A World’s Fair was held in Chicago in 1892-93 to mark the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s voyage of discovery to America. A special half dollar portraying Columbus was struck for the occasion and is considered the first U.S. commemorative coin. Meanwhile, three new coins – a half dollar, quarter and dime – were issued for circulation with a Liberty Head design.

In other newsworthy events of 1892:

• Grover Cleveland won his second term as U.S. President, defeating the sitting President, Benjamin Harrison –who had thwarted his own re-election bid four years earlier. Cleveland was the only President ever to serve non-consecutive terms.
• ”The Pledge of Allegiance" was recited in unison by students in U.S. public schools for the first time.
• The Nutcracker ballet, with music by Tchaikovsky, premiered at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
• Rent for a two-bedroom tenement in New York City cost around $10 a month.
• The world's first fingerprinting bureau was formally opened by the Chief of Police in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• John Muir organized the Sierra Club in San Francisco.
• Abercrombie & Fitch was established by David T. Abercrombie.
• Andrew Carnegie combined all of his separate businesses into the Carnegie Steel Company, enabling him to gain a monopoly in the steel industry.

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