Year 1827 Fun Facts, Trivia, and Historical Events

This quick read presents a collection of fun facts, trivia, and historical events from the year 1827. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, historic firsts, retail prices, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: John Quincy Adams (DR/NR-Massachusetts)
2. Vice President: John C. Calhoun (D-South Carolina)
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Marshall (Virginia)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: John W. Taylor (DR-New York)—Until March 4
5. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Andrew Stevenson (D-Virginia)—Starting December 3
6. In 1827, the 19th U.S. Congress was in session until March 4. On March 4, the 20th U.S. Congress convened.
7. Unemployment rate: During the 1820s, no state or federal agencies compiled “accurate tallies” of America’s unemployment rate. Only “rough estimates” of the U.S. jobless rate were available.
8. Inflation rate: 1.01% ($1.01 in 1827 was equivalent in purchasing power to about $1.00 in 1826.)
9. Adjusted for inflation, $100.00 in 1827 is worth around $3,241.22 today. This means that today's prices are 32.41 times higher than in 1827, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index. In other words, a dollar today only buys 3.085% of what it could back in 1827.
10. Consumer price index (CPI): 10.000
11. In 1827, there were 24 U.S. states. In order of admission to the Union, they were Delaware (1787), Pennsylvania (1787), New Jersey (1787), Georgia (1788), Connecticut (1788), Massachusetts (1788), Maryland (1788), South Carolina (1788), New Hampshire (1788), Virginia (1788), New York (1788), North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796), Ohio (1803), Louisiana (1812), Indiana (1816), Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), Maine (1820), and Missouri (1821).
12. On January 7, Sir Sanford Fleming, a Scottish-Canadian engineer, was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. While working as an engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway years later, he devised the current system of 24 standardized time zones, “each covering 15 degrees of longitude.” His innovation solved “the chaos of inconsistent local times for train schedules.”
13. On January 18, Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saints movement in the United States, married Emma Hale in South Bainbridge, New York.
14. On February 17, Chester Stone of Middlebury, Connecticut, received a U.S. patent for a washing machine.
15. On February 27, New Orleans hosted its first Mardi Gras celebration. Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday in French) “is followed by Ash Wednesday, a solemn day in the Christian tradition. It begins six weeks of Lent, preparation to mark the crucifixion, and then, on Easter Sunday, the resurrection of Christ.” MardiGrasNewOrleans.com adds, “The origins of Mardi Gras can be traced to medieval Europe, passing through Rome and Venice in the 17th and 18th centuries to the French House of the Bourbons. From here, the traditional revelry of ‘Boeuf Gras,’ or fatted calf, followed France to her colonies.”
16. On February 28, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight.
17. On March 1, George Bancroft, an American statesman and historian, married Sarah Dwight. (Bancroft is best known for his 10-volume work, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent.)
18. March 16: In New York City, John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish launched Freedom’s Journal, the first African American newspaper in the United States.
19. On March 29, an estimated 20,000 mourners attended the funeral of composer Ludwig van Beethoven in Vienna. (Just so you know, Beethoven’s most famous works include Symphony No. 9, Eroica Symphony No. 3, and Grosse Fuge.)
20. On April 7, John Walker, an English chemist, began selling the world’s first friction matches, known back then as Friction Lights. (One year earlier, Walker had accidentally discovered the friction match.)
21. On May 17, future U.S. President Andrew Jackson married Eliza McCardle in Greeneville, Tennessee.
22. On May 18, Josiah Warren’s experimental retail business, the Cincinnati Time Store, opened its doors at the corner of Fifth and Elm Streets in Cincinnati.
23. On May 21, supporters of the future U.S. President Andrew Jackson established the Maryland Democratic Party in Baltimore.
24. On July 4, New York State officially abolished slavery and also became one of the last Northern states to do so.
25. On July 4, the Republic of Madawaska declared its independence from the United States so that it could be annexed by the state of Maine. (Today, Madawaska is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, and has a population of about 4,000. It has “a rich French heritage and is home to a large population of French-speaking residents.”)
26. On September 25, Madawaska was annexed by the United States.
27. On October 15, Charles Darwin, a British biologist and naturalist, began his undergraduate work at Christ’s College in the UK. Darwin is widely known for his diversified contributions to “evolutionary biology.”
28. On November 15, the Creek (Native American) Nation ceded the last of their land in Georgia to the United States.
29. In 1827, Joseph Dixon, a printer and lithographer in Salem, Massachusetts, began to manufacture the first lead pencils.
30. Swiss-Italian immigrants Giovanni and Pietro Delmonico opened America’s first “dining restaurant” in New York City. Delmonico’s original location—a small cafe and pastry shop—was located at 23 William Street in Manhattan.
31. American writer and activist John Neal opened America’s first public gymnasium in Portland, Maine.
32. Key fiction works published in 1827 included Catherine Gore’s The Lettre de Cachet, Catherine Gore’s The Reign of Terror, James Fenimore Cooper’s The Prairie, James Fenimore Cooper’s The Rover, and Sir Walter Scott’s Chronicles of the Canongate.
33. Notable poetic works for the year were John Keble’s The Christian Year and Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamerlane and Other Poems
34. Top dramatic works in 1827: James Kenney’s Forget and Forgive and Thomas Morton’s A School for Grown Childre
35. Key nonfiction works for the year included the Encyclopædia Edinensis and Sir Walter Scott’s The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte
36. Famous people born in 1827 were John B. Curtis (entrepreneur), Joseph Lister (doctor), Lew Wallace (novelist), Sandford Fleming (entrepreneur), and Septimus Winner (songwriter).
37. Notable people who died in 1827 included Hugh Clapperton (explorer), Ludwig van Beethoven (composer), and William Blake (philosopher).
38. In 1827 as well, the words “assistant professor,” “businesswoman,” “commuter,” “dishcloth,” “front room,” “general store,” “house party,” “mad as a hatter,” “pasta,” “semester,” “snowman,” “thinking cap,” “undergrad,” “vaudeville,” and “wallpaper” all appeared in print for the first time.
39. One bundle of straw: Two cents
40. One bushel of apples: About 50 cents
41. One bushel of beans: $1.00
42. One bushel of potatoes: 40 cents
43. One bushel of rye: 50 cents
44. One fur hat: About $3.00
45. One gallon of cider: 20 cents
46. One gallon of metheglin: About 30 cents
47. One pair of shoes: About $1.75
48. One pound of beef: Four cents
49. One pound of butter: 11 cents
50. One pound of honey: 10 cents
51. One pound of rye flour: Two cents
52. One pound of salt pork: Eight cents
53. One pound of tallow: Ten cents
54. One pound of veal: About five cents
55. One quart of salt: Six cents
56. One quart of soap: About eight cents
57. One yard of linen: About 32½ cents
58. One yard of tow cloth: About 25 cents
59. Wages for one day of mowing: 50 cents
60. Wages for two days of breaking flax: $1.00

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1827_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1827
3. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1827.html
4. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1827.html
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1827_in_literature
6. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1827
7. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1827
8. https://www.onthisday.com/weddings/date/1827
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_admission_to_the_Union
10. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1820.html
11. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015035798035&seq=22

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor