HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY

• 10,000 B.C. - 1599
  
• 1600 - 1699
  
• 1700 - 1799
  
• 1800 - 1899
  
• 1900 - 1999

1806. Construction started for Basilica of the Assumption, America's first Roman Catholic cathedral. Designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, main section completed 1818.

1806. Maximilien Godefroy designed first Gothic Revival structure in United States, St. Mary's Seminary Chapel, Baltimore (completed 1808).

1806-1809. Robert Wright (Democratic-Republican), governor.

1807, Dec. 18. University of Maryland chartered at Baltimore as the College of Medicine of Maryland.

1808. Elizabeth Seton opened female academy, Baltimore.

1808. John Dubois established Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg.

1809. Washington Cotton Manufacturing Company, Mount Washington, first in State, incorporated.

1809. Elizabeth Seton adopted modified rule of Sisters of Charity, established order in Emmitsburg.

1809. St. Joseph's College, Emmitsburg, founded.

1809-1811. Edward Lloyd V (Democratic-Republican), governor.

1810. Adult white male suffrage extended by constitutional amendment to federal elections; property qualification ended in voting for electors for president, vice-president, and congressmen.

1810. Property qualifications for State officeholding abolished by constitutional amendment.

1810. Free blacks disenfranchised.

1811. Hezekiah Niles began publishing Niles' Register in Baltimore.

1811. Work started on National Road.

1811. Alexander Brown & Sons opened as investment banking firm, Baltimore.

1811-1812. Robert Bowie (Democratic-Republican), governor.

1812. College of Medicine chartered as University of Maryland, Baltimore.

1812. Thomas Kemp, Fells Point, launched Baltimore Clipper Chasseur, later famous under command of Thomas Boyle.

1812, July. Mob attacked Alexander Contee Hanson, editor of Baltimore Federal Republican, and party.

1812-1816. Levin Winder (Federalist), governor.

1813. Chesapeake, first steamboat, appeared on Chesapeake Bay.

1813. British conducted raids on Chesapeake targets, including Havre de Grace.

1813. Hagerstown incorporated (Chapter 121, Acts of 1813, Dec. session).

1814, Aug. Rembrandt Peale opened Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts, designed by Robert Cary Long, Sr.

1814, Aug. 24. Battle of Bladensburg, sailors and marines under Joshua Barney fought rear-guard action.

1814, Sept. 12. British repulsed by local militia at Battle of North Point.

1814, Sept. 13. Bombardment of Fort McHenry inspired Francis Scott Key to write "Star-Spangled Banner."

Battle of North Point Monument (dedicated 1815) by Italian sculptor Antonio Capellano, Calvert St. & Fayette St., Baltimore, Maryland, June 2001. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1815. Charles Reeder established steam-engine manufactory and foundry, Federal Hill.

1815. Baltimoreans laid cornerstones for Robert Mills's Washington Monument (July; completed 1829) and Godefroy's Battle Monument (Sept.; completed 1825).

1816. Rembrandt Peale demonstrated gas lighting at his museum.

1816. Delphian Club organized, Baltimore.

1816. Daniel Coker and other black church leaders formed independent African Methodist Episcopal Church.

1816-1819. Charles Ridgely (Federalist), governor.

1817. Maximilien Godefroy, architect, began Unitarian Temple, Baltimore.

1817. Maryland auxiliary of American Colonization Society formed, Baltimore.

1817, Feb. Gas Light Company incorporated to provide streetlights in Baltimore, first such firm in country.

1818. National Road completed from Cumberland to Wheeling, now West Virginia.

1818. Savings Bank of Baltimore, first of its kind in State.

1818. Maryland Agricultural Society organized, Baltimore.

1819. Charles Goldsborough (Federalist), governor.

1819. John Stuart Skinner published American Farmer, Baltimore.

1819. Independent Order of Odd Fellows organized in Baltimore.

1819, March 6. In M'Culloch v. Maryland, U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall interpreted Constitution to signify implied powers of federal government.

1819-1822. Samuel Sprigg (Republican), governor.

1822. Isaac McKim milled flour with steam power, Baltimore, first such operation in country.

1822-1826. Samuel Stevens, Jr. (Republican), governor.

1824. Benjamin Lundy published the Genius of Universal Emancipation, Baltimore.

1824-1829. Chesapeake and Delaware Canal constructed through Cecil County to link Chesapeake Bay with Delaware River.

