In which year was the Phantom set?

Well it depends, the book never gives a specific year and only says that the events of the opera ghost were 30 yrs. pervious. So if you go with the original French publication (1910) the setting is 1880 or the English publication (1911) which would be 1881. The musical has an even more cryptic time line as it varies on ALW memory. The stage version is set approximately in 1885 while the movie jumps back to 1870! I won't even get started on how LND time line doesn't make any sense among its many other blunders...