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1871 1871 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). Events January - April May - August September - December - October 8 - Three major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and Holland, Michigan
- The Great Chicago Fire is the most famous of these, burning 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) in one day, eventually destroying about 17,450 buildings, and killing about 250 people while leaving another 90,000 homeless.
- The Peshtigo Fire burns 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) across six counties in one day and kills 1,200 to 2,500 people, making it the deadliest in United States history.
- The Holland Fire destroys at least two towns.
- October 20 - The Royal Regiment of Artillery formed the first regular Canadian army units when they created two batteries of garrison artillery which eventually became The Royal Canadian Artillery.
- October 27 - The Comte de Chambord refuses to be crowned 'King Henry V of France' until France abandons its tricolour and returns to the old bourbon flag.
- November 10 - Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and greets him saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
- November 17 - The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York.
- December 10 - The German chancellor Otto von Bismarck tries to ban Catholics from the political stage by introducing harsh laws concerning the separation of church and state.
Unknown date Births - January 17 - David Earl Betty of the North Sea and of Brooksby, British admiral (d. 1936)
- January 30 - Wilfred Lucas, actor (d. 1940)
- February 4 - Friedrich Ebert, president of the Weimar Republic (d. 1925)
- February 18 - Harry Brearley, inventor of stainless steel (d. 1948)
- March 1 - Ben Harney, US composer and ragtime pianist, is born. (d. 1938)
- March 5 - Rosa Luxemburg, politician (d. 1919)
- March 27 - Heinrich Mann, narrator, dramatist and essayist (d. 1950)
- May 3 - Walter Robinson Parr, British preacher
- May 6 - Christian Morgenstern, author (d. 1914)
- May 27 - Georges Rouault, painter and graphic artist (d. 1958)
- July 17 - Lyonel Charles Feininger, German painter
- July 25 - Richard Ernest Turner, Canadian lieutenant of the of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, awarded with the Victoria Cross for bravery during the Second Boer War.
- August 19 - Orville Wright of the Wright brothers, American co-inventor of the airplane
- August 25 - Ross Winn, anarchist writer and publisher
- August 29 - Albert Lebrun, French politician (d. 1950)
- September 24 - Lottie Dod, English athlete
- September 26 - Winsor McCay, United States comic creator and animator (d. 1934)
- September 27 - Grazia Deledda, Sardinian writer - Nobel prize (d. 1936)
- December 9 - Joe Kelley, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1943)
- December 12 - Umenosuke Bessho, Japanese writer (d. 1945)
- December 13 - Emily Carr, Canadian writer
- Guangxu, Emperor of the Qing Dynasty in China
Deaths
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