Year 1880: Fun Facts, Trivia, and History

This quick read presents a mix of fun facts, trivia, and history events from the year 1880. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, historic firsts, sports facts, retail prices, entertainment trivia, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: Rutherford B. Hayes (R-Ohio)
2. Vice President: William A. Wheeler (R-New York)
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Morrison Waite (Ohio)
4. In 1880, the 46th U.S. Congress was in session. The Senate “had a Democratic majority, while the House of Representatives had a Democratic plurality.”
5. U.S. unemployment rate: Between 4% and 4.6% (During the 1880s, no state or federal agencies compiled “accurate tallies” of America’s unemployment rate. Only “rough estimates” of the U.S. jobless rate were available.)
6. Inflation rate: 2.00%
7. $100.00 in 1880 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,264.90 today. The U.S. dollar had “an average inflation rate of 2.42% per year” between 1880 and 2026, “producing a cumulative price increase of 3,164.90%.” In other words, a U.S. dollar today buys about 3.063% of what it could purchase back in 1880.
8. It’s worth noting that the U.S. dollar has lost 97% of its value since 1880.
9. $1.00 in 1880 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $32.65 today.
10. $10.00 in 1880 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $326.49 today.
11. As mentioned above, $100.00 in 1880 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,264.90 today.
12. Consumer price index (CPI): 10.200
13. The cost of a first-class stamp was three cents.
14. American companies and brands established in 1880 included the Gilman Paper Company (a paper manufacturing business); Hyer Boots (an American footwear brand); Kurz and Allison (a major publisher of chromolithographs in the late 19th century); Rotch & Tilden (an architectural firm); and Sheffield Pharmaceuticals (a manufacturer of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals).
15. American railroads founded during 1880 were the Charleston and Savannah Railway, the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Chicago Railway, and the New York, Ontario, and Western Railway.
16. In 1880, there were over 160,000 miles of railroad racks across the United States.
17. The average life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was around 42 to 45 years because of a high infant mortality rate. Americans who survived childhood often lived into their 50s, 60s, and even 70s.
18. In 1880, the population of the United States was 50,189,209. Farmers made up 49% of the labor force, and around 25% of farmers were tenant farmers. There were about 4,009,000 farms across the U.S., averaging about 134 acres apiece.
19. On January 27, Thomas Edison received a U.S. patent for an incandescent lamp.
20. On May 16, British novelist Mary Ann Evans (aka George Eliot) married Scottish banker John Cross in London. She died later in the year.
21. On May 18, Fonso was the winning horse in the sixth Kentucky Derby.
22. On May 19, American novelist Robert Louis Stevenson married Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne in San Francisco.
23. On June 1, the first “public pay telephone service” in the United States was installed in New Haven, Connecticut.
24. On June 5, Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw quit his job at the Edison Telephone Company in order to write.
25. On June 14, Grenada was the winning horse at the 14th Belmont Stakes.
26. On July 27, Alexander P. Ashbourne, an African American grocery store owner in California, received a U.S. patent for a method to refine coconut oil.
27. On September 29, at the first professional baseball game at the Polo Grounds in New York City, the New York Metropolitans defeated the Washington Nationals, 4-2, in five innings.
28. On October 4, the University of California (UCLA) was founded in Los Angeles, California.
29. On October 15, the warrior Victorio, “one of the greatest Apache military strategists of all time,” died in the Tres Castillos Mountains, south of El Paso, Texas.
30. On October 27, future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt married Alice Hathaway Lee.
31. In 1880, English immigrant Samuel Bath Thomas introduced the first "toaster crumpets" at his bakery in New York City. In 1894, he “cleverly rebranded them as ‘English Muffins.’”
32. The Warren Glass Works in Cumberland, Maryland, received a U.S. patent for a glass milk bottle.
33. Key fiction books published in 1880 included Henry Adams’ Democracy: An American Novel, Rhoda Broughton’s Second Thoughts, and Wilkie Collins’ Jezebel's Daughter.
34. A noteworthy non-fiction work published during 1880 was Henry Charlton Bastian’s The Brain as an Organ of Mind.
35. Famous people born in 1880 were Douglas MacArthur (war hero), Helen Keller (activist), and W. C. Fields (movie actor).
36. Famous people who died in 1880 included George Eliot (novelist), Gustave Flaubert (novelist), and John Sutter (entrepreneur).
37. In 1880 as well, the words “anti-Semitism,” “baby carrier,” “backstage,” “boogeyman,” “boycott,” “handwoven,” “Johnny-on-the-spot,” “junky,” “lakefront,” “lipstick,” “metal detector,” “milk of magnesia,” “nursing home,” “percent sign,” “pot roast,” “price tag,” “rainbow trout,” “smog,” “spaceship,” “telephone number,” “therapist,” “totem pole,” “vaccine,” and “wheat germ” all appeared in print for the first time.
38. Beans: 13 cents a quart
39. Brown sugar: 10 cents a pound
40. Butter: 35 cents a pound
41. Cheese: 18 cents a pound
42. Coal: $7.84 a ton
43. Corned beef: 10 cents a pound
44. Cornmeal: Four cents a pound
45. Cotton flannel: 16 cents a yard
46. Eggs: 40 cents a dozen
47. Fresh pork: 13 cents a pound
48. Granulated sugar: 11 cents a pound
49. Lard: 15 cents a pound
50. Men’s heavy boots: $3.19 a pair
51. Milk: Six cents a quart
52. Mutton chops: 18 cents a pound
53. New Orleans molasses: 67 cents a gallon
54. Potatoes: $1.26 a bushel
55. Puerto Rico molasses: 63 cents a gallon
56. Rice: 10 cents a pound
57. Roasted coffee: 29 cents a pound
58. Roasting beef: 17 cents a pound
59. Rye flour: Five cents a pound
60. Salted pork: 13 cents a pound
61. Smoked ham: 15 cents a pound
62. Soup beef: Six cents a pound
63. Starch: Nine cents a pound
64. Syrup: 77 cents a gallon
65. Wheat flour: $8.57 a barrel

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1880_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1880
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_companies_established_in_1880
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1880_in_literature
5. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1880.html
6. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1880.html
7. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1880
8. https://www.onthisday.com/weddings/date/1880
9. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-history-1880.html
10. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1880
11. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1880

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