New Jersey Timeline History

Washington Crossing the Delaware

arrow New Jersey Timeline History

arrow 1524: Area explored by Giovanni Verrazano

arrow 1609: Henry Hudson arrives, travels up his namesake Hudson River

arrow 1618: Dutch trading post established at Bergen

arrow 1638: Swedish settlement built on the lower Delaware

arrow 1664: England acquires New Jersey from the Netherlands

arrow 1702: New Jersey becomes a Crown Colony, and is put under supervision of the governor of New York

arrow 1736: New Jersey forms its own government

arrow 1763: William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin becomes governor

arrow 1770s: Major battles are fought here during the Revolutionary War

arrow 1776: George Washington and his soldiers defeat the British at Trenton

arrow 1787: New Jersey became the 3rd U.S. State

arrow 1804: New legislation states that any person born in New Jersey after July 4, 1804, are considered free.

arrow 1838: Samuel Morse demonstrates his telegraph machine

arrow 1846: First baseball game played at Hoboken

arrow 1858: Dinosaur skeletons found near Haddonfield are the first discovered in North America

arrow 1861: North Jersey Brigade is the first to begin the defense of Washington during the Civil War

arrow 1869: The first intercollegiate football game is played at New Brunswick

arrow 1879: Thomas Edison invents the light blub

arrow 1912: The former governor of New Jersey - Woodrow Wilson - is elected U.S. President.

arrow 1921: The first Miss America Contest is held in Atlantic City

arrow 1931: The George Washington Bridge - between New York and New Jersey - opens to great fanfare

arrow 1933: The Hindenburg dirigible crashes in Lakehurst, killing dozens

arrow 1976: Meadowlands opens, and major league teams relocate there

arrow 1978: Casinos and legalized gambling open in Atlantic City

arrow 1994: Christine Whitman becomes the state's first female governor

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