1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January-April

• January 8 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine
• January 22 - Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, DC.
• February 11 - Meiji Constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet convenes in 1890
• January 30 ? Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his mistress Marie Vetsera commit a double suicide in Mayerling hunting lodge
• February 22 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
• March 4 - Grover Cleveland, 24th President of the United States (1885 - 1889) is succeeded by Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893).
• March 9 - Yohannes IV is killed in the Battle of Metemma ; Sudanese forces, who had been almost defeated, rally and destroy the Ethiopian army.
• March 23 - Land run: President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement starting on April 22.
• March 31 - The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated (opens May 6). Contemporary critics regard it aesthetically displeasing
• April 22 - Oklahoma land rush : President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement; Land rush begins.

May-October

• May 15 ? In Samoa, three US and three German ships sink in a typhoon because the captains refuse to leave before the others ? almost 200 drown. British steamer Calliope saves itself by pushing into the wind with full speed
• May 31 - South Fork Dam collapses in western Pennsylvania, killing more than 2200 people in and around Johnstown, Pennsylvania
• June 3 - The first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
• June 12 - 88 are killed in the Armagh rail disaster near Armagh in Northern Ireland.
• July 8 - The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published.
• September 10 - Albert Honoré Charles Grimaldi becomes Reigning Prince Albert I of Monaco
• October 2 - In Washington, DC, the first international Conference of American States begins.
• October 3 - Sister Carries goes to Chicago

November

• November 2 - North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.
• November 8 - Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state.
• November 11 - Washington is admitted as the 42nd U.S. state.
• November 14 - Pioneer woman Journalist Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) begins an attempt to beat travel around the world in less than 80 days (Bly finished the journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes).
• November 15 - Brazil is declared a republic by Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca and Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup (he was the second and last emperor of Brazil).

Unknown dates

• Wisden Cricketer's Almanac publishes its first Wisden Cricketers of the Year (actually titled Six Great Bowlers Of The Year). The crickters chosen are George Lohmann, Bobby Peel, Johnny Briggs, Charles Turner , John Ferris and Sammy Woods .
• Frederick Abel invents cordite
• Diet of Japan founded
• French defense minister Georges Boulanger attempts a coup but is forced the flee the country
• First free elections in Costa Rica
• Glele, king of Dahomey, commits suicide
• Yellow fever interrupts the building of Panama Canal
• Huge locust swarm crosses the Red Sea and destroys crops in the Nile Valley
• Ghost Dance movement
• Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.
• Fabian Essays in Socialism , edited by George Bernard Shaw, is published.

Births

January-April

• January 21 - Edith Bratt, wife of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (d. 1971)
• January 31 - Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
• February 3 - Risto Ryti, Prime Minister and President of Finland (d. 1956)
• February 6 - Elmo Lincoln , actor (d. 1952)
• February 11 - Vladimir Mikhaylovich Deshevov , composer
• February 19 - Ernest Marsden, British physicist (d. 1970)
• February 22 - Lady Olave Baden-Powell, World Chief of the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
• February 24 - Suzanne Bianchetti, French actress (d. 1936)
• March 1 - Kanoko Okamoto, Japanese novelist, poet, and Buddhism scholar (d. 1939)
• March 1 - Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (d. 1960)
• March 4 ? Pearl White, American silent film actress (d. 1938)
• March 16 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951)
• March 24 - Albert Hill, British athlete (d. 1969)
• March 29 - Warner Baxter, actor (d. 1951)
• April 7 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet (d. 1957)
• April 8 - Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (d. 1983)
• April 11 - Nick LaRocca, jazz musician (d. 1961)
• April 15 - Thomas Hart Benton, American painter (d. 1975)
• April 16 - Charlie Chaplin, English actor and film director (d. 1977)
• April 20 - Adolf Hitler, German dictator (d. 1945)
• April 23 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
• April 26 - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-born English philosopher (d. 1951)

May-December

• May 12 - Otto Frank, German writer, father of Anne Frank (d. 1980)
• May 15 - Bessie Hillman , founder of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
• May 18 - Thomas Midgley, chemist and inventor (d. 1944)
• May 25 - Igor Sikorsky developer of a working helicopter (d. 1972)
• June 21 - Ralph Craig, American athlete (d. 1972)
• July 5 - Jean Cocteau, French writer (d. 1963)
• July 17 - Erle Stanley Gardner, American author (d. 1970)
• August 5 - Conrad Aiken, American writer (d. 1973)
• September 18 - Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (d. 1970)
• September 20 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete (d. 1975)
• October 8 - C. E. Woolman, founder of Delta Air Lines (d. 1966)
• October 13 - Douglass Dumbrille, actor (d. 1974)
• November 14 - Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India (d. 1948)
• November 16 - Charlotte Benkner, oldest person in the world (d. 2004)
• December 9 - Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish long-distance runner (d. 1966)
• Suzanne Duchamp, French painter (d. 1963)

Deaths

• January 30 - Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (suicide) (b. 1858)
• January 30 - Baroness Mary Vetsera (suicide) (b. 1871)
• February 3 - Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
• March 8 - John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (b. 1803)
• March 9 - Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia
• May 9 - William S. Harney, U.S. Army major general (b. 1800)
• May 14 - Volney E. Howard, American politician (b. 1809)
• May 12 - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian satirist (b. 1826)
• June 15 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (b. 1850)
• July 10 - Julia Gardiner Tyler, First Lady of the United States (b. 1820)
• August 19 - Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, French writer (b. 1838)
• September 23 - Wilkie Collins, British novelist (b. 1824)
• December 6 - Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America (b. 1808)

Heads of State

• China - Guāngxù Emperor of China, Qing Dynasty (1875-1908)
• Denmark - Christian IX, King of Denmark (1863-1906)
• France - Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of France (1887-1894)
• Germany - Wilhelm II, German Kaiser (1888-1918)
• Holy See - Pope Leo XIII, Bishop of Rome (1878-1903)
• Japan - Mutsuhito, Meiji emperor (1867-1912)
• Norway - Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway (1872-1905)
• Ottoman Empire - Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1909)
• Russia - Alexander III, Tsar of Russia (1881-1894)
• Spain - Alfonso XIII of Spain, King of Spain (1886-1931)
• United States -
  1. Grover Cleveland, President of the United States (1885-1889)
  2. Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States (1889-1893)