1876-1900

Rutherford Hayes inaugurated

Mar 5, 1877

Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the 19th president.

U.S. population tops 50,000,000, including 6,000,000 foreign-born

1880

Thomas A. Edison patents incandescent light bulb

1880

Booker T. Washington founds the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to promote trade education for African-Americans

1881

James A. Garfield is inaugurated as the 20th president.

Mar 4, 1881

He dies later from complications from the shot.

He is shot by Charles Guiteau in Washington, DC.

Jul 2, 1881

United States divided into time zones

1883

Brooklyn Bridge opens in New York

1883

Grover Cleveland is inaugurated as the 22nd president.

Mar 4, 1885

Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York

1886

Flood kills thousands in Johnstown, PA.

1889

Benjamin Harrison inaugurated as twenty-third President of the U.S.

Mar 4, 1889

Wyoming becomes the 44th state and the first one admitted to the Union with women's suffrage

1890

John Philip Sousa forms his band, after having led the U.S. Marine Corps Band

1891

Grover Cleveland is inaugurated a second time, as the 24th president.

Mar 4, 1893

He is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.

A large tornado destroys the town of Sherman, Texas. This is part of a two-week sequence of tornadoes in nine states thought to be the worst in U.S. history.

May 5, 1896

William McKinley inaugurated as twenty-fifth President of the U.S.

Mar 4, 1897

The USS Maine is sunk in Havana Harbor, Cuba, one of the events that led to the Spanish-American War(1898-1899).

1898