January–March

January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee kills 73 people.

January 16 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, reforming the United States civil service with the aim to end the spoils system, becomes law.

January 19 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires begins service in Roselle, New Jersey (it was built by Thomas Edison).

February 23 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.

February 28 – The first vaudeville theater is opened, in Boston, Massachusetts.

March

Congress authorizes first steel vessels in the United States Navy.

Susan Hayhurst becomes first woman to get a pharmacy degree in the United States.

April–June

April 13 – Prospector Alferd Packer convicted of manslaughter after being accused of cannibalism.

April 30 – New York Governor Grover Cleveland signs a bill authorizing protection of land for Niagara Falls State Park, which would eventually lead to the Niagara Reservation being established two years later in 1885.

May 19 – Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show debuts In Omaha Nebraska

May 24 – Brooklyn Bridge is opened to traffic after 13 years of construction.

May 30 – In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes 12 people.

July–September

August – Senator George Vest, along with President Chester A. Arthur, with cabinet members, begin a fishing trip to Yellowstone Park for two weeks, becoming the first sitting president to visit the park, and bringing national attention to Yellowstone.

August 1 – President Chester A. Arthur opens the first Southern Exposition In Louisville.

September 5 – Mary F. Hoyt becomes the first woman appointed to the U.S. federal civil service (and the second person appointed by examination (in which she came top) instituted under the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act) when she becomes a clerk in the Bank Redemption Agency of the Department of the Treasury.

September 15 – The University of Texas at Austin opens to students.

September 29 – A consortium of flour mill operators in Minneapolis, Minnesota, forms the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad as a means to get their product to the Great Lakes ports but avoid the high tariffs of Chicago.

October–December

October 15 – The Supreme Court of the United States declares part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 to be unconstitutional, since the Court allows private individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race.

November 3

American Old West: Self-described "Black Bart the Po-et" gets away with his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves an incriminating clue that eventually leads to his capture.

Danville Massacre: Race riots in Danville, Virginia kill 4 black Americans.

November 18 – U.S. and Canadian railroads institute 5 standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

November 28 – Whitman College is chartered as a 4-year college in Walla Walla, Washington.