Year 1837 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History

This quick read presents a mix of fun facts, trivia, and history events from the year 1837. 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)—Until March 4
2. President of the United States: Martin Van Buren (D-New York)—Beginning on March 4
3. Vice President: Martin Van Buren (D-New York)—Until March 4
4. Vice President: Richard M. Johnson (D-Kentucky)—Beginning on March 4
5. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
6. Speaker of the House of Representatives: James K. Polk (D-Tennessee)
7. The 24th U.S. Congress was in session until March 4. On that date, the 25th U.S. Congress convened, and both chambers had a Democratic majority.
8. Inflation rate: 3.23%
9. $100.00 in 1837 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,468.96 today. The U.S. dollar had “an average inflation rate of 1.89% per year” between 1837 and 2026, “producing a cumulative price increase of 3,368.96%.” In other words, a U.S. dollar today buys about 2.883% of what it could purchase back in 1837.
10. It’s worth noting that the U.S. dollar has lost 97% of its value since 1837.
11. $1.00 in 1837 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $34.69 today.
12. As mentioned above, $100.00 in 1837 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,468.96 today.
13. Finally, $1,000.00 in 1837 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $34,689.58 today.
14. Consumer price index (CPI): 9.600
15. American companies founded in 1837 included C. D. Peacock (a Chicago-based jewelry store), C. F. Hathaway Company (a men’s shirt manufacturer), E. W. Clark & Co. (a Philadelphia-based financial services company), John Deere (an agricultural machinery manufacturer), Little, Brown and Company (a publishing company), Procter & Gamble (a consumer products company), and Tiffany & Co. (a luxury jewelry retailer).
16. American railroads established during 1837 were the Boston and Maine Railroad, Millstone and New Brunswick Railroad, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, and the Red River Railroad.
17. In 1837, there were 26 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 (1837), Indiana (1816), Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), Maine (1820), Missouri (1821), Arkansas (1836), and Michigan (1837).
18. On January 26, Michigan became the 26th U.S. state.
19. On February 13, the New York Flour Riot, “a violent, one-day uprising sparked by skyrocketing food prices and economic hardship,” unfolded. With up to a third of New York City’s 300,000 residents out of work, “working families and newly arrived poor immigrants faced the threat of starvation.”
20. On February 15, Congress “approved treaties 211 and 217, which aimed to displace Indigenous peoples from the Midwest to facilitate white settlement, marking just two of nearly 400 often inequitable treaties made between various Indigenous nations and the U.S. government between 1788 and 1883.”
21. On February 25, Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport received a U.S. patent for an electric motor.
22. On March 4, Chicago was incorporated as a city.
23. On March 28, German composer Felix Mendelssohn married Cécile Jeanrenaud, the daughter of a French clergyman.
24. June 20, 1837, marked the beginning of the Victorian Era in the UK. King William IV passed away, and his 18-year-old niece Victoria became the Queen of the United Kingdom. Her reign lasted for 63 years.
25. On December 29, Hiram A. and John A. Pitts of Winthrop, Maine, received a U.S. patent for a threshing machine “powered by a single horse treadmill.”
26. In 1837, English candlemaker William Procter and Irish soapmaker James Gamble founded Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio.
27. Joseph and Edward Tetley introduced Tetley tea in England under the name Joseph Tetley & Co.
28. Chemists John Lea and William Perrins of Worcester, England, started manufacturing the ever-popular Worcestershire sauce.
29. Key fiction works published in 1936 included Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales, and Sara Coleridge’s Phantasmion.
30. British children’s writer Robert Southey published The Story of the Three Bears.
31. Key nonfiction works published during the year included Washington Irving’s The Adventures of Captain Bonneville.
32. Famous people born in 1837 were Grover Cleveland (U.S. president), J. P. Morgan (entrepreneur), and William Dean Howells (novelist).
33. Notable people who died in 1837 included Alexander Pushkin (poet), Georg Buchner (playwright), and Johann Nepomuk Hummel (composer).
34. In 1936 as well, the words “Bastille Day,” “bread-and-butter,” “cardiology,” “frustrating,” “Jeffersonianism,” “Jim Crowism,” “legroom,” “Lincoln,” “line of force,” “multicolored,” “party line,” “plastic surgery,” “play host to,” “regardless of,” “Revised Version,” “round trip,” “smelling salts,” “snoozer,” and “upper-class” all appeared in print for the first time.
35. 50 bundles of straw: About $1.00
36. One bushel of apples: Around 12½ cents
37. One bushel of beans: About $1.00
38. One bushel of potatoes: Around 40 cents
39. One fur hat: About $3.00
40. One gallon of soap: Around 25 cents
41. One head of cabbage: About 10 cents
42. One pair of shoes: Around $1.75
43. One pound of cheese: About 8½ cents
44. One pound of fresh beef: Around four cents
45. One pound of fresh pork: About five cents
46. One pound of honey: Around 10 cents
47. One pound of lard: About 10 cents
48. One pound of tobacco: Around 12½ cents
49. One pound of veal: About four cents
50. One ton of coal for home heating: Around $1.25

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1837_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1837
3. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1837
4. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1836.html
5. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015035798035&seq=21
6. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1837
7. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1837
8. https://www.onthisday.com/weddings/date/1837
9. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1837.html
10. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1837.html
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1837_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