Elector Joachim II ordered the construction of a hunting lodge in Grunewald, demanding a connecting road to the City Palace.
The oldest known map entry of the road, then called “Churfürstendamm.”
1st August: The Berlin Zoo opened. Germany’s first and Europe’s ninth zoo was situated just off Ku’damm. Nowadays it has an area of 35 hectares and the greatest number of species of any zoo worldwide.
Inspired by the French Champs-Élysées, Otto von Bismarck arranged for the road to be significantly broadened.
A cabinet decree set the width of the new street at 53 meters, half the size of Champs-Élysées.
29 January: Carl Benz filed a patent for his motor-driven vehicle, signalling the birth of the automobile.
5 May: Grand opening of the steam tram line Zoo-Kurfürstendamm-Grunewald. This was chosen as the official anniversary of the boulevard.
22 March: The foundation stone of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was laid.
Opening of the first Ku’damm coffee house, Kleines Café, where Kranzler-Eck is now located. Within five years of opening it had been renamed Café des Westerns; meanwhile it had become a renowned artists’ haunt, more commonly called “Café Megalomania”.
1 October: Opening of the Theater des Westens close to Zoo train station. The premier featured Holger Drachmann's fairytail play Arabian Nights. The building was designed by Bernhard Sehring in the style of Wilhelmine historism.