MARYLAND AT A GLANCE

HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY

• 10,000 B.C. - 1599
• 1600 - 1699
• 1700 - 1799
• 1800 - 1899
• 1900 - 1999
• 2000 -

1700 - 1799

1704. Construction completed on St. Anne's Church, Annapolis.

1704, Oct. 3. Treaty with Nanticoke.

1704, Oct. 18. First Annapolis State House burned.

1706. Queen Anne's County formed from Kent and Talbot counties.

1706. Justus Engelhardt Kühn (d. 1717), portrait painter, arrived in Maryland.

1708, Nov. 22. Annapolis incorporated as a city (Chapter 7, Acts of 1708).

1708. The Sot-Weed Factor: Or, A Voyage to Maryland, by Ebenezer Cooke (c. 1665-c. 1732), published (London).

1709. Construction completed on second Annapolis State House.

1709-1714. Edward Lloyd (president of council), acting governor.

1710. Talbot Court House (later East Town or Easton).

1714-1720. John Hart, governor.

1715, Feb. Crown restored proprietary rights to Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Lord Baltimore.

1715, April. Charles Calvert succeeded as 5th Lord Baltimore.

1718. Catholics disenfranchised by Assembly.

1719. Principio Iron Works, first blast furnace in Maryland, founded near Perryville, financed by English capital.

1720-1727. Charles Calvert, governor.

1722, Oct. 22. Treaty with Assateagues and Pocomoke.

1723. School and board of visitors in each county mandated by Assembly.

1727, Sept. Maryland Gazette, first newspaper in the Chesapeake, published by William Parks at Annapolis (until 1734).

1727-1731. Benedict Leonard Calvert, governor.

1729, Aug. 8. Baltimore Town established by charter; named after Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore.

Robert Long House, 812 South Ann St., Fell's Point, Baltimore, Maryland, 1999. Oldest existing residence in Baltimore dates from 1765. Photo by Diane P. Frese.

1731. Baltimore Company began ironmaking on Patapsco River.

1731-1732. Samuel Ogle, governor.

1732. Salisbury Town laid out by commissioners.

1732. Establishment of boundary line with three lower counties of Pennsylvania, which later became Delaware.

1732-1733. Charles Calvert, governor.

1733-1742. Samuel Ogle, governor.

1741. Oldtown on upper Potomac founded by Thomas Cresap.

1742. Treaty with Assateague.

1742. Worcester County erected from Somerset County.

1742, July 10. First Baptist church in Maryland established by Henry Sater at Chestnut Ridge, Baltimore County.

1742-1747. Thomas Bladen, governor.

1743. First Lutheran church in Maryland built under David Candler's leadership, Monocacy River.

1743. Maryland Jockey Club founded in Annapolis.

1744. Many Nanticoke left Maryland to join Iroquois, traveling north to Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, Canada.

1744, June 30. Native-American chiefs of the Six Nations relinquished by treaty all claims to land in colony. Assembly purchased last Indian land claims in Maryland.

1745. Maryland Jockey Club organized first races.

1745. Daniel Dulany the Elder (1685-1753) laid out Frederick Town and invited German settlement.

1745, Sept. 28. Jones's Town and Baltimore Town incorporated by General Assembly into one entity called Baltimore Town.

1745, Jan. 17. Jonas Green (c. 1712-1767) revived Maryland Gazette.

1745, May 14. Tuesday Club formed in Annapolis.

1747, May 7-8. Reformed Lutheran congregation organized by Rev. Michael Schlatter in Frederick.

1747-1752. Samuel Ogle, governor.

Dried tobacco, Mount Harmon Plantation, 600 Mt. Harmon Road, Earlville (Cecil County), Maryland, October 2016. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

1750. Ohio Company established trading post at Will's Creek on Potomac River.

1751. Frederick Calvert succeeded as 6th and last Lord Baltimore.

1752. Dr. John Stevenson (c. 1718-1785) shipped cargo of 1,000 bushels of grain, 15 barrels of flour, and 16 barrels of bread to Ireland, first in an export trade that spurred development of Baltimore.

1752. John Moale (c. 1731-1798) sketched Baltimore Town.

1752-1753. Benjamin Tasker (president of council), acting governor.

1753-1769. Horatio Sharpe, governor.

1754. Fort Cumberland constructed by militiamen.

1755. French-speaking Catholics arrived in Baltimore from Nova Scotia.

1755, April 23. British Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock, Lt. Col. George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin met at Frederick to plan British assault on Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).

1755, June. British Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock (1695-1755) left Fort Cumberland and led campaign through Maryland to the west.

1755, July 9. French and Indian forces mortally wounded British Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock and defeated his army at Battle of Monongahela near Fort Duquesne. Afterwards, Indian attacks on western settlers increased.

