History
US History in 1885
- The Washington Monument was dedicated at a ceremony by President Chester A. Arthur. The obelisk was completed under federal auspices after construction had been started by private concerns thirty-seven years earlier in 1848.
- American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) was incorporated in New York City as a subsidiary of American Bell Telephone Company.
- The Statue of Liberty arrived for the first time in New York harbor.
- President Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War hero of federal forces, died in Mt. McGregor, New York.
- The Rock Springs, Wyoming, mining incident occurred when one hundred and fifty white miners attacked Chinese coworkers, killing twenty-eight and forcing several hundred more to leave Rock Springs.
Wisconsin History around 1885
- People in Wisconsin were virtually all white (less than one-tenth of 1 percent was African-American) and men outnumbered women by a slight margin, 52 percent to 48 percent.
- The population in Wisconsin was about a quarter Catholic, about a quarter Methodist, and the rest belonged to smaller Protestant sects.
- Languages spoken in Wisconsin homes included Ho-Chunk, French, German, Menominee, Dutch, Norwegian, Oneida, Swedish, Danish, Polish, and Potawatomie; all varieties of English accents were heard on the street, from Irish brogue to Southern drawl.
- Farming, mining and lumbering were the major industries of the period.
- During the Civil war, disaster struck farming when chinch bugs began devouring Wisconsin wheat. This led to dairy products becoming the leading farm product in the state.
For More Information
U.S History Timeline
A Chronology of History
U.S. Timeline
Wisconsin History |