16th February » Dollar coin (United States) or Silver Dollar becomes legal US tender.
21st February » The 'Oakland Tribune known as Oakland Daily Tribune' publishes its first edition.
28th February » One of the longest cases ever heard in an English court ends when the defendant is convicted of perjury for Tichborne case e.g attempting to assume the identity of the heir to the Tichborne baronets or Tichborne baronetcy.
15th March » French Third Republic e.g France and Nguyễn Dynasty known as Viet Nam sign the Second Treaty of Saigon, further recognizing the full sovereignty of France over Cochinchina.
18th March » Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trade rights.
9th May » The first horse-drawn bus makes its début in the city of Mumbai, traveling two routes.
16th May » A flood on the Mill River (Northampton, Massachusetts) called Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.
27th May » The first group of Dorsland Trek e.g Dorsland trekkers under the leadership of Gert Alberts leaves Pretoria.
1st July » The Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful typewriter, goes on sale.
8th July » The Royal Canadian Mounted Police named Mounties begin their North-West Mounted Police e.g March West.
23rd July » Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Kingdom of Portugal known as Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India.
5th August » Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom.
3rd September » The congress of the State of Mexico elevates Naucalpan to the category of Villa, with the title of "Villa de Benito Juárez called Juárez".
9th October » General Postal Union is created as a result of the Treaty of Berne.
25th November » The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the Panic of 1873.
Famous Birthdays in 1874
1st January » Frank Knox, American publisher and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1944)
1st January » Gustave Whitehead, German-American engineer (d. 1927)
3rd January » Francis Newton, American golfer (d. 1946)
4th January » Josef Suk (composer) e.g Josef Suk, Czech composer and violinist (d. 1935)
5th January » Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine or Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
6th January » Fred Niblo, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1948)
12th January » Laura Adams Armer, American author and photographer (d. 1963)
12th January » James Juvenal, American rower (d. 1942)
13th January » Alexandros Hatzikyriakos, Greek admiral and politician (d. 1958)
16th January » Robert W. Service, Canadian poet (d. 1958)
19th January » Hitachiyama Taniemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 19th Makuuchi Yokozuna called Yokozuna (d. 1922)
22nd January » Edward Harkness, American philanthropist (d. 1940)
22nd January » Jay Hughes, American baseball player (d. 1924)
25th January » W. Somerset Maugham, French-English author and playwright (d. 1965)
29th January » John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1960)
1st February » Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1929)
3rd February » Gertrude Stein, American poet and art collector (d. 1946)
6th February » Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (d. 1937)
9th February » Amy Lowell, American poet (d. 1925)
11th February » Elsa Beskow, Swedish author (d. 1953)
11th February » Fritz Hart, English composer and conductor (d. 1949)
14th February » Louis Handley, Italian-American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1956)
15th February » Ernest Shackleton, Irish explorer (d. 1922)
16th February » Marie Gutheil-Schoder, German soprano (d. 1935)
17th February » Thomas J. Watson, American businessman (d. 1956)
20th February » Mary Garden, Scottish soprano (d. 1967)
22nd February » Bill Klem, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1951)
23rd February » Konstantin Päts, Estonian politician, 1st President of Estonia (d. 1956)
24th February » Honus Wagner, American baseball player (d. 1955)
5th March » Henry Travers, English actor (d. 1965)
12th March » Charles Weeghman, American businessman (d. 1938)
14th March » Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips or Philips Electronics (d. 1951)
15th March » Eugène Fiset, Canadian physician, general, and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 1951)
15th March » Harold L. Ickes, American politician (d. 1952)
18th March » Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian philosopher (d. 1948)
20th March » Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (d. 1945)
23rd March » J. C. Leyendecker, German-American painter and illustrator (d. 1951)
24th March » Luigi Einaudi, Italian economist and politician, 2nd President of the Italian Republic (d. 1961)
24th March » Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician and actor (d. 1926)
26th March » Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (d. 1963)
29th March » Lou Henry Hoover, American wife of Herbert Hoover, 33rd First Lady of the United States (d. 1944)
30th March » Charles Lightoller, English 2nd officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1952)
1st April » Ernest Barnes, English mathematician and theologian (d. 1953)
1st April » Prince Karl of Bavaria (1874–1927) or Prince Karl of Bavaria (d. 1927)
8th April » Manuel Díaz (fencer) named Manuel Díaz, Cuban fencer (d. 1929)
8th April » Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (d. 1960)
12th April » William B. Bankhead, American politician, 47th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1940)
15th April » George Harrison Shull, American botanist and geneticist (d. 1954)
15th April » Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics known as Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
27th November » Charles A. Beard, American historian, author, and educator, co-founded The New School (d. 1948)
27th November » František Erben, Czech-Bohemian gymnast (d. 1942)
27th November » Chaim Weizmann, Belarusian-Israeli chemist and politician, 1st President of Israel (d. 1952)
29th November » Francis Dodd (artist) or Francis Dodd, Welsh-English painter and academic (d. 1949)
29th November » Egas Moniz, Portuguese physician and neurologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine named Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
30th November » Winston Churchill, English colonel, journalist, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel Prize in Literature or Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
30th November » Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (d. 1942)
2nd December » Joseph Olivier (rugby union) e.g Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (d. 1901)
6th December » Lucien Démanet, French gymnast (d. 1979)
8th December » Ernst Moro, Austrian physician and pediatrician (d. 1951)
13th December » Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist and educator (d. 1944)
17th December » William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian economist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1950)
20th December » Frederick Steep, Canadian soccer player (d. 1956)
22nd December » Franz Schmidt, Austrian cellist, pianist, and composer (d. 1939)