1756. Assembly supplied funds for Fort Frederick, near North Mountain.

1762. Elizabeth Town (later Hagerstown) laid out by Jonathan Hager.

1763-1767. Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed boundary line with Pennsylvania.

1764. First Methodist house of worship in colonies, the John Evans House, built under leadership of Robert Strawbridge in Frederick (later Carroll) County

Mason-Dixon Line sign at Maryland-Pennsylvania border, U.S. Route 15 North near Emmitsburg, Maryland, May 2015. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

1765, Nov. 23. County Court judges renounced Stamp Act on what became known as Repudiation Day.

• "From Indignant Protest to Hesitant Revolutionaries: Maryland and the American Revolution, 1765-1776"

1766. Sons of Liberty organized in Baltimore County.

1767. Annapolis merchants sent Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) to London to study painting with Benjamin West.

1768. Baltimore County seat moved from Joppa to Baltimore Town.

1768, June 18. Nanticoke relinquished their land claims in Maryland and received compensation.

1769. Maryland merchants adopted policy of nonimportation of British goods.

1769. First smallpox hospital in colonies established by Henry Stevenson, Baltimore.

1769-1776. Sir Robert Eden, governor.

1770-1772. Second Annapolis State House demolished (Chapter 14, Acts of 1769).

1771, Sept. 9. First brick theater in America opened on West Street in Annapolis with production of "The Roman Father."

1772. Brothers John, Andrew and Joseph Ellicott erected largest flour mill in Maryland on Patapsco River.

1773, June 28. Assembly united Fell's Point and Baltimore Town.

1773. Caroline County erected from Dorchester and Queen Anne's counties.

State House, Annapolis, Maryland, April 2005. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1773, Jan. 7 - July 1. Maryland Gazette published debate between Charles Carroll and Daniel Dulany, Jr. (under names "First Citizen" and "Antilon," respectively) on Governor's right to set fees without legislative consent.

1773, Aug. 20. William Goddard (1740-1817) began printing Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser.

1774. Catoctin Iron Furnace, Frederick County, built to produce pig iron.

1774, April 19. Last colonial General Assembly prorogued by Sir Robert Eden, Governor of Maryland.

1774, June 11. Hungerford Resolves call on colonists to stop trade with Great Britain and the West Indies.

1774, June 22. First Provincial Convention (an extralegal body) met at Annapolis, and sent delegates to First Continental Congress.

1774, Aug. Baltimoreans shipped cargo of corn, rye, and bread to people of Boston.

1774, Oct. 19. Mob burned Peggy Stewart in Annapolis harbor.

1774, Dec. Mordecai Gist (1743-1792) formed Baltimore Independent Cadets.

1775, March 22. "Bush Declaration" signed, Bush River, Harford County, patriots call for independence.

1775, July. Mary Katharine Goddard was named the first Postmaster of Baltimore, the first female postmaster in the colonies.

1775, July 16. Congress adopted William Goddard's plan for Constitutional Post, the foundation of U.S. postal system.

1775, July 18. Rifle companies under Michael Cresap and Thomas Price departed Frederick Town to join Washington's army at Boston, later to become part of Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment.

1775, July 26. Association of Freemen formed by Maryland Convention.

1775, Aug. 29. Council of Safety organized.

1775, Dec. Association of Freemen began recruiting troops.

1776. Captain James Nicholson commanded Maryland sloop Defence.

1776, Jan. 14. Colonel William Smallwood (1732-1792) organized Maryland Battalion (later called 1st Maryland Regiment).

1776, March. Whig Club formed in Baltimore.

1776, March. Fort Whetstone, Baltimore, erected at later site for Fort McHenry.

1776, June 26. Departure of Sir Robert Eden, Maryland's last colonial governor.

1776, July 6. Maryland Convention declared independence from Great Britain.

1776, July 17. John Murray (1732-1809), fourth Earl of Dunmore and last royal governor of Virginia, and his British fleet reached St. George Island, but were prevented from crossing to mainland by Maryland militia under command of Capt. Rezin Beall.

1776, Aug. 14-Nov. 11. Constitutional Convention of 1776 (meeting of Ninth Provincial Convention).

Samuel Chase (1741-1811), by John Beale Bordley, 1836. (MSA SC 1545-1115). Courtesy of Commission on Artistic Property, Maryland State Archives. Chase was one of four Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence.

• Finding the Maryland 400

1776, Sept 6. Montgomery County created from Frederick County by resolve of Ninth Provincial Convention.

1776, Sept 6. Washington County created from Frederick County by resolve of Ninth Provincial Convention.

