Year 1829 Fun Facts, Trivia, and Historical Events

This quick read presents a collection of fun facts, trivia, and historical events from the year 1829. 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)—until March 4
2. President of the United States: Andrew Jackson (D-Tennessee)—Starting March 4
3. Vice President: John C. Calhoun (D-South Carolina)
4. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Marshall (Virginia)
5. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Andrew Stevenson (D-Virginia)
6. 20th U.S. Congress: Until March 4
7. 21st U.S. Congress: Starting March 4
8. Inflation rate: -2.11%
9. $100.00 in 1829 “is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,485.18 today, an increase of $3,385.18 over 197 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.82% per year between 1829 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 3,385.18%.” This means that today's prices are 34.85 times higher than in 1829, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index.
10. Today, a dollar buys about 2.869% of what it could buy back in 1829. In other words, the U.S. dollar has lost around 97% of its value since 1829.
11. Consumer price index (CPI): 9.300
12. American companies and brands established in 1829 included D. G. Yuengling & Son and MacGregor Golf.
13. In 1829, 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).
14. On June 1, The Pennsylvania Inquirer (later renamed The Philadelphia Inquirer) began publishing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
15. On July 23, William Austin Burt, an American statesman and inventor, created the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.
16. On October 16, the Tremont Hotel, the first luxury hotel in the United States, opened at the corner of Tremont and Beacon Streets in Boston. Rooms were $2.00 per day with meals included. It was the first hotel in the United States with indoor plumbing, which included baths, running water, and toilets.
17. On October 25, the Eastern State Penitentiary, located in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia, admitted its first prisoner. EasternState.org tells us that in 1821, “the Pennsylvania legislature approved funding to build Eastern State Penitentiary, a first-of-its-kind prison designed to encourage regret or ‘penitence’ through a strict system of solitary confinement with labor known as the Pennsylvania System.”
18. On October 29, the English actress Fanny Kemble made her stage debut as Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, in London.
19. In December, American writer and activist John Neal published the final edition of The Yankee, a literary journal.
20. In 1829, David G. Yuengling, a German immigrant, founded the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest operating family-owned brewery in the United States.
21. James Carrington of Connecticut received a U.S. patent for a coffee mill.
22. Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer, invented the Graham cracker “as a bland, fiber-rich, and additive-free food item.”
23. For the 1820s, U.S. agricultural exports averaged about $40 million per year.
24. Key fiction works published in 1829 included Catherine Gore’s Romances of Real Life, Horace Smith’s The New Forest, Martin Archer Shee’s Oldcourt, Sir Walter Scott’s Anne of Geierstein, and Victor Hugo’s The Last Day of a Condemned Man.
25. Notable poetic works for the year: Alfred Tennyson’s Timbuctoo and Edgar Allen Poe’s Al Aaraaf
26. Top dramatic works in 1829: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust and Victor Hugo’s Marion Delorme
27. Key nonfiction works for the year included the Encyclopedia Americana, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s On the Constitution of Church and State, Thomas Carlyle’s Signs of the Times, Washington Irving’s A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, and William Cobbett’s Advice to Young Men.
28. American newspapers established in 1829: Berkshire Journal (Berkshire, Massachusetts), The Pennsylvania Inquirer (later renamed The Philadelphia Inquirer), The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), The Providence Journal (Providence, Rhode Island), The Rights of All (African American publication), and The Stamford Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut).
29. Famous people born in 1829 were Anton Rubinstein (pianist), Chester A. Arthur (U.S. president), Lester Allen Pelton (engineer), Levi Strauss (entrepreneur), Louis Moreau Gottschalk (pianist), Patrick Gilmore (songwriter), Silas Weir Mitchell (novelist), and William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army).
30. Notable people who died in 1829 included Humphry Davy (chemist) and Thomas Young (engineer).
31. In 1829 as well, the words “bird feeder,” “biweekly,” “cafe latte,” “gastroenteritis,” “hay fever,” “herbal medicine,” “here and now,” “Inauguration Day,” “lampshade,” “mesmerize,” “playboy,” “postage stamp,” “prep school,” “speakeasy,” “technology,” “trade school,” and “Washington’s Birthday” all appeared in print for the first time.
32. 11 pounds and 10 ounces of wheat flour: 25 cents
33. 50 bundles of straw: About $1.00
34. One bushel of apples: 12½ cents
35. One bushel of beans: $1.00
36. One bushel of potatoes: 40 cents
37. One fur hat: About $3.00
38. One gallon of soap: About 25 cents
39. One head of cabbage: 10 cents
40. One pair of shoes: About $1.75
41. One pound of cheese: About 8½ cents
42. One pound of fresh beef: Four cents
43. One pound of fresh pork: Five cents
44. One pound of honey: 10 cents
45. One pound of lard: About 10 cents
46. One pound of tobacco: About 12½ cents
47. One pound of veal: Four cents
48. One ton of coal for home heating: About $1.25
49. Two bushels of rye: $1.25
50. Wages for one day of mowing: 50 cents

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1829_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1829
3. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1829
4. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1825.html
5. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015035798035&seq=21
6. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1829
7. https://www.onthisday.com/weddings/date/1829
8. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1829.html
9. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1829.html
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1829_in_literature

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