Events from the year 1878 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
President: Rutherford B. Hayes (R-Ohio) Vice President: William A. Wheeler (R-New York) Chief Justice: Morrison Waite (Ohio) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Samuel J. Randall (D-Pennsylvania) Congress: 45th
Events
January 28
The world's First Telephone Exchange begins commercial operation in New Haven, Connecticut. The Yale News becomes the first daily college newspaper in the U.S. February 18 – The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico. February 19 – The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison. February 23 – Bland–Allison Act, leading to first minting of the Morgan dollar. February 28 – Mississippi State University is created by the Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi). March 26 – University of California, Hastings College of the Law is founded. April 4 – The Gunfight at Blazer's Mill occurs in Lincoln County, New Mexico. May 2 – The Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota explodes, killing 18. May 14 – Salem witchcraft trial, the last of its kind in the U.S., opens in Salem, Massachusetts. June 18 – Posse Comitatus Act signed into law to limit the powers of the federal government of the United States in using the United States Army to enforce domestic policy within the U.S. July 12 – Yellow fever epidemic begins in New Orleans. It will eventually kill 4,500 people. July 26 – In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box is found later with a taunting poem inside. August 9 – The Wallingford Tornado of 1878, the deadliest tornado in Connecticut history, destroys the town of Wallingford, killing 34 people and injuring 70 or more. September 30 – The ship Priscilla arrives in Hawaii from Funchal, Madeira, marking the beginning of the Portuguese immigration to the Hawaiian Islands (1878–1913). October 1 – Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. November 18 – Soprano Marie Selika Williams becomes the first African American artist to perform at the White House.
Undated
Yellow fever in Mississippi Valley kills over 13,000. 2020
U.S. arbitration rejects Argentine claims to Paraguay's part of the Chaco region. The Johns Hopkins University Press, America's oldest university press, is established Albert Augustus Pope's Pope Manufacturing Company begins producing the Columbia high-wheel bicycle outside Boston, signalling the beginning of a bicycle craze in the U.S. The Remington No. 2 typewriter, the first with a shift key enabling production of lower as well as upper case characters, is introduced. The Wissner Piano Company is opened by Otto Wissner in Brooklyn, New York. Champlain College, in Burlington, VT is founded.
Ongoing
Gilded Age (1869–c. 1896) Depression of 1873–79 (1873–1879)
Sport
October 2 – The Buffalo Bisons of the International League defeat the National League champion Boston Red Caps behind the pitching of Pud Galvin to become Baseball's First Undisputed Champion