1883 in the United States

1883 in the United States
Decades:	1860s 1870s – 1880s – 1890s 1900s
Years:	1880 1881 1882 – 1883 – 1884 1885 1886
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38 stars (1877 – 1890)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1865–1918)

Events from the year 1883 in the United States.

Incumbents

• President: Chester A. Arthur (Republican)
• Vice President: vacant
• Chief Justice: Morrison Waite
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: J. Warren Keifer (R-Ohio) (until March 4), John G. Carlisle (D-Kentucky) (starting December 3)
• Congress: 47th (until March 4), 48th (starting March 4)

Events

May 24: Brooklyn Bridge opens.

January–March

• January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee kills 73 people.
• January 16 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, reforming the United States civil service with the aim to end the spoils system, becomes law.
• January 19 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires begins service in Roselle, New Jersey (it was built by Thomas Edison).
• February 23 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
• February 28 – The first vaudeville theater is opened, in Boston, Massachusetts.

April–June

• May 24 – Brooklyn Bridge is opened to traffic after 13 years of construction.
• May 30 – In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes 12 people.

July–September

• July 4 – The world's first rodeo is held in Pecos, Texas.
• September 15 – The University of Texas at Austin opens to students.
• September 29 – A consortium of flour mill operators in Minneapolis, Minnesota forms the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railway as a means to get their product to the Great Lakes ports but avoid the high tariffs of Chicago.

October–December

• October 15 – The Supreme Court of the United States declares part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 to be unconstitutional, since the Court allows private individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race.
• November 3 – American Old West: Self-described "Black Bart the Po-et" gets away with his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves an incriminating clue that eventually leads to his capture.
• November 18 – U.S. and Canadian railroads institute 5 standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
• November 28 – Whitman College is chartered as a 4-year college in Walla Walla, Washington.

Undated

• The Wolf's Head Society (known as The Third Society until 1888) is founded at Yale University.
• Duncan, Arizona is founded.
• A depression starts in Seattle, United States.

Ongoing

• Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896)
• Depression of 1882–85 (1882–1885)

Births

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Deaths

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External links

• Media related to 1883 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons