| Date | Weekday | Event |
|---|
| December 31, 1384 | Friday | John Wycliffe English religious reformer died |
|
| December 31, 1600 | Sunday | British East India Company chartered |
| December 31, 1719 | Sunday | John Flamsteed 1st Astronomer Royal dies at 73 |
| December 31, 1744 | Thursday | James Bradley announces discovery of earth's motion of nutation |
| December 31, 1775 | Sunday | Battle of Qu‚bec |
| December 31, 1805 | Tuesday | End of French Republican calendar |
| December 31, 1852 | Friday | Future Pres & Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes marry |
| December 31, 1857 | Thursday | Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as new capital of Canada |
| December 31, 1862 | Wednesday | Pres Lincoln signs an act admitting West Virginia to the Union |
| December 31, 1862 | Wednesday | Union ironclad ship "Monitor" sank at Cape Hatteras NC |
| December 31, 1879 | Wednesday | Cornerstone laid for Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US) |
| December 31, 1879 | Wednesday | Edison gives public demonstration of his incandescent lamp |
| December 31, 1890 | Wednesday | Ellis Is opens as a US immigration depot |
| December 31, 1921 | Saturday | Last SF firehorses retired |
| December 31, 1943 | Friday | NYC's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater |
| December 31, 1944 | Sunday | 48 people die in a train accident in Ogden Utah |
| December 31, 1946 | Tuesday | Pres Truman officially proclaims end of WW II |
| December 31, 1951 | Monday | 1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical announced |
| December 31, 1958 | Wednesday | Willie Shoemaker 1st jockey to win national riding championship 4X |
| December 31, 1961 | Sunday | Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion |
| December 31, 1974 | Tuesday | Free agent pitcher Catfish Hunter signs $3 million Yank contract |
| December 31, 1974 | Tuesday | US citizens allowed to buy & own gold for 1st time in 40 years |
| December 31, 1981 | Thursday | Lt Rawlings stages coup in Ghana |
| December 31, 1984 | Monday | Bernhard Goetz surrenders to police in NH |
| December 31, 1984 | Monday | Rajiv Gandhi took office as India's 6th PM |
| December 31, 1999 | Friday | Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama |