Albert Sterner (American, 1863-1946)
Woman Seated at the Piano, 1895, Watercolor on paper
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York
Gift of Mrs. Elizabeth Morris Poucher, class of 1918, 1976.80

1865

“The Black Crook,” first American musical, opens on Broadway

1868

First amateur track and field meet in the United States held at New York Athletic Club

1869

First professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, formed

Base Ball Match.
"The College Regatta and Ball Match at Worchester Massachusetts, July 19, 1867", Harper's Weekly, Aug. 1867, p.488.

1874

First public zoo in the United States opens in Philadelphia

Chautauqua movement founded in Chautauqua, New York

Macy’s department store in New York introduces Christmas display windows

1875

P.T. Barnum introduces the three-ring circus

First Kentucky Derby horse race run at Churchill Downs, Louisville, KY

1876

Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia

Baseball’s National League created; first pennant won by Chicago

Frederick Law Olmsted’s Central Park completed, New York City

View from Belvedere, Looking South.
"Central Park," Scribner's Monthly, Sept. 1873, p.533.

1878

First bicycle club formed in Boston

Anna Katherine Green publishes The Leavenworth Case, considered the first American detective novel

1881

First major vaudeville theater opens in New York City

First men’s national tennis championship played at Newport, RI

1883

First Wild West Show presented by Buffalo Bill

1884

World’s Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans

1886

First Tournament of Roses held in Pasadena, California

1887

First women’s national tennis championship played in Philadelphia

1889

Safety bicycles manufactured in the United States, beginning a bicycle craze

1890

First Army-Navy football game

1891

Basketball invented by YMCA athletics instructors

1892

James Corbett knocks out John L. Sullivan and wins world heavyweight boxing title

1893

Ice hockey introduced to United States

World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago

Image courtesy the Victorian Scrapbook at
 The Trade Card Place.

1894

Purdue University leads in creation of Western Conference (now Big Ten) in college football

1895

Cotton States Exposition, Atlanta

Volleyball invented by YMCA athletic instructors

First United States Golf Association amateur championship and first US Open in golf held back-to-back at Newport, R.I.; first USGA Women’s amateur held at Westbury, NY

Image courtesy the Victorian Scrapbook at
 The Trade Card Place. 

1896

“Yellow Kid” color comic appears and popularizes Sunday newspaper comics

Fannie Farmer, The Boston Cooking School Cook Book

1897

First Boston Marathon

1898

Last year for decades that any African-American professional baseball player appears in National League games

1899

Enrico Marconi demonstrates wireless technology by broadcasting news of the America’s Cup yacht race

1901

Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo

1903

First World Series in baseball pits Boston Pilgrims (American League) against Pittburgh Pirates (National League); Pilgrims win, 5 games to 3

1904

Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis; includes first Olympic Games held in the Western Hemisphere

George M. Cohan, Little Johnny Jones, musical show which is the source of “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “Give My Regards to Broadway”

1905

First “nickelodeon” movie theater opens in Pittsburgh

Second World Series in baseball pits New York Giants (National League) over Philadelphia Athletics (American League); Giants win, 4 games to 1