How did an 1883 volcanic explosion have the force of 10,000 atomic bombs?
Why was a former president hanging out near a railroad in the Pacific
Northwest? Here are 12 of America's most momentous occurrences of the year 1883.
In the early morning hours of January 10, 1883, a fire broke out at the famed
Newhall House Hotel in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It would end up being one of the
deadliest fires in American history. Built in 1856 by Daniel Newhall, a well-to-do merchant,
the House was a must-visit for anyone in "society" that visited the town.
But it was a destination that was almost destined for disaster. The local fire
department had already flagged the hotel as being at high risk for a dangerous fire, and members of
the department later expressed no surprise at the quick spread of the flames that day.
On that early 1883 morning, the fatal Newhall House Hotel fire broke out in an elevator shaft
within the building and raced through the structure so fast that dozens of guests were
forced to leap from windows to gain any possible chance of survival. In all, 76 people are known
to have perished as a result of the Newhall House Hotel fire, though some estimates put the figure
at 90 or more. The event was, for many decades, the deadliest hotel fire in American history,
though eventually many other hotel fires would surpass the body count.
Life Magazine was founded in the year 1883, beginning publication in January.
But to be clear, this newly minted magazine precedes LIFE Magazine,
the photo-heavy publication whose iconic images would define much of 20th-century life.
The original Life Magazine, published in New York weekly and distributed widely,
was a magazine loaded with satire, criticism, cultural reviews, cartoons, and so on.
Life Magazine was founded by a man named John Ames Mitchell who was known for strong
opinions and a willingness to share them. In fact, the content Mitchell published in his
magazine led to frequent lawsuits. Life was published continuously until the year 1936,
meaning it had a 53-year run, quite an achievement for any periodical. Its longevity was helped
along not only by the writing but also by its popular cartoons and covers with artwork by such
notables as Norman Rockwell, whose paintings graced the cover more than two dozen times.
It's worth noting that Life did not fold because it fell out of favor,
but rather was yet another victim of the challenging financial times of The Great
Depression — running a magazine was a hard way to make a buck.
Already by the year 1883, much of the so-called "Wild West" was actually settled and relatively
peaceful — at the horrific expense of the natives who had lived there for centuries,
of course. But with the "wild" American West already part of wider cultural imagination,
William F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, took advantage of
the mythical western appeal and founded his famous traveling show in May 1883.
A genuine adventurer before he turned showman, Buffalo Bill was indeed a former buffalo hunter,
a scout, and a soldier in the United States Army,
in which capacity he fought in the Civil War and later against natives.
The traveling show Buffalo Bill originated was named "Buffalo Bill's Wild West,"
not "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show," as it’s often called,
and it involved everything from expert shooting demonstrations to acted-out stagecoach robberies
to displays of horsemanship and livestock roping. The show would evolve over the coming years,
and it remained popular into the early years of the 20th century. But by the year 1913,
interests had shifted, and the Wild West show found itself bankrupt.
Buffalo Bill Cody briefly turned to making movies, but he died in 1917 at the age of 70.
"Time just gets away from us."
Far and away one of New York City's most famous landmarks, the Brooklyn
Bridge is also one of its most useful conduits, transporting heavy traffic each and every day.
The bridge was opened in 1883 after 14 years of construction and, according to History,
at a cost that would have equaled more than $320 million in today's dollars.
Sadly, also of historical note were the deaths of 12 on the bridge on May 31,
1883. They were crushed in a stampede caused by a sudden panic resulting from a woman
slipping down the stairs and screaming, which led to a panic as word spread that
the bridge was about to collapse. About a year later, on May 17, 1884,
famed circus operator P.T. Barnum directed a column of 21 elephants across the bridge
in an exaggerated but effective stunt showing that the bridge was in fact stable, sound, and safe.
By the time of his death in the year 1970, Rube Goldberg was one of the most famous cartoonists
to have lived. And in fact, according to RubeGoldberg.com, he remains — to this
day — the only cartoonist ever to have his name listed in a dictionary as an adjective.
A "Rube Goldberg"-style of contraption is one that uses comically overcomplicated steps
and devices to "simplify" an everyday task, such as pouring a cup of coffee,
buttering bread, or using a napkin to clean one's chin while dining.
Goldberg was born in San Francisco on the fourth of July in 1883 and would go on to create nearly
50,000 cartoons in the course of his long career. His studies in engineering at the University of
California, Berkeley helped inform the complex, imaginative "machines" he designed on paper,
and his work was published in newspapers and magazines, making them easy to see worldwide.
The year 1883 saw the United States Navy finally enter into the modern era. That's because,
according to the National Museum of the U.S. Navy's "Naval History and Heritage Command"
publication, on March 3, 1883, the Navy finally authorized construction of steel ships. Though it
would be several years before a new generation of modern American ships were plying the seas,
the pivot to the future had begun with congressional approval of four new warships.
