New Decade

Grandpa and I are now working on probate files from the 1870s.  While everyday people were going about their days here's what was happening in the United States.

• 1870--The 15th Amendment to the Constitution is declared ratified.  It gave the right to vote for black Americans.
• 1870--The National Weather Service makes its first official weather forecast.
• 1871--The first professional baseball league plays a game.
• 1871--The great Chicago fire started.  The fire killed 250 people and left 90,000 homeless.
• 1871--National Rifle Association is granted charter by the State of New York.
• 1872--The world's first national park is established--Yellowstone National Park in the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.
• 1873--Jesse James and the James-Younger gang engage in the first successful train robbery in Iowa.
• 1874--The first United States zoo opens in Philadelphia.
• 1875--The first Kentucky Derby is run in Kentucky.
• 1876--The United States government orders all Native Americans onto a system of reservations.
• 1876--The Battle of Little Big Horn occurs.  General George Custer dies in the battle.
• 1877--Indian leader, Crazy Horse, surrenders to the United States Army in Nebraska.
• 1878--Thomas Edison patents the cylinder phonograph.
• 1878--The Edison Electric Company begins operation.
• 1879--The first five and dime store is opened--Woolworths.