Historical Events
- Feb 2 Baseball's National League forms at the Grand Central Hotel, NYC with teams in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia and St Louis
- Feb 3 Albert Spalding invests $800 to start sporting goods company, manufacturing first official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball and football
- Feb 7 US President Grant's private secretary Orville acquitted in Whiskey Ring
Telephone Invention Dispute? That Rings a Bell
Feb 14 Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents, the Supreme Court eventually rules Bell the rightful inventor
Event of Interest
Feb 14 Henry John Heinz founds F & J Heinz with his brother John Heinz and cousin Frederick Heinz
Peer Gynt
Feb 24 Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt" premieres in Oslo
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 3 William Tedmarsh, British silent movie actor (Two Beds and No Sleep), born in London, England (d. 1937)
- Feb 4 Victor Vreuls, Belgian composer and musician, born in Verviers, Belgium (d. 1944)
- Feb 6 Wilhelm August Schmidtbonn, German writer (Der Sprechende Eros), born in Bonn, Germany (d. 1952)
- Feb 7 Pat Moran, American baseball catcher (World Series 1907 Chicago Cubs) and manager (World Series 1919 Cincinnati Reds), born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts (d. 1924)
- Feb 8 Paula Modersohn-Becker, German Expressionist painter (1st known woman to paint nude self-portraits), born in Dresden-Friedrichstadt (d. 1907)
- Feb 9 Martin Stixrud, Norwegian figure skater and coach (Olympic bronze 1920, coached Sonja Henie), born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1964)
- Feb 12 Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama, born in Thakpo Langdun (d. 1933)
- Feb 13 Fritz Buelow, German-born American baseball player (d. 1933)
- Feb 15 Ernest Wilson, English botanist (plant collector in China), born in Chipping Campden, England (d. 1930)
- Feb 16 G. M. Trevelyan [George Macaulay Trevelyan], British historian and academic, born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (d. 1962)
- Feb 19 Constantin Brancusi, Romanian French sculptor (Princesse X), born in Hobita (d. 1957)
- Feb 20 Théodore "Fyodor" Akimenko, Ukrainian composer, born in Kharkiv Drapeau, Ukraine, Russian Empire (d. 1945)
- Feb 21 Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (d. 1956)
Zitkála-Šá (1876-1938)
Feb 22 Native American (Yankton Dakota) writer, violinist, librettist (The Sun Dance Opera), educator, and political activist, born in Yankton Indian Reservation, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota)
- Feb 23 Maude Royden, English suffragist and preacher, born in Liverpool, England (d. 1956)
- Feb 23 Wadih Sabra, Lebanese composer (Kulluna lil Watan), born in Beirut, Vilayet of Syria, Ottoman Empire (d. 1952)
- Feb 24 Victor Moore, American comedian (Ziegfeld Follies, 7 Year Itch), born in Hammonton, New Jersey (d. 1962)
- Feb 26 Agustín Pedro Justo, President of Argentina (1932-38) during the Infamous Decade, born in Concepción del Uruguay, Entre Ríos (d. 1943)
- Feb 26 Pauline Musters, Dutch world's smallest woman at 24 inches (61 cm), born in Ossendrecht, Netherlands (d. 1895)
- Feb 28 John Alden Carpenter, American composer (Sea Drift), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1951)
Famous Deaths
- Feb 3 Gino Capponi, Italian marquis, literary and Premier of Toscane, dies at 83
- Feb 10 Johan August Söderman, Swedish composer, dies at 43
- Feb 10 Reverdy Johnson, American politician and jurist (Dred Scott v. Sandford), dies at 79
- Feb 21 Henry John Gauntlett, English organist and composer, dies at 70
- Feb 24 Jan Pieter Heije, Dutch physician, writer and poet, dies at 67
- Feb 24 Joseph Jenkins Roberts, American-born Liberian merchant and politician (1st President of Liberia 1848-56), dies at 66
- Feb 28 Charles Edward Horsley, English composer, dies at 53
