1880

January 1 - Construction of the Panama Canal begins
February 2 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana
February 13 - Thomas Edison becomes the second person to observe the Edison Effect.
March 10 - Members of the Salvation Army land in the United States and begin operations.
May 13 - In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
July 1 - First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada.
July 16 - First woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada - Dr. Emily Howard Stowe.
October - terrible winter storm in North America, the "Blizzard of 1880".
October 15 - Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
November - James Garfield defeats Winfield S. Hancock in the U.S. presidential election
November 11 - Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly is hanged in Melbourne.
November 22 - Vaudeville actress Lillian Russell makes her debut at Tony Pastor's Theatre in New York City.
December 30 - The Transvaal becomes a republic and Paul Kruger becomes its first president.
Discovery of piezoelectricity by Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie.
Completion of Cologne cathedral.

Year in topic

January 6 - Tom Mix, actor (d. 1940)
January 17 - Mack Sennett, director, producer (d. 1960)
January 26 - Douglas MacArthur, general (d. 1964)
January 29 - W.C. Fields, actor (d. 1946)
January 30 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States (d. 1945)
February 8 - Franz Marc, artist, co-founder: Blauer Reiter (d. 1916)
February 12 - John L. Lewis, labor union leader (d. 1969)
February 21 - Waldemar Bonsels, writer (d. 1952)
February 22 - Frigyes Riesz, mathematician
March 10 - Broncho Billy Anderson, actor (d. 1971)
March 13 - Frank Thie�, writer (d. 1977)
March 30 - Sean O'Casey, dramatist (d. 1964)
April 13 - Charles Christie, pioneer film studio owner in Hollywood (d. 1955)
May 6 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, painter (d. 1938)
May 25 - Jean Alexandre Barr�, neurologist (d. 1967)
May 29 - Oswald Spengler, philosopher, Decline of the West (d. 1936)
August 22 - George Herriman, cartoonist (Krazy Kat)
August 31 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
November 6 - Robert Musil, Austrian novelist (The Man Without Qualities)
June 27 - Helen Keller, socialist, pacifist, spokeswoman for the deaf and blind
September 22 - Christabel Pankhurst, suffragette (+ 1958)