Year 1834 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History

This quick read presents a mix of fun facts, trivia, and history events from the year 1834. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, historic firsts, noteworthy inventions, famous birthdays and deaths, retail prices, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: Andrew Jackson (D-Tennessee)
2. Vice President: Martin Van Buren (D-New York)
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Marshall (Virginia)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Andrew Stevenson (D-Virginia)—Until June 2, when he resigned from Congress to become the Minister to the United Kingdom.
5. Speaker of the House of Representatives: John Bell (Whig-Tennessee)—Beginning on June 2
6. The 23rd U.S. Congress was in session. The Senate had an “Anti-Jacksonian” or National Republican majority, and the House of Representatives had a “Jacksonian” or Democratic majority.
7. Inflation rate: 2.38%
8. $100.00 in 1834 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,872.33 today. The U.S. dollar had “an average inflation rate of 1.92% per year” between 1834 and 2026, “producing a cumulative price increase of 3,772.33%.” In other words, a U.S. dollar today buys about 2.582% of what it could purchase back in 1834.
9. It’s worth noting that the U.S. dollar has lost 97% of its value since 1834.
10. $1.00 in 1834 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $38.72 today.
11. $5.00 in 1834 is equivalent in spending power to around $193.62 today.
12. $10.00 in 1834 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $387.23 today.
13. As mentioned above, $100.00 in 1834 is equivalent in spending power to around $3,872.23 today.
14. Finally, $1,000.00 in 1834 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $38,723.26 today.
15. Consumer price index (CPI): 8.600
16. American companies founded in 1834 included the American Brass Company (a brass manufacturing company based in Connecticut), Bowery Savings Bank (a New York City-based bank), J & W Van Duzen & Company (a shipbuilding firm located in Philadelphia), Phelps Dodge Corporation (a mining company), and the Stedman Machine Company (a manufacturer of crushing equipment based in Aurora, Indiana).
17. American railroads established during 1834 were the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad, Boston and Providence Railroad, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad, Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, and the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad.
18. In 1834, there were 24 U.S. states. In order of admission to the Union, they were Delaware (1787), Pennsylvania (1787), New Jersey (1787), Georgia (1788), Connecticut (1788), Massachusetts (1788), Maryland (1788), South Carolina (1788), New Hampshire (1788), Virginia (1788), New York (1788), North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796), Ohio (1803), Louisiana (1834), Indiana (1816), Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), Maine (1820), and Missouri (1821). (It’s worth noting that Arkansas would be the next state to join the Union in 1836.)
19. On February 3, Wake Forest University was founded in North Carolina.
20. On March 3, American religious leader Brigham Young married herbalist Mary Ann Angell.
21. On March 18, the Staple Bend Tunnel, the first railroad tunnel to be completed in the United States, officially opened to the public in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The tunnel was 901 feet in length.
22. On March 13, English inventor Frederick Walton was born. He discovered linoleum by accident in 1855.
23. On March 28, President Jackson was censured by Congress for refusing to turn over documents “regarding his controversial veto of the Second Bank of the United States” and became the first U.S. president to suffer “formal disapproval” from Congress.
24. On April 10, a fire at the LaLaurie mansion in New Orleans, Louisiana, led to the discovery of a torture chamber where Delphine LaLaurie routinely brutalized enslaved workers. History.com reveals that “Rescuers found a 70-year-old Black woman trapped in the kitchen during the fire because she was chained up while LaLaurie was busy saving her furniture. The woman later revealed that she had set the fire in an attempt to escape LaLaurie’s torture. She led authorities up to the attic, where seven slaves were tied with spiked iron collars.”
25. On May 19, American botanist Catherine Furbish was born. She spent decades documenting Maine’s flora.
26. On June 14, inventor Isaac Fischer Jr. of Springfield, Vermont, received a U.S. patent for sandpaper.
27. On June 21, American inventor Cyrus McCormick received a U.S. patent for the first “practical mechanical reaper.”
28. On August 1, the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 came into effect, and slavery was abolished across the British Empire.
29. On August 14, American inventor Jacob Perkins received the first U.S. patent for a refrigerating machine.
30. On October 14, Henry Blair of Glenross, Maryland, received a U.S. patent for a corn planter. He is believed to be the first African American to be granted a patent.
31. Key fiction works published in 1934 were Edward Bulwer’s The Last Days of Pompei, Selina Davenport’s Personation, and W. Harrison Ainsworth’s Rookwood.
32. British children’s writer Frederick Marryat published his celebrated novel, Peter Simple.
33. Notable poetic work for the year: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Poetical Works
34. Top dramatic work in 1834: Henry Taylor’s Philip van Artevelde
35. Key nonfiction works for the year included George Bancroft’s History of the United States (Volume 1).
36. Famous people born in 1834 were Edgar Degas (painter), Ernst Haeckel (biologist), Hetty Green (entrepreneur), William John Willis (doctor), and William Morris (novelist).
37. Notable people who died in 1834 included Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet), Thomas Malthus (economist), Thomas Telford (engineer), William Carey (missionary), and William Johnson (Supreme Court Justice).
38. In 1834 as well, the words “baby tooth,” “bathrobe,” “Beau Brummell,” “businessperson,” “canyon,” “catchphrase,” “credenza,” “cross-reference,” “crystal ball,” “dog-eat-dog,” “dollar sign,” “electrolyte,” “higher education,” “hallucinate,” “jump rope,” “memorize,” “optimistic,” “scientist,” “self-employment,” “soft in the head,” “subconscious,” “teetotaler,” “tutti-frutti,” “union shop,” and “yacht club” all appeared in print for the first time.
39. 50 bundles of straw: About $1.00
40. One bushel of apples: Around 12½ cents
41. One bushel of beans: About $1.00
42. One bushel of potatoes: Around 40 cents
43. One fur hat: About $3.00
44. One gallon of soap: Around 25 cents
45. One head of cabbage: About 10 cents
46. One pair of shoes: Around $1.75
47. One pound of cheese: About 8½ cents
48. One pound of fresh beef: Around four cents
49. One pound of fresh pork: About five cents
50. One pound of honey: Around 10 cents
51. One pound of lard: About 10 cents
52. One pound of tobacco: Around 12½ cents
53. One pound of veal: About four cents
54. One ton of coal for home heating: Around $1.25
55. Wages for one day of mowing: Around 50 cents

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1834_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1834
3. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1834
4. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1831.html
5. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015035798035&seq=21
6. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1834
7. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1834
8. https://www.onthisday.com/weddings/date/1834
9. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1834.html
10. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1834.html
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1834_in_literature

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor