate soldier who attempted to assassinate William Henry Seward as part of the Lincoln assassination plot. Wounded at the Battle of Gett…
Lewis Powell, American soldier, attempted assassin of William H
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer, and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era. He built two of London's theatres and a…
Richard D'Oyly Carte, English talent agent and composer (died 1901)
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier, a humorous description of his occupation as …
Henri Rousseau, French painter (died 1910)
Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, but lived most of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar Degas…
Mary Cassatt, American painter and educator (died 1926)
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, born ʻAbbás, was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith, who designated him to be his successor and head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 until 1921.…
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Iranian religious leader (died 1921)
Félix Arnaudin was a French poet, photographer, and specialist in Haute-Lande folklore. In Gascony, M. Arnaudin created his collection of tales by attending gatherings, as well as …
Félix Arnaudin, French poet and photographer (died 1921)
Garret Augustus Hobart was the 24th vice president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his death in 1899, under President William McKinley. A member of the Republican Par…
Garret Hobart, American lawyer and politician, 24th Vice President of the United States (died 1899)
Baron Detlev von Liliencron born Friedrich Adolf Axel von Liliencron was a German poet and novelist from Kiel.
Detlev von Liliencron, German poet and author (died 1909)
Oscar Leopold von Gebhardt was a German Lutheran theologian, born in the Baltic German settlement of Wesenberg in the Russian Empire.
Oscar von Gebhardt, German theologian and academic (died 1906)
John Boyle O'Reilly was an Irish poet, journalist, author and activist. As a youth in Ireland, he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or Fenians, for which he was tra…
John Boyle O'Reilly, Irish-born poet, journalist and fiction writer (died 1890)
Peter I was King of Serbia from 15 June 1903 to 1 December 1918. On 1 December 1918, he became King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and he held that title until his death three …
Peter I of Serbia (died 1921)
Dankmar Adler was a German-born American architect and civil engineer. He is best known for his fifteen-year partnership with Louis Sullivan, during which they designed influential…
Dankmar Adler, German-born American architect and engineer (died 1900)
William Archibald Spooner was a British clergyman and long-serving Oxford don. He was most notable for his absent-mindedness, and for supposedly mixing up the syllables in a spoken…
William Archibald Spooner, English priest and scholar (died 1930)
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artis…
Thomas Eakins, American painter, sculptor, and photographer (died 1916)