US and World History -- Year In Context
(In large part, dates are from  http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/dates)

1850's              56 57 58 59
1860's
1870's
1880's
1890's
1900's
1910's
1920's

1856

• ?? ?? 1856 Cocaine extracted from cocoa leaves, but has no legitimate use (ever!)
• ?? ?? 1856 Western Union Telegraph Co. established in Cleveland
• 29 01 1856 The Victoria Cross was instituted by Queen Victoria
• 21 04 1856 the first train crosses the Mississippi river
• 19 08 1856 Gail Borden patents condensed milk
• 03 09 1856 Louis Sullivan, father of modern US architecture is born

1857

?? ?? 1857 Transatlantic cable begins; used briefly in 1858.  Replaced in 1866

06 03 1857 Dred Scott decision handed down by Supreme Court

27 06 1857 British soldiers and others massacred at Cawnpore, India

10 09 1857 Mormons, embittered by religious persecution, attack and kill Gentile wagon train in what was to become known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre

16 09 1857 Patent was issued for the typesetting machine

1858

• ?? ?? 1858 Central Park in New York is begun with Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux winning the design contest
• 11 05 1858 Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union
• 15 05 1858 The Royal Opera house, Covent Garden, opened in London
• 02 06 1858 the Donati Comet 1st seen, named after its discoverer
• 26 07 1858 Baron Rothschild becomes the first Jew to be admitted to the British Parliament
• 29 07 1858 1st commercial treaty between US and Japan was signed
• 03 08 1858 Lake Victoria was discovered by Captain Speke
• 21 08 1858 first of the Lincoln/Douglas debates
• 08 09 1858 Lincoln makes a speech about when you can fool people
• 27 10 1858 RH Macy & Co. opens 1st store, on 6th Avenue, New York City
• 17 11 1858 0h on this day was the epoch for the Modified Julian Date (MJD)

1859

?? ?? 1859 "On  the Origin of Species by  Means of Natural Selection" by Charles Darwin published
28 01 1859 Seth Thomas, American clock maker, died
14 02 1859 Oregon, the Beaver State, becomes the 33rd state
25 04 1859 Ground broken for the Suez Canal
27 08 1859 1st successful oil well drilled near Titusville, Penn
01 09 1859 Joshua A. Norton proclaims himself Emperor Norton I
19 09 1859 The song "Dixie" was first sung by its composer, a blackfaced minstrel singer, Daniel Decatur Emmett
20 09 1859 Patent granted on the electric range
16 10 1859 Abolitionist John Brown leads assault on armory at Harper's Ferry, Colonel Robert E. Lee, US Army, commands troops against John Brown.
02 12 1859 John Brown is hung for treason, murder and conspiracy in Charlestown, Virginia

updated 10/03/2003