Events from the year 1873 in the United States. Hudson River yacht club is established
Incumbents
Federal government
President: Ulysses S. Grant (R-Illinois) Vice President: Schuyler Colfax (R-Indiana) (until March 4), Henry Wilson (R-Massachusetts) (starting March 4) Chief Justice: Salmon P. Chase (Ohio) (until May 7) Speaker of the House of Representatives: James G. Blaine (R-Maine) Congress: 42nd (until March 4), 43rd (starting March 4)
Events
January–March
January 1 – The California Penal Code goes into effect. January 17 – Indian Wars: The first Battle of the Stronghold is fought during the Modoc War. February 20 – The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco. March - Downers Grove, Illinois is incorporated. March 1 – E. Remington and Sons of Ilion, New York, start production of the first practical typewriter. March 3 – Censorship: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail. March 4 – President Ulysses S. Grant begins his second term. Henry Wilson sworn in as Vice President of the United States. March 15 – The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity is founded at the Massachusetts Agricultural College. March 22 – Emancipation Day for Puerto Rico: Slaves are freed (with a few exceptions).
April–June
April 1
The Coinage Act of 1873 comes into force, ending bimetallism in the U.S. and placing the nation firmly on the gold standard. Hinsdale, Illinois is incorporated. April 13 – Between 62 and 153 Republican freedmen and state militia die in the Colfax massacre while attempting to protect the Grant Parish courthouse, including about 50 who surrendered. April 15–17 – Indian Wars: The Second Battle of the Stronghold is fought. May – Henry Rose exhibits barbed wire at an Illinois county fair, which is taken up by Joseph Glidden and Jacob Haish, who invent a machine to mass-produce it. May 13 – First U.S. postal card is issued. May 20 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive United States patent#139121 for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants. Levi Strauss & Co. begin manufacturing the famous Levi's brand of jeans, using fabric from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire. May 23 – The Preakness Stakes horse race first runs in Baltimore, Maryland. Postal cards are sold in San Francisco for the first time. June 2 – Construction begins on the Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco. June 4 – Indian Wars: The Modoc War ends with the capture of Kintpuash ("Captain Jack").
July–September
July 21 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American West (US$3,000 from the Rock Island Express). August 4 – Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the Seventh Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clashes for the first time with the Sioux, near the Tongue River (only 1 man on each side is killed). September 6 – Regular cable car service begins on Clay Street, San Francisco. September 17 – The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, later Ohio State University, opens its doors with 25 students, including 2 women. September 18 – The New York stock market crash triggers the Panic of 1873, part of the Long Depression.
October–December
October 30 – P.T. Barnum's circus, The Greatest Show on Earth, debuts in New York City. December 15 – Women of Fredonia, New York march against the retail liquor dealers in town, inaugurating the Women's Crusade of 1873–74. This leads to the creation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. December 23 – Women's Crusade spreads to Hillsboro, Ohio. December 25 – Delta Gamma sorority founded in Oxford, Mississippi.
Undated
Railroads connect Northern Michigan port cities of Ludington, Traverse City and Petoskey. Coors Brewing Company begins making beer in Golden, Colorado. Central Park is officially completed in New York City. Nine Pekin ducks are imported to Long Island (the first in the United States). Eliza Daniel Stewart organizes the Woman's Temperance League in Osborn, Ohio.
Ongoing
Reconstruction era (1865–1877) Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896) Depression of 1873–79 (1873–1879)