New York City Timeline (1600-1900)

1609 — Henry Hudson, an English explorer sails into New York Harbor on his ship, the Half Moon.

1624 — Employed by the Dutch West India Company, Dutch and Belgian settlers land in Manhattan and name the new colony New Amsterdam.

1626 — Peter Minuit, the first director general of New Amsterdam, gains Manhattan Island from the Algonquian Indians in trade for daily items which totaled to be about $24 (1869 currency).

1635 — Fort Amsterdam is completed, which marks the authorized founding date of New Amsterdam.

1640 – The Dutch now conquered most of New York and inscribed it into the Dutch Empire of the New World.

1647 — Peter Stuyvesant is chosen as the first governor of New Amsterdam.

1653 — New Amsterdam’s supervision of the Dutch West India Company ends and it separates from New Netherland after receiving its own charter.

1664 — The Duke of York sends a fleet of soldiers, under Colonel Richard Nichols, to the Port of New York. Nichols successfully commands his army and captures Staten Island. In late August, Nichols demands Peter Stuyvesant to admit defeat and hand over New Amsterdam. On September 6, citizens advise Stuyvesant to give in to Nichols’ demands. After Nichols had won he renamed New Amsterdam to New York, after the Duke.

1665 — Thomas Willett is chosen the first Mayor of New York City.

1673 – The Dutch regain control of New York and rename it New Orange.

1674 – The Dutch permanently leave New York for good after the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

1683 – New York City gets its first legislative assembly.

1685 — Thomas Dongan is voted as the first Catholic Governor of New York.

1700 – City Hall of New York City is erected, which is later named Federal Hall in 1789.

1702 — Lord Cornbury is made Governor of New York City with orders from Queen Anne of Britain. Yellow Fever hits New York and kills around 500 citizens, about 1 in 9 of the City’s residents.

1712 — A mob of approximately 20 slaves revolt and set fire to several houses and kill ten white people.

1731 — Smallpox rages through the City and kill nearly 600 inhabitants.

1735 — The trial of John Peter Zenger takes place at City Hall. He and his supporters found the New York Weekly Journal unconstitutional to the administration of Governor Cosby. Zenger was arrested for rebellious libel.

1770 — Blood is shed on Golden Hill when British troops met the Sons of Liberty. The incident was triggered by the soldiers cutting down the liberty pole that was setup by the Sons of Liberty.

1776 — In the summertime British fleets under Howe, Lord William Howe, and Admiral Richard Howe arrive at Sandy Hook. Soon on August 27 the battle of Long Island begins with the British soldiers and Washington’s army. Washington is defeated and is forced to retreat to Manhattan. In September 1776 more British enter New York and begin a 7-year occupation. Also in 1776 a fire destroys much of Lower Manhattan (about ¼ of the city’s buildings).

1783 — The British leave New York City on November 25th, ending their lengthy occupation. This day is known as Evacuation Day.

1784 — The Bank of New York is planned by Alexander Hamilton and it launches on June 9th. The bank’s headquarters are still at the original location of 48 Wall Street.

1788 — 5000 New Yorkers march in a huge federal parade to celebrate the approval of New York’s ratification of the Constitution of the United States. On September 17, the Common Council announces to permit the federal government use of City Hall. As a result New York City becomes the first capital of the new nation.

1789 – Washington is inauguration as the first president of the USA is witnessed by cheering crowds on

the front balcony of Federal Hall.

1790 — Federal Hall is publicly opened as the seat of the new Federal Congress.

1791 — Yellow Fever is back! This time yellow fever kills nearly 2000 City residents.

1792 – The stock market begins to take shape under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. Two dozen men got together and agreed to trade government and private bonds and stocks. This marked the start of the world famous New York Stock Exchange.

1801 — The New York Post is found by Alexander Hamilton.

1811 — City Hall is crushed and moved to another location in which it opened on July 4th.

1812 — War breaks out with Great Britain due to the Embargo Act and the impressments of American seamen. Trade is disrupted in New York Harbor for about 3 years.

1816 — Brooklyn is incorporated into New York City, but has to wait until 1834 to establish its City Charter.

1818 — New York’s unsurpassed condition in the commerce of the world was safe. Main factors in the achievement were the growth of the Port of New York, the development of faster and maneuverable clipper ships, and finally the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825.

1822 — Yellow Fever is back again! The epidemic takes around 1,000 people this time.

1825 — The Erie Canal opens on October 26th, joining Lake Erie with the Hudson River. The canals opening made New York one of the greatest trade centers of the world!

1828 — The Delaware and Hudson Canal is finished, opening up a water way from Pennsylvania to New York City.

1832 — The Erie Railroad is licensed to place tracks from New York City to Lake Erie. Also in 1832, 4000 people die of Cholera.

1835 — A big fire destroys 674 buildings in lower Manhattan below Wall Street. Also in this year, the New York Herald was launched by James Gordon Bennett. Bennett’s newspaper made its way to the most successful newspaper in the United States of that time.

1837 — Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrates his invention, the electric telegraph in New York City.

1841 — The Hudson River is connected to the Delaware River by a system of canals and railroads. Also in this year, the New York Tribune is created by Horace Greely. With Greely’s guidance the Tribune is an optimist instrument, favoring utopian socialism, the labor movement, temperance societies, and opposing the expansion of slavery.

1844 — Green-Wood Cemetery opens in Brooklyn. Today it occupies over half a million bodies.

1863 – Riots occur due to the draft on 3rd avenue and 47th street.

1873 — On September 20th trading is delayed on the stock market. A suspension is made on trading and stays in effect for 10 days. Nearly 300 brokerage houses collapsed one after another.

1877 — Alexander Graham Bell pioneers the telephone and Bell Telephone begins offering telephone services to the City. Two years later New York City’s first telephone directory is published containing only 252 names.

1883 — The Brooklyn Bridge opens on May 24, 1883 connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan. This steel suspension bridge crosses the East River with a length of about 1600 feet. Once the project was completed it was seen as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Also, the first Metropolitan Opera House opens on Broadway between 39th and 40th Street.

1886 — Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi gives the Statue of Liberty to the United States as a gift from the French behalf the anniversary of the American Revolution. The 150-foot-tall, bronze statue is placed in New York Harbor on Bedloe’s Island over a star-shaped base and a metal structure designed by Richard Morris Hunt and Gustave Eiffel. 1889 – The first copies of the Wall Street Journal sell for 2 cents a print. Originally the journal published only railroad and crop settings, and information of the leading stocks with their prices. 1892 — Ellis Island opens for immigration, moving immigrant processing from Castle Clinton in Battery Park to the new federal services of Ellis Island.

1895 – A new marble Washington Memorial Arch is made by Stanford White to replace the old wooden arch made to celebrate the inauguration of George Washington.

1898 — The five Boroughs of New York City are officially established into Greater New York.

1899 — Park Row Building between Ann and Beekman Streets is completed architect R.H Robertson. The building reaches 39 stories into the sky with a height of 391 feet, making it the tallest in the world!

cites used:http://nyctimeline.com/
http://www.history.com/topics/new-york-city
http://www.newyorkcitytimeline.com/


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