Back to 1888 General Conference
What’s Happening in America in 1888
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- January 12 – The “Children’s (Schoolhouse) Blizzard” hit the Dakota Territory, Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas, leaving 235 dead, many of whom were school children.
- March 6 – Beloved children’s author, Louisa May Alcott, died 2 days after her father Bronson.
- March 11 – One of the worst blizzards in U.S. history, the “Great Blizzard of 1888” began along the East Coast of the U.S., shutting down commerce and killing more than 400. It lasted 4 days, with snowfalls of 20-60 inches and sustained winds of more than 45 mph.
- March-April – Susan B. Anthony and Rachel Foster Avery organized and led out in the first International Council of Women, advocating human rights for women.
- May 27 – The first Northern Pacific Railroad train passed through the Stampede Pass Tunnel, thus linking St. Paul, MN with Tacoma, WA – St. Paul’s Union Station was expanded to host over 8 million travelers. In Minneapolis, Donaldson’s built a new store – “The Glass Block.”
- September 4 – George Eastman patented a photographic camera to sell in his newly founded company Eastman-Kodak, a business which would dominate the industry for over a century.
- October 9 – The Washington Monument was officially opened to the general public in D.C.
- November 6 – In the U.S. presidential election, Democratic Party incumbent Grover Cleveland won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College vote to Republican challenger Benjamin Harrison, therefore losing the election. Cleveland would return to the presidency 4 years later.