1825. Marquis de Lafayette revisited Baltimore.

1825. Maryland Institute held first exhibition.

1826. Thomas Kensett began canning oysters in Baltimore.

1826. Jewish enfranchisement, religious qualification for civil office removed.

1826-1829. Joseph Kent (Republican), governor.

1827, Feb. 28. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad chartered.

1827, July. Boonsboro citizens erected monument to George Washington, South Mountain.

1828. Maryland and Virginia Steam Boat Company offered regular Baltimore to Norfolk service.

1828. Maryland Penitentiary directors appointed committee to recommend plans for expansion.

1828, June. Baltimore Shot Tower begun.

1828, July 4. First earth turned for construction of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (chartered Feb. 1827) and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

1828-1848. Chesapeake and Ohio Canal constructed (to Cumberland by 1848).

1829. Work began on Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad (completed to Pennsylvania line 1832).

1829. Oblate Sisters of Providence opened school for black children, Baltimore.

1829. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's Carrollton Viaduct, first masonry railroad bridge in country, crossed Gwynn's Falls.

1829. John M. Dyer and twelve others organized State's first Jewish congregation, Nidhei Israel, Baltimore.

1829. Chesapeake and Delaware Canal opened.

1829-1830. Daniel Martin (anti-Jackson), governor.

1830. Peter Cooper and other investors started earliest planned industrial area in country at Canton, Baltimore.

1830. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station at Mount Clare, first in United States.

1830-1831. Thomas King Carroll (Democrat), governor.

1831. Howard heirs donated land for parks to extend north, south, east, and west of Washington Monument, Baltimore.

1831. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, Ellicott's Mills.

1831, Feb. Maryland Colonization Society formed in Baltimore.

1831-1833. George Howard (anti-Jackson), governor.

1832. Swallow Barn, by John Pendleton Kennedy, published.

1832. In aftermath of Nat Turner rebellion in Virginia, Maryland laws enacted to restrict free blacks.

1832. Legislation prohibited oyster dredging.

1832. First omnibus lines began operating in Baltimore.

1833, Oct. Baltimore Saturday Morning Visitor published Edgar Allan Poe's "Ms. Found in a Bottle," winner of fifty-dollar prize.

1833, Nov. First settlers sail for Cape Palmas, Liberia.

1833-1836. James Thomas (anti-Jackson), governor.

1834. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad reaches Harpers Ferry.

1835. Independent Order of Red Men (secret fraternal society) organized Great Council of Maryland, Baltimore.

1835. George's Creek Coal and Iron Company formed.

1835. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's Thomas Viaduct, first multispan masonry railroad bridge in country, crossed Patapsco River at Relay.

1835, Aug. 6-8. Baltimore mobs demonstrated against Bank of Maryland and its directors .

1835, Aug. 25. Baltimore and Washington Railroad opened.

1836-1839. Thomas W. Veazey (Whig), governor.

1837. Whig-controlled General Assembly enacted law for popular election of governors and State senators, and rotated geographical districts of successive governors.

1837. Carroll County formed from Baltimore and Frederick counties.

1837, May 17. Baltimore Sun began publication under Arunah S. Abell.

Statue of Roger Brooke Taney, State House grounds, Annapolis, Maryland, April 2000. Photo by Diane F. Evartt. Taney served as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1836-64.

1838. Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad Company formed.

1838, Oct. 3. Governor and State senators first elected by voters rather than by legislature.

1839. Mercantile Library Association.

1839. Baltimore City Council established Central High School (later City College).

1839. David Carroll and Horatio Gambrill opened textile mills, Hamden-Woodberry.

1839-1842. William Grason (Democrat), governor.

1840. Washington Temperance Society.

1840. Baltimore Steam Packet Company (Old Bay Line).

1840. Baltimore College of Dental Surgery founded.

1841. Maryland College of Pharmacy.

1842. Slaveholders' convention met at Annapolis.

1842. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad reached Cumberland.

1842-1845. Francis Thomas (Democrat), governor.

1844, Jan. Maryland Historical Society founded.

1844, May 24. Samuel F. B. Morse demonstrated telegraph line, sent first telegraph message from Washington, DC, to Baltimore.

1845. Lloyd Street Synagogue constructed in Baltimore, first Maryland synagogue, a Robert Cary Long, Jr., design.

1845. Frederick Douglass published Narrative of his life in slavery.

1845. Baltimore and Cuba Smelting and Mining Company, Baltimore.

1845, Oct. 10. U.S. Naval Academy founded at Annapolis, when Department of the Navy established officers' training school at Fort Severn, Annapolis.

