Events from the year 1884 in the United States .
December 6: Washington Monument completed.
March 27–29 – Cincinnati riots of 1884 .
April 21 – Hammond, Indiana , is incorporated a city.
May 1 – The eight-hour workday is first proclaimed by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. May 1, called May Day or Labour Day , is now a holiday recognized in almost every industrialized country.
May 17 – Alaska becomes a United States territory .
June 13 – LaMarcus Adna Thompson opens "Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway ", one of the earliest roller coasters, at Coney Island , New York City.
August 5 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor .
August 10 – An earthquake measuring 5.5 (based on the felt area) affected a very large portion of the eastern United States. The shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong ). Chimneys were toppled in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Property damage was severe in Jamaica and Amityville in New York.[ 1]
August 28 – The earliest known photograph of a tornado is taken by F. N. Robinson during a tornado outbreak in South Dakota .
September 5 – Staten Island Academy is founded.
October – International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. , fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.
October 6 – The United States Naval War College is established in Newport, Rhode Island .
November 4 – 1884 United States presidential election : Democratic Governor of New York Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.
December 1 – American Old West : Near Frisco, New Mexico , deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarthy (the cowboys were terrorizing the area's Hispanos and Baca was working against them).
December 6 – The Washington Monument is completed.
December 16 – The World Cotton Centennial World's Fair opens in New Orleans, Louisiana .
Harry S. Truman
January 1
January 12
January 26 – Roy Chapman Andrews , adventurer and naturalist (died 1960 )
February 15 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert , inventor, athlete, magician, and businessman (died 1961 )
February 18
March 10 – Stuart Holmes , actor and sculptor (died 1971 )
March 11 – Sheridan Downey , U.S. Senator from California from 1939 to 1950 (died 1961 )
March 17 – Alcide Nunez , jazz musician (died 1934 )
March 21 – George D. Birkhoff , mathematician (died 1944 )
March 22 – Arthur H. Vandenberg , U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1928 to 1951 (died 1951 )
March 31 – James P. Pope , U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1933 to 1939 (died 1966 )
April 1 – George A. Wilson , U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1943 to 1949 (died 1953 )
April 17 – Leo Frank , factory superintendent and convicted murderer (died 1915 )
April 20 – Oliver Kirk , bantamweight and featherweight professional boxer (died 1960 )
May 8 – Harry S. Truman , 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953, 34th vice president of the United States from January to April 1945 (died 1972)
May 26 – Charles Winninger , stage and film actor (died 1969 )
June 21
June 22 – James Rector , Olympic athlete (died 1949 )
July 7 – J. Roy Hunt , motion picture cameraman and cinematographer (died 1972 )
August 9 – John S. McCain Sr. , U.S. Navy admiral (died 1945 )
August 27 – Harry Antrim , actor (died 1967 )
September 1 – Richard C. Saufley , naval aviation pioneer (died 1916 )
October 7 – Harold Geiger , aviation pioneer (died 1927 )
October 9 – Martin Johnson , adventurer and filmmaker (died 1937 )
October 11 – Eleanor Roosevelt , First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (died 1962 )
November 20 – Loyal Blaine Aldrich , astronomer (died 1965 )
December 2 – Ruth Draper , actress and monologist (died 1956 )
Legrand Chapell
14 February
13 March – Leland Stanford Jr. , son of Governor Leland Stanford of California , in whose memory Stanford University is founded (born 1868 )
21 March – Ezra Abbot , Bible scholar (born 1819 )
23 March – Henry C. Lord , railroad executive (born 1824 )
31 March – Frederick Leypoldt , bibliographer (born 1835 in Germany)
3 May – Truman Smith , U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1849 to 1854 (born 1791 )
6 May – Judah P. Benjamin , United States Senator from Louisiana from 1853 till 1861, 1st Confederate States Attorney General , 2nd Confederate States Secretary of War , 3rd Confederate States Secretary of State , died in Paris , France (born 1811 )
13 May – Cyrus McCormick , inventor (born 1809 )
8 June – Henry Clay Work , composer (born 1832 )
12 June – Frank Pidgeon , baseball pitcher (born 1825 )
1 July – Allan Pinkerton , detective (born 1819)
10 July – Paul Morphy , chess player (born 1837 )
15 July – Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps , educator and author (born 1793 )
23 August – LeRoy Pope Walker , 1st Confederate States Secretary of War (born 1817 )
2 September – Henry B. Anthony , U.S. Senator from Rhode Island from 1859 to 1884 (born 1815 )
26 September – John W. Garrett , banker, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and philanthropist (born 1820 )
6 November – William Wells Brown , African American writer (born 1814 )
9 December – Mary Bell Smith , educator, social reformer, and writer. (born 1818 )
Date unknown – Wendel Bollman , civil engineer (born 1814)