Massachusetts Timeline History

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882)

arrow Massachusetts Timeline History

arrow 1524: Giovanni de Verrazano explores the Chesapeake Bay area

arrow 1608: British Captain John Smith arrives in the area, and is the first European to do so

arrow 1622: William Claiborne establishes a trading post on Kent Island, and it becomes the first permanent European settlement

arrow 1633: Cecil Calvert zzzLord Baltimore II: arrives and takes possession of the land granted to him by King Charles I

arrow 1649: Maryland grants religious freedom to all Christians, when they pass the Act of Religious Toleration. Significant amount of settlers arrive over the next 10 years

arrow 1692: An appointed Royal governor takes control over the Maryland colony

arrow 1694: The capital of the colony moves to the new city of Annapolis

arrow 1729: Baltimore is founded

arrow 1754: A young George Washington participates in the building of Ft. Mt. Pleasant, in an effort to keep the French out of the area

arrow 1767: Maryland's official borders with Pennsylvania and Delaware are finally decided by the surveyors, Mason and Dixon, and it would later be called The Mason Dixon Line

arrow 1774: Maryland choices its delegates to the Continental Congress

arrow 1776: Maryland troops participate in the Battle of Long Island, helping to save Washington's forces

arrow 1778: Due to unruly crowds in Philadelphia, the Capital of the new United States was moved to Annapolis

arrow 1788: Maryland becomes the seventh U.S. State

arrow 1814: While the British were attacking Fort McHenry, during the War of 1812, Frances Scott Key, a local lawyer and poet, composed the Star-Spangled Banner

arrow 1828: Construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad zzzthe nation's first: begins

arrow 1862: The Battle of Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, was the most costly battle during the Civil War, as more than 23,000 troops were killed or wounded on one single day

arrow 1845: U.S. Naval Academy established at Annapolis

arrow 1872: The Radical Republicans hold their national convention in Baltimore

arrow 1889: Johns Hopkins Hospital opens

arrow 1904: Baltimore severely damaged by out-of-control fire

arrow 1912: The Democratic National Convention is held in Baltimore, and Woodrow Wilson is nominated for president

arrow 1920s-30s: Maryland refuses to enforce the national Prohibition laws, and was soon given the nickname of Free State

arrow 1952: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge opens

arrow 1980: Harborplace opens in Baltimore, and helps begin the complete renovation of that city's harbor

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