1845-1848. Thomas G. Pratt (Whig), governor.

1846. James Corner opened first transatlantic packet line, Baltimore to Liverpool.

1848. State Agricultural Chemist, first such in country.

1848. John Nepomucene Neumann, Redemptorist priest, built Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Baltimore.

1848-1851. Philip Francis Thomas (Democrat), governor.

1849. Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in Dorchester County.

1849. Josiah Henson, former Charles County slave, published his Life.

1850. Baltimore railroad stations at President St. (Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore Railroad) and Calvert St. (Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad).

1850. Sun Iron Building built, Baltimore's first all-iron structure.

1850, Oct. Chesapeake & Ohio Canal reached Cumberland.

1850, Nov. 4-1851, May 13. Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851.

1851, June 14. Second State Constitution adopted; Howard District recognized as Howard County.

1851. Three-masted clipper Seaman, Baltimore, established speed record for sail (94 days) from San Francisco to Cape Henry.

1851-1854. Enoch Louis Lowe (Democrat), governor.

1852. Thomas Kerney introduced bill to aid parochial schools.

1852. Loyola College, Baltimore, founded.

1852. Association of Maryland Pilots formed.

1852. Boston Steamship Company (later Merchants and Miners Transportation) began coastal shipping service, Baltimore.

1852, July. Statewide convention of free blacks, Baltimore.

1852, Nov. Evangelical groups formed Young Men's Christian Association, Baltimore.

1852, Dec. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad lines reached Wheeling, Virginia.

1853. Henry Sonneborn, Baltimore, began manufacturing clothing.

1853. Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick Railroad organized, later became Western Maryland Railroad.

1854. Baltimore County seat moved to Towson Town.

1854-1858. Thomas Watkins Ligon (Democrat), governor.

1854-1859. Rise of Know Nothing Party. Baltimore riots named city "Mobtown."

1855. Mary Whitridge, Baltimore-built clipper ship, set transatlantic sailing record (12 1/2 days) never broken.

1855, Nov. 7. Know-Nothing Party won elections.

1856. Camden St. Station (Baltimore & Ohio Railroad), Baltimore.

1856. Hebrew Benevolent Society, Baltimore.

1856, Oct.-Nov. Election violence, Baltimore.

1857. Baltimore gentlemen formed Maryland Club.

1857. Chief Justice Taney wrote majority opinion in case of Dred Scott v. Sanford.

1857. Peabody Institute founded in Baltimore (Institute now affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University).

1858-1862. Thomas Holliday Hicks (Know-Nothing), governor.

1859. First horsecar line, Baltimore.

1859, Oct. 6. Maryland Agricultural College opened at College Park, Prince George's County.

1859, Oct. 16. John Brown launched raid from Maryland on federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

1860. Druid Hill Park opened, Baltimore.

1860. General Assembly passed Jacobs bill to enslave free blacks, but measure failed referendum.

1860. Irish-born population of Baltimore City peaked (15,536 of 212,418).

1860, May. Constitutional Union party formed in Baltimore.

1860, Nov. Maryland voters gave John C. Breckinridge (Southern rights Democrat) 42,482 votes, John Bell (Constitutional Union) 41,760, Stephen A. Douglas (popular sovereignty Democrat) 5,966, and Abraham Lincoln (Republican) 2,294 in presidential election.

1861. Peabody Institute (later west wing) opened in Baltimore.

1861, April. James Ryder Randall wrote "Maryland, My Maryland".

1861, April 19. Sixth Massachusetts Union Regiment attacked by Baltimore mob.

1861, April 22. Federal troops occupied Annapolis.

1861, April 26. General Assembly met in special session at Frederick.

1861, April 27. President Lincoln suspended writ of habeas corpus between Washington and Philadelphia.

1861, May 13. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler's Union forces occupied Baltimore.

1861, May 27-28. Sitting on circuit, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney called in vain for release of John Merryman.

1861, June. Military arrested Baltimore police board members.

1861, June 13. Congressional elections returned Unionist delegation.

1861, Sept. 11. Secretary of War Simon Cameron ordered arrest of secessionist members of General Assembly.

1861, Nov. Voters defeated states' rights candidate for governor, Benjamin Chew Howard.

