- William Steinway builds a firehouse in Astoria, and equips it with possibly the best steam engine and hook-and-ladder carriage in New York.
- William Steinway begins correspondence with Gottlieb Daimler (a pioneer in internal combustion engines and automobile development) of Cannstatt, Germany.
- William Steinway gives a piano (a number 55,405, a 7-octave, style B, ebonized cherry-wood veneer) as a wedding gift to the United States President Grover Cleveland for his marriage to his 21-year-old ward, Frances Folsom.