BALTIMORE CITY, MARYLAND

HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY

• 1600 - 1699
• 1700 - 1799
• 1800 - 1899
• 1900 - 1999
• 2000 -

1801, July 27-1805, March 4. Robert Smith (1757-1842) of Baltimore served as U.S. Secretary of the Navy.

1802. Daniel Coker ministered to black Methodists, Baltimore.

1803, Dec. 24. Elizabeth Patterson (1785-1879) of Baltimore married Jerome Bonaparte (1784-1860), brother of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), in Baltimore.

1804. Baltimore Water Company formed (chartered 1792).

1805, March 3-Aug. 6. Robert Smith (1757-1842) of Baltimore served as U.S. Attorney General.

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).

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

1808. Elizabeth Seton opened female academy, Baltimore.

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

1809. Second Courthouse opened in Baltimore at Church (now Lexington) St. and Washington Square.

1809, March 6-1811, April 1. Robert Smith (1757-1842) of Baltimore served as U.S. Secretary of State.

Archbishop John Carroll (1735-1815) Bicentennial Memorial (1976), by Felix de Weldon (1907-2003), on southside of Duvall Wing, Prince George's County Courthouse, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, October 2009. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1811. Maryland Penitentiary (now Maryland Transition Center) opened in Baltimore.

1811, Sept. 7. Hezekiah Niles began publishing in Baltimore Niles' Register, a national newspaper.

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

1812, June 27. Mob attacked Alexander Contee Hanson, editor of Baltimore Federal Republican, and party.

1812, Dec. 12. Thomas Kemp, Fell's Point, launched Baltimore Clipper Chasseur, later famous under command of Thomas Boyle.

1813, June 13. Chesapeake, first steamboat on Chesapeake Bay, traveled between Baltimore and Annapolis.

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

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

Entrance to Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland, August 2010. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

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

1815, July. Baltimoreans laid cornerstone for Robert Mills' Washington Monument (completed 1829).

1815, Sept. Baltimoreans laid cornerstone for Maximilien Godefroy's Battle of North Point Monument (completed 1825).

1816. Rembrandt Peale demonstrated gas lighting at his museum.

1816. Delphian Club, a literary group, organized, Baltimore.

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

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

1817, Feb. 3. Baltimore boundaries extended north to East Ave.

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, April 2. John Stuart Skinner published at Baltimore, The American Farmer, first agricultural journal in United States.

1819, April 26. Independent Order of Odd Fellows organized at Fell's Point, Baltimore.

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

1824. Benjamin Lundy published at Baltimore the Genius of Universal Emancipation, an anti-slavery newspaper.

1824, Aug. 9. William Pinkney Whyte (1824-1908), Governor of Maryland, born in Baltimore.

1825. Marquis de Lafayette revisited Baltimore.

1825. Maryland Institute held first exhibition.

1825. Washington Medical College (1825-1851) founded.

1825, Sept. 24. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911), abolitionist and writer, born in Baltimore.

1826, Jan. 10. Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts (now Maryland Institute College of Art) chartered.

1826. Levy Court abolished; Mayor and City Council take over Levy Court powers.

1826. Thomas Kensett began canning oysters in Baltimore.

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

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

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, 901 West Pratt St. (at Poppleton St.), Baltimore, Maryland, May 2013. Photo by Adam N. Wexler.

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

1828, Dec. Peter Cooper, Columbus O'Donnell, and William Patterson form Canton Company, Baltimore.

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

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, July 2. Oblate Sisters of Providence established in Baltimore as first order of African-American nuns in Roman Catholic Church.

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

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

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

1830, Aug. 28. Race at Baltimore between Peter Cooper's Tom Thumb locomotive and a train pulled by horse on Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

1830, Sept. 30. John Lee Carroll (1830-1911), Governor of Maryland, born at "Homewood" in Baltimore.

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

1831, Feb. Maryland State Colonization Society formed in Baltimore.

1831, Sept. 26. Anti-Masonic Party Convention (the first national political convention) met in Baltimore.

1831, Dec. 12. National Republican Party Convention met in Baltimore.

1832. First omnibus lines began operating in Baltimore.

1832, March 5. Baltimore and Port Deposite Rail Road chartered.

1832, May 21-23. First national convention of Democratic Party met in Baltimore.

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

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

1835, Feb. 13. Courthouse destroyed by fire.

1835, May 20-23. Democratic Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

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

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

1836. Washington College Hospital (1836-1851) opened.

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

1838. Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery in Baltimore.

1838, Feb. 12. Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad Company formed.

1838. Voter registration system initiated in Baltimore.

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

1839. Third Courthouse erected in Baltimore at Lexington St. and St. Paul St.

1839, Oct. 20. Baltimore City Council established Male Central High School (now Baltimore City College).

1839, Nov. 14. Mercantile Library Association established in Baltimore.

1840, Feb. 1. Baltimore College of Dental Surgery founded.

1840, March 18. Baltimore Steam Packet Company (Old Bay Line) chartered.

1840, April 2. Washington Temperance Society founded in Baltimore.

1840, May 5-6. Democratic Party National Convention met in Baltimore, the first time a Party platform was adopted.

1841, Jan. Maryland College of Pharmacy founded.

1844, May 1. Whig Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

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

1844, May 27. Democratic Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

Maryland Historical Society, 201 West Monument St., Baltimore, Maryland, December 2006. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

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

Lloyd Street Synagogue, Lloyd St., Baltimore, Maryland, April 2008. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1846. Cross Street Market opened in Federal Hill between Charles St. and Patpsco St.

