1887 - Definition and Overview

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 23 - The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.

March

• March 4 - Gottlieb Daimler unveils his first automobile

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 23 - The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating that nation's first national park, Banff National Park. [1] (http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/cseh-twih/archives2_E.asp?id=25)
• 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.

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, later head of German Abwehr
• January 3 - August Macke, painter (d. 1914)
• January 19 - Alexander Woollcott, intellectual (d. 1943)
• January 21 - Maude Davis, later Oldest Person in the World (d. 2002)
• January 28 - Artur Rubinstein, Polish pianist, conductor (d. 1982)

February

• February 1 - Charles Nordhoff, author (d. 1947)
• February 2 - Pat Sullivan, Australian director and producer of animated films, alleged co-creator of Felix the Cat
• February 3 - Georg Trakl, poet (d. 1914)
• February 6 - Josef Frings, archbishop of Cologne (d. 1978)
• February 11 - Ernst Hanfstängl, German/US pianist/politician.
• February 11 - John van Melle South African writer
• February 18 - Nikos Kazantzakis, 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, poet
• March 5 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (d. 1959)
• March 14 - Sylvia Beach, publisher
• March 22 - Chico Marx, comedian, actor (d. 1961)
• March 23 - Juan Gris, painter and graphic artist (d. 1927)
• March 23 - Prince Felix Yussupov, assassin of Rasputin (d. 1967)
• March 24 - Fatty Arbuckle, actor (d. 1933)

May

• May 2 - Eddie Collins, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1951)
• May 11 - Paul Wittgenstein, pianist
• May 26 - Paul Lukas, actor (d. 1971)
• May 28 - Jim Thorpe, athlete (d. 1953)

June

• June 2 - Orrick Johns, poet & playwright
• June 22 - Julian Huxley, British biologist (d. 1975)

July

• July 18 - Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician and famous traitor
• July 29 - Sigmund Romberg, composer (d. 1951)

August

• August 12 - Erwin Schrödinger, physicist
• August 17 - Emperor Karl of Austria
• August 17 - Marcus Mosiah Garvey, publisher, entrepreneur, black nationalist (d. 1940)
• August 24 - Harry Hooper, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1974)

September

• September 1 - Blaise Cendrars, writer
• September 3 - Frank Christian, jazz musician (d. 1973)
• September 16 - Kamato Hongo, later Oldest Person in the World.
• September 28 - Avery Brundage, American sports official

October

• October 6 - Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (d. 1965)
• October 8 - Huntley Gordon, pioneer Hollywood actor (d. 1956)
• October 22 - John Reed, journalist (d. 1920)

November

• November 6 - Walter Johnson, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1946)
• November 10 - Arnold Zweig, German writer (d. 1968)
• November 17 - Bernard Montgomery, famous WWII British commander

December

• December 12 - Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer
• December 22 - Srinivasa Aaiyangar Ramanujan, Indian mathematician

Deaths

• February 27 - Alexander Borodin, composer
• May 14 - Lysander Spooner, individualist anarchist (b. 1808)
• July 25 - John Taylor, American religious leader (b. 1808)
• October 17 - Gustav Kirchhoff, physicist
• November 2 - Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano (b. 1820)