Lake Merced, California, was found to have sunk 30 feet (9 meters).
Australia's first university, The University of Sydney, was inaugurated.
Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.
The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg opens to the public.
London opened the world's first public flushing toilets.
North America's first YMCA was established in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The New York Times published its first issue.
Fruit producer company Dole was founded in Hawaii.
Black women's rights activist Sojourner Truth gave her famous speech 'Ain't I A Woman?' at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.
The world's first chess tournament is held in London.
The sixth major fire in San Francisco occurred.
The first Canadian postage stamp went into circulation.
Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Rigoletto, receives its premiere.
The colony of Victoria, Australia, was hit by the Black Thursday bushfires, burning 19,000 square miles.
The Hawaiian Fire Department was established.
The British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson became Britain's Poet Laureate.
The fourth great fire of San Francisco happened, destroying a considerable portion of the city.
California became the 31st state to join the United States of America.
Honolulu became an official city.
The Women's College of Pennsylvania, US opened – making it the 2nd female medical school in America.
The first great fire of early San Francisco started on the east side of the Plaza.
Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery.
The US held its first poultry show at Boston's Public Garden.
Author Edgar Allan Poe was last seen alive. He was disorientated, lying in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland, US.
Austria launched pilotless balloons against the city of Venice, which became the first air raid in history.
Abraham Lincoln received a patent for a device that would lift a boat over shoals and obstructions.
A photograph was taken of the 11th US President, James Knox Polk.
President James K. Polk confirmed a gold discovery.
The first WHSmith railway bookstore opened at London Euston Railway Station, London, UK.
A new federal constitution was created, which marked Switzerland as a federal state.
Congress created the Oregon Territory, which included Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Western Montana.
The Free Soil Party was formed by 465 delegates in Buffalo.
The Seneca Falls Convention became the first-ever US women's rights convention.
Wisconsin became the 30th state to join the United States of America.
The first German National Assembly gathers in Frankfurt.
The first major revolt of the 1848-1849 German revolutions began in Vienna.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish 'The Communist Manifesto'.
The California Gold Rush begins.
The romantic comedic opera 'Marta' premiered in Vienna by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges.
Brigham Young and 148 Mormon pioneers entered Salt Lake Valley and founded Salt Lake City.
The first US postage stamps were issued.
Telegraph wires linked new York and Boston.
The American Medical Association was formed.
The Death Penalty was abolished in the state of Michigan, except for treason.
Samuel Colt sells his first revolver.
Iowa became the 29th state to join the United States of America.
The saxophone is patented.
Baltimore and Philadelphia were linked up by telegraph.
US President James K. Polk asked Congress to declare war on Mexico.
The Thornton Affair, a skirmish between American and Mexican soldiers in Texas, started a chain of events that led to the Mexican-American War.
