Franklin Mint – History of the US – Barbed Wire in the West – 1874 – 45mm – Proof Bronze Medal. July 4 – First steel arch bridge opens across Mississippi River; Aug. 4 – Chautauqua assembly first held in New York State; Nov. 18-20 – Woman’s Christian Temperance Union organized in Cleveland; Nov. 24 – Joseph F. Glidden granted patent for barbed wire.