This renewal of the United States Navy began the construction of the so-called ABCD ships,
these being the USS Atlanta, the USS Boston, the USS Chicago, and the USS Dolphin.
The ships featured hulls made of steel and a mix of propulsion systems. They would be able
to travel using coal fire-generated steam power, but they could also still use sails,
a holdout from the centuries of ship designs that had come before. The so-called "Steel Navy" would
soon replace outdated and vulnerable wooden vessels, and within less than two decades,
new steel warships would see action when America battled Spain in the Spanish-American War.
The modern era of municipal public transportation in the United States of America was born on June
2, 1883. And it was not in the city most closely associated with subways,
New York City, but rather in Chicago, Illinois. It was on that early summer
date that an electrically powered elevated train made its first trip,
ushering in the use of a technology still thriving today, nearly a century and a half later.
The first electric L Train, designed by Thomas Edison and Stephen Field,
would only be used as a demonstration device proving the technology worked,
but between early June and the end of the month, it carried nearly 27,000 passengers
on a track measuring a third of a mile long. The train moved at about nine miles per hour.
*Hooting and hollering.*
On August 27, 1883, the eruption of the Krakatoa
volcano became one of the deadliest events in all of human history. Located in the
Indonesian archipelago, Krakatoa was a small piece of land, less than six miles across
at its longest measurement. But the eruption that obliterated much of the island was so
powerful it would quite literally have effects all around the earth, including in America.
According to Live Science, the force of the Krakatoa eruption equalled a
blast of 200 megatons of TNT. For reference, the nuclear bomb dropped
over Hiroshima unleashed a blast measured at 20 kilotons of TNT,
meaning Krakatoa's explosive power was about 10,000 times more powerful than that of the bomb.
An estimated 36,000 people were killed as a result of the eruption, the sound of which could be heard
in cities nearly 3,000 miles away. In the United States, the sunsets were deeply colored for days
following the eruption due to the countless tons of material expelled into the atmosphere.
For generations, The Met has been considered one of the world's premier houses of the performing
arts. In fact, it has been an August establishment ever since it was first opened in October 1883.
It was then located on Broadway at 39th Street in downtown New York City,
though today the Met is at 30 Lincoln Center Plaza. The establishment of a permanent home
came three years after the founding of the Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City.
According to the Met Opera, the original opera house was funded by a group of wealthy
businessmen who wanted a theater they could attend regularly. The Metropolitan Opera's
new venue was inaugurated with a performance of "Faust," the story of a magician who sells his
soul to the devil — the Faustian Bargain. The play, though written in German, was performed
in Italian in accordance with preferences of the times. Eventually the theater adopted the
practice of performing almost all works in the language in which they were originally written.
Today, the Metropolitan Opera is considered America's largest classical music organization,
annually presenting as many as 220 opera performances.
Today, we take it for granted that the continental United States of America has four times zones:
Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Western. But prior to the year 1883,
the nation was not divided as such. According to History, it wasn’t until November 18,
1883, that time zones first began to be used in America, and their adoption came
not because of a government mandate, but rather from railroad companies.
In a bid to make scheduling and tracking trains easier, more efficient, and more reliable, train
companies agreed to begin using the four time zones and denoting their corresponding regions,
making sure all rail company clocks within said zones were synched up.
Much of the country beyond the railroad companies quickly adopted the use of these time zones,
but they were actually not officially adopted by the federal government for more than three decades
to follow. It was not until 1918 that the Standard Time Act enshrined the use of time zones in law.
While hardly as famous as the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad that took place on May
10, 1869, near Promontory, Utah, the completion of the Northern Pacific was of great importance
to citizens of Montana and to many in the greater Pacific Northwest beyond. When the final spike was
driven into the ground near the western border of Montana, it connected the east and central areas
of the northern American states with the west, opening up opportunities for trade and travel.
"Well good luck with your business,
sir. I know the railroad's coming through here any day now. That's gonna be big."
On hand to drive home that last spike on September 8, 1883,
was none other than Ulysses S. Grant, then out of office after having served two terms as president.
Today, the Mayo Clinic is one of the world's leading centers of medical care, research,
and education, and is respected globally as a leader in these efforts. But when it was formed,
it was an emergency triage center. That's because the institution that grew into the Mayo Clinic of
today started after a horrible tornado ravaged Rochester in late August 1883.
On August 21, as evening settled, twirling winds ripped through much of the city, killing dozens
of people and leaving hundreds injured. Doctor William Worrall Mayo, along with help from his
sons and many other volunteers, established a makeshift hospital to help treat the wounded.
Several months later, their quickly established medical center would grow into the Saint
Mary's Hospital, which was later renamed the Mayo Clinic in honor of the doctor.
And over the years it would grow into the institution as it's known today.
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