1846. Hollins Market opened at Hollins St. and Arlington Ave.

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

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

1848. Whig Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

1848, May 22. Democratic Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

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.

1851, June 9. Charles J. Bonaparte (1851-1921), U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Secretary of the Navy, born in Baltimore.

1851, July 4. Baltimore City, as a governmental unit, separated from Baltimore County.

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

1852. Baltimore boundaries extended.

1852. Loyola College, Baltimore, founded.

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

1852, June 1. Democratic Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

1852, June 10. Whig Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

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

1852, July 22-1853, March 7. John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) of Baltimore served as U.S. Secretary of the Navy.

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

1853. Henry Sonneborn, Baltimore, began manufacturing clothing.

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

1854. Union Protestant Infirmary established.

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.

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

1856. Hebrew Benevolent Society, Baltimore, incorporated.

1856, Sept. 17. Whig Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

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

1857. Baltimore gentlemen formed Maryland Club.

1857. Washington College Hospital reopened as Church Home and Infirmary.

1857, Jan. 2. M. Carey Thomas (1857-1935), president of Bryn Mawr College and founder of Bryn Mawr School for Girls, born in Baltimore.

1857, Feb. Peabody Institute founded in Baltimore by philanthropist George Peabody (affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University in 1977). It was first academy of music established in United States.

1859. First horsecar line, Baltimore.

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

1860, May 9. Constitutional Union Party formed in Baltimore.

1860, June 18-23. Democratic Party National Convention (first assembled at Charleston, South Carolina) met in Baltimore.

1860, Oct. 19. Druid Hill Park opened, Baltimore.

George Peabody (1795-1869) statue (1869), by William W. Story, before Peabody Institute, Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, Maryland, March 2009. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

A Baltimore merchant who moved to London, George Peabody became a philanthropist and diplomat. He established the first charitable foundations in America and England, and founded the Peabody Institute at Baltimore in 1857.

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

1861, June. Military arrested Baltimore police board members.

1861, Sept. Severn Teackle Wallis of Baltimore and other members of General Assembly arrested by Union soldiers at Frederick.

1864, April 18. President Abraham Lincoln addressed U.S. Sanitary Commission Fair in Baltimore.

1864, June 7. Republican Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

1864, June 7-8. National Union Party Convention met in Baltimore.

1864, Nov. 1 Maryland slaves emancipated by Maryland Constitution of 1864. To celebrate, under direction of Baltimore City Council, five hundred guns were fired, bells were rung, and flags displayed "to attest the joy of the people at their great deliverance."

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

1866. First library of Peabody Institute opened in Baltimore.

1866, Aug. 20. National Labor Union, the first national labor union in America, organized in Baltimore.

1866-1869. Thomas G. Swann (1806-1883) of Baltimore served as Governor of Maryland.

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

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

1867, Nov. 27. Knights of Pythias formed in Baltimore.

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

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

1870. University of Maryland School of Law reopened.

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

1870, Oct. 27. Maryland Jockey Club sponsored racing at Pimlico track.

1871, Dec. Lafayette Market opened at Pennsylvania Ave.

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

1872. College of Physicians and Surgeons (1872-1915) founded.

1872, July 9. Democratic Party National Convention met in Baltimore.

1874. Baltimore boundaries extended.

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

1875, Oct. 25. Ceremonies dedicated Baltimore City Hall, a George Frederick design.

City Hall, 100 North Holliday St., Baltimore, Maryland, June 2006. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

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

1878, June. William Brooks with The Johns Hopkins University established Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory at Fort Wool, Hampton Roads.

1878, Aug. Young men of Baltimore Athletic Club 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.

1881. Baltimore Medical College (1881-1913) founded.

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 and Training School (now Douglass Senior High School) opened, Baltimore.

1883. Woman's Medical College of Baltimore (1882-1910) organized.

1883. Baltimore Federation of Labor organized.

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

1884, Jan.-1885, March 27. Robert M. McLane (1815-1898) of Baltimore served as Governor of Maryland.

1885. Northeast Market established at East Monument St.

1885. Baltimore civic leaders established Baltimore Reform League.

1885. African American leaders established Mutual Brotherhood of Liberty in Baltimore.

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.

1886. Linotype machine perfected by Ottmar Mergenthaler, Baltimore.

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

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

1889. Henrietta Szold opened night school for immigrants in Baltimore, first of its kind in nation.

1889, May 25. Lillie Carroll Jackson (1889-1975), civil rights activist, born in Baltimore.

1890. Morgan College formed from Centenary Biblical Institute.

Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 North Wolfe St., Baltimore, Maryland, July 2012. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

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

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

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

1892, Aug. 13. Baltimore Afro-American founded by John H. Murphy, Sr.

1892, Dec. Sheppard Asylum for the mentally ill founded by Moses Sheppard, opened to patients; later became Sheppard-Pratt Hospital.

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

1894. Baltimore women formed Arundell Club.

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

1894. Baltimore Orioles won their first professional baseball championship.

1895. Maryland State Bar Association held first convention.

1895, Nov. Reformers carried Baltimore City and State elections.

1896, Nov. 17. Herbert R. O'Conor (1896-1960), Governor of Maryland, born in Baltimore.

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

1897, Feb. Maryland Public Health Association formed, Baltimore.

1898. Baltimore obtained reformed city charter.

1898. Maryland Medical College of Baltimore (1898-1913) founded.

1899, Jan. Baltimore Municipal Art Society formed to beautify public buildings, streets, and open spaces.

1899, Dec. 1. Maryland Federation of Women's Clubs organized at Baltimore.

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