The 1858 senate campaign featured the seven Lincoln – Douglas debates of 1858, the most famous political debates in American history.

* 1858 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician ( d. 1932 )

After 1890 came philosopher Josiah Royce ( 1855 – 1916 ), botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey ( 1858 – 1954 ), the Southern Agrarians of the 1920s and 1930s, novelist John Steinbeck ( 1902 – 1968 ), historian A. Whitney Griswold ( 1906 – 1963 ), environmentalist Aldo Leopold ( 1887 – 1948 ), Ralph Borsodi ( 1886 – 1977 ), and present-day authors Wendell Berry ( b. 1934 ), Gene Logsdon ( b. 1932 ), Paul Thompson, and Allan C. Carlson ( b. 1949 ).

* 1858 – Gaston Doumergue, French politician ( d. 1937 )

* 1858 – Hans Rott, Austrian composer ( d. 1884 )

Bloch was highly interdisciplinary, influenced by the geography of Paul Vidal de la Blache ( 1845 – 1918 ) and the sociology of Émile Durkheim ( 1858 – 1917 ).

* 1858 – The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is wound up.

* Adrian Kashchenko ( 1858 – 1921 ), Ukrainian writer, historian of Zaporozhian Cossacks

* 1858 – E. Nesbit, English author ( d. 1924 )

* 1858 – U. S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

* 1858 – Arthur Achleitner, German writer ( d. 1927 )

* 1858 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria ( d. 1889 )

* Alexander Karađorđević, Prince of Serbia ( 1842 – 1858 )

* 1858 – The Round Oak rail accident occurs in Brierley Hill in the Black Country, England.

* 1858 – Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts.

* 1858 – The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.

* 1858 – Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch physician, Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1930 )

** Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Dutch Queen and regent ( b. 1858 )

Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont ( 2 August 1858 – 20 March 1934 ) was Queen consort of William III, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Emma was born as Adelheid Emma Wilhelmina Theresia, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont on 2 August 1858 in Arolsen Castle in Arolsen, the capital of the small German principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont.

* Her Serene Highness Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont ( 1858 – 1879 )

* Emma of the Netherlands ( 1858 – 1934 ), Queen Consort of William III of the Netherlands

Charles Waring Darwin, who died when he was 18 months old ( 6 December 1856 – 28 June 1858 ), was the last of the children of Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin, their tenth child and sixth son.

Its holdings originate in the private collection of Charles ( 1858 – 1940 ) and Emma ( d. 1934 ) Frye.

He was born in London and married Emma Mitchell in 1858.

Sir Charles Santley ( born 1834 ), Gustav Walter ( born 1834 ), Adelina Patti ( born 1843 ), Marianne Brandt ( born 1842 ), Lilli Lehmann ( born 1848 ), Jean Lassalle ( born 1847 ), Victor Maurel ( born 1848 ), Marcella Sembrich ( born 1858 ), Lillian Nordica ( born 1857 ), Emma Calvé ( born 1858 ), Nellie Melba ( born 1861 ), Francesco Tamagno ( born 1850 ), Francesco Marconi ( born 1853 ), Léon Escalais ( born 1859 ), Mattia Battistini ( born 1856 ), Mario Ancona ( born 1860 ), Pol Plançon ( born 1851 ), and Antonio Magini-Coletti and Francesco Navarini ( both born 1855 ).

* Emma Calvé ( born 1858 ), singer born in Decazeville.

The first Pyrmont Bridge opened in 1858.

The first Pyrmont Bridge was opened on 17 March 1858, and was a wooden pile bridge with a iron centre swing span.

* 1785 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French composer ( d. 1858 )

* 1858 – Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director ( d. 1943 )

* 1858 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer ( d. 1924 )

* 1858 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist ( d. 1917 )

* 1858 – Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor, theatre director ( d. 1941 )

* 1858 – Ebenezer Sumner Draper, American politician, 44th Governor of Massachusetts ( d. 1914 )

* 1858 – Harry Hamilton Johnston, English polymath ( d. 1927 )

* 1858 – Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farmer ( d. 1954 )

* 1858 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American retailer ( d. 1947 )

* 1858 – Neel Doff, Dutch author ( d. 1942 )

* 1858 – Franz Boas, German anthropologist ( d. 1942 )

* 1858 – Tom Garrett, Australian cricketer ( d. 1943 )

* 1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian writer ( d. 1940 )

* 1858 – George Lyon, Canadian golfer ( d. 1938 )

* 1858 – Gustaf V of Sweden ( d. 1950 )

* 1858 – Beatrice Webb, English economist ( d. 1943 )

* 1858 – Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor ( d. 1931 )