1862, May 23. Marylanders opposed one another at Battle of Front Royal.

1862, June 16. Confederate cavalry entered Cumberland.

1862, Sept. 14. Battle of South Mountain; Union troops forced Confederates from Crampton's and Turner's gaps.

1862, Sept. 17. Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg), 4,800 dead, 18,000 wounded.

1862, Oct. 10-12. Gen. Jeb Stuart's cavalry rode through Washington, Frederick and Montgomery counties during raid into Pennsylvania.

1862-1866. Augustus W. Bradford (Unionist), governor.

1863, late June- early July. Lee's army passed through Washington County en route to Gettysburg and in retreat.

1864, April 27-Sept. 6. Constitutional Convention of 1864 met in Annapolis.

1864, July 6. Hagerstown held for ransom by Confederate forces under Gen. Jubal Early.

1864, July 9. Frederick held for ransom by Confederate forces under Gen. Jubal Early.

1864, July 9. Battle of Monocacy; Confederates defeated Gen. Lew Wallace, and sent cavalry raiders north of Baltimore, then back through Prince George's County.

1864, Oct. 12-13, 29. Gov. Bradford declared Third State Constitution adopted after soldiers' vote was added to election totals. Soldiers' vote assured adoption of 1864 constitution, which abolished slavery (effective Nov. 1) and required strict loyalty oath of voters. A test oath was required of all voters.

1864, Nov. 1. Maryland slaves emancipated by State Constitution of 1864.

1865. Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company, first black-owned business in State, established by Isaac Myers.

1865. General Assembly permitted oyster dredging, but only under sail.

1865, April. John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, escaped through Prince George's and Charles counties.

1865, Oct. Frederick Douglass dedicated Douglass Institute named in his honor, Baltimore.

1866. First library of Peabody Institute opened.

1866-1869. Thomas Swann (Unionist Democrat), governor.

1867. Centenary Biblical Institute chartered under auspices of Methodist Episcopal Church; later became Morgan State University.

1867. Wicomico County created from Somerset and Worcester counties.

1867. Isaac Freeman Rasin won election to clerkship, Baltimore City Court of Common Pleas.

1867. Knights of Pythias formed in Baltimore.

1867, May 8-Aug. 17. Constitutional Convention of 1867; Democrats rewrote constitution.

1867, Sept. 18. Fourth State Constitution adopted by voters.

1868. State Oyster Police authorized.

1868. Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) chartered by Methodists (organized 1866).

1868. Regular steamship service between Baltimore and Bremen inaugurated by Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and North German Lloyd.

1869. Arthur Pue Gorman won seat in House of Delegates.

1869. Wendel A. Bollman built iron truss bridge for Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Savage.

1869, July. Isaac Myers and black caulkers in Baltimore formed national black labor union.

1869-1872. Oden Bowie (Democrat), governor.

1870. University of Maryland School of Law reopened.

1870. Maryland Jockey Club sponsored racing at Pimlico track.

1870, May. Baltimore African Americans parade to celebrate passage of Fifteenth Amendment to U.S. Constitution.

1872. Garrett County formed from Allegany County.

1872. General Assembly mandated separate but equal white and black schools.

1872.Western Maryland Railroad completed line, Hagerstown to Baltimore.

1872-1874. William Pinkney Whyte (Democrat), governor.

1873. School Sisters of Notre Dame established College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, first Catholic women's college in United States.

1873, May. Allegany County coal miners established Protective and Benevolent Association.

1873, July. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opens Deer Park Hotel, Garrett County.

1874. Commissioners of Fisheries authorized.

1874-1876. James Black Groome (Democrat), governor.

1875. Ceremonies dedicated Baltimore City Hall, a George Frederick design.

1875. Work began on east or library wing, Peabody Institute (completed 1878).

1875. Atlantic Hotel constructed, first hotel in Ocean City.

1876. Railroad/carriage trestle crossed Sinepuxent Bay at Ocean City.

1876, Oct. 3. The Johns Hopkins University opened in Baltimore.

1876-1880. John Lee Carroll (Democrat), governor.

1877, Jan. 16. Maryland-Virginia boundary in lower Chesapeake Bay demarcated by Jenkins-Black Award.

1877, July 20-22. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad strike; workers went on strike along line, demonstrated in Cumberland, struck and rioted at Baltimore.

1878. William Brooks established Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory, Hampton Roads.

1878. Young men returned from Newport, Rhode Island, with lacrosse sticks.

1878. Knights of Labor organized, Baltimore.

1879. Telephone exchange opened in Baltimore, first in State.

1880. Consolidated Gas Company founded at Baltimore.

1880. Electrical energy debuted in Maryland at Sun Building, Baltimore.

1880-1884. William T. Hamilton (Democrat), governor.

1881, Sept. Oriole Festival celebrated opening of Loch Raven Reservoir.

1882. Baltimore reformers won "good judges" election.

1882. Harry Vonderhorst sponsored Baltimore team in American Association of baseball clubs.

1882. Colored High School opened, Baltimore.

1883. Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company formed.

1883. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opened polygonal Passenger Car Shop, largest such structure in world, Baltimore.

1884. General Assembly, pressured by Knights of Labor, created Bureau of Industrial Statistics and Information.

1884-1885. Robert M. McLane (Democrat), governor.

1885. Baltimore civic leaders established Reform League.

1885. African American leaders established Mutual Brotherhood of Liberty.

1885. Woman's College of Baltimore chartered by Methodists, later became Goucher College.

1885. Bryn Mawr School, Baltimore, founded by M. Carey Thomas.

1885. Baltimore-Union Passenger Railway Company, first commercial electric street railway in country.

1885-1888. Henry Lloyd (Democrat), governor.

1886. Linotype machine perfected by Ottmar Mergenthaler, Baltimore.

1886. Maryland Progressive State Colored Teachers Association formed.

1886, Jan. 5. Enoch Pratt Free Library opened in Baltimore.

1887. Pennsylvania Steel (Maryland Steel, 1891) built blast furnace at Sparrows Point.

1887. Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., designed summer retreat, Sudbrook Park, near Pikesville.

1888. Voters north and west of Baltimore City agreed to annexation.

1888, Oct. Maryland flag of Calvert and Crossland colors flown at monument dedication ceremonies, Gettysburg.

1888-1889. Oyster Wars; Maryland and Virginia watermen fought on Chesapeake Bay.

1888-1892. Elihu E. Jackson(Democrat), governor.

1889. Baltimore Federation of Labor.

1889. Henrietta Szold opened school for Jewish immigrant children.

1889, May. Floodwaters inundated Cumberland.

1889, May 7. The Johns Hopkins Hospital dedicated in Baltimore.

1890. Morgan College formed from Centenary Biblical Institute.

1890. Columbian Iron Works, Baltimore, produced Maverick, first steel tanker ship in United States.

1890. German-born population of Baltimore City peaked (41,930 of 365,863).

1890. Harry S. Cummings won seat on Baltimore City Council, first black in State to hold major elective office.

1890. Australian secret ballot in elections adopted.

1891. Charles H. Grasty assumed control of Baltimore Evening News.

1892. State Weather Service started.

1892. Baltimore Afro-American founded by John H. Murphy, Sr.

1892. Francis G. Newlands developed Chevy Chase.

1892-1896. Frank Brown (Democrat), governor.

1893. Women's College of Frederick founded, later became Hood College.

1893, Oct. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine opened in Baltimore, accepting women.

1894. First child labor law passed; first pure milk law passed.

1894. Baltimore women formed Arundell Club.

1894. Provident Hospital, Baltimore, founded by William T. Carr and William H. Thompson.

1894. "Coxey's army" passed through State.

1894. Baltimore Orioles won their first professional baseball championship.

1894, June. Frostburg coal strike.

1895. Maryland Bar Association held first convention.

1895. Reformers carried Baltimore City and State elections.

1895. Charles County seat moved from Port Tobacco to La Plata.

1896. Maryland adopted improved "secret" ballot.

1896. General Assembly ended practice of electing one U.S. senator from Eastern Shore, passed law restraining courts from compelling reporters to divulge their sources.

1896. Office of Game Warden established.

1896. Columbian Iron Works built Argonaut, path-breaking submarine.

1896-1900. Lloyd Lowndes (Republican), governor.

1897. Maryland Public Health Association formed, Baltimore.

1897. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., planned west side of Roland Park (company organized 1891).

1898. Baltimore obtained reformed city charter.

1899. William B. Clark issued report on State roads.

1899. Baltimore Municipal Art Society formed.

1899. Building program began at Naval Academy, Ernest Flagg architect.

1899, Nov. Maryland Federation of Women's Clubs organized.

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