1776, Sept. 16. Eastern Shore Battalion of Flying Camp fought under Col. William Richardson at Battle of Harlem Heights.

1776, Oct. 28. Maryland soldiers fought at Battle of White Plains.

1776, Nov. 3. Declaration of Rights (Maryland's Bill of Rights) adopted by Ninth Provincial Convention. Church of England disestablished.

1776, Nov. 8. First State Constitution adopted by Ninth Provincial Convention.

• "Writing It All Down: The Art of Constitution Making for the State and the Nation, 1776-1833"

1776, Dec. 20-1777, Feb. 27. Continental Congress met in Baltimore at Henry Fite's House.

1777. Hessian Barracks were erected by British and Hessian soldiers captured during the Revolutionary War. Later, the Barracks held prisoners from the War of 1812, were used as an armory, a Civil War hospital, and as the original building for the Maryland School for the Deaf.

1777, Feb. 5. First General Assembly elected under State Constitution of 1776 met at Annapolis.

1777, March 21. Inauguration of Thomas Johnson (1732-1819), first governor elected by General Assembly. Council of Safety disbanded.

1777, Sept. 11. Maryland soldiers fought at Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania.

1777-1779. Thomas Johnson, governor.

1778. Count Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779) raised independent troops, Baltimore.

1778. General Assembly reserved all unpatented lands "westward of Fort Cumberland" for Maryland soldiers of the Revolutionary War.

Bust of Thomas Johnson in front of City Hall, Frederick, Maryland, October 2001. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1779-1782. Thomas Sim Lee, governor.

1780. Baltimore became port of entry.

1780, Aug. 16. In South Carolina, Maryland soldiers fought at Battle of Camden.

Statue of Baron Johann DeKalb, by Ephraim Keyser, State House grounds, Annapolis, Maryland, June 2000. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

Baron DeKalb (1721-1780) led the Maryland Line at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina, August 16, 1780. He died at Camden on August 19, 1780, from wounds received in that battle.

1781, Jan. 17. Maryland soldiers fought and, under John Eager Howard (1752-1827), played decisive role at Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.

1781, Feb. 2. Property of Loyalists and British subjects confiscated.

1781, March 1. Maryland ratified, and thereby made effective, the Articles of Confederation.

1781, March 15. In North Carolina, Maryland soldiers fought at Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

1781, Sept. 8. Maryland soldiers fought at Battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina.

1781, Sept. 17. American troops embarked from Fells Point, Baltimore, and sailed to Yorktown.

1781, Sept. 21. Encamped at King William's School (now St. John's College), French troops sailed from Annapolis to Yorktown.

1781, Nov. 5. John Hanson (1715-1783) elected first President of the United States in Congress Assembled, following ratification of Articles of Confederation (served Nov. 5, 1781 to Nov. 3, 1782).

1782. Washington College (formerly Kent Academy) established at Chestertown.

1782, Nov. 30. Commodore Zedekiah Whaley and naval militia fought British naval forces in Battle of Kedges Strait (Battle of the Barges), between Smith Island and South Marsh Island, Somerset County.

1782-1785. William Paca, governor.

1783, July 31. Freemasons at Talbot Court House resolved to form Grand Lodge of Maryland; elected John Coats as first Grand Master.

1783, Nov. 26-1784, Aug. 19. Annapolis served as capital to newly forming American nation when Continental Congress met in the State House.

1783, Dec. 23. George Washington resigned commission as commander in chief of Continental Army in Old Senate Chamber at State House in Annapolis.

1784. Potomac Company (Patowmack Company) chartered by Maryland and Virginia.

1784. John Frederick Amelung (1741-1798) and party established New Bremen glassworks, Frederick County.

1784, Jan. 14. Treaty of Paris, ending Revolutionary War, ratified by Congress at Annapolis.

1784, June, 24. Edward Warren made first manned hot-air balloon flight in United States at Baltimore aboard balloon designed by Peter Carnes of Bladensburg.

1784, Dec. Methodist Christmas Conference at Lovely Lane Chapel, Baltimore, established Methodist Episcopal Church in America.

1784, Dec. 30. St. John's College (formerly King William's School) established at Annapolis. General Assembly designated it, with Washington College, as University of Maryland.

1785. German Evangelical Reformed congregation under Philip William Otterbein built church in Baltimore that later became the mother church of the United Brethren in Christ.

1785, March 28. Mt. Vernon Compact, an agreement on navigation and fishing in the tidewaters of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay, negotiated and signed by Maryland Commissioners Thomas Stone, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, and Samuel Chase, and Virginia Commissioners.

1785-1788. William Smallwood, governor.

1786. Matthias Bartgis (1756-1825) began newspaper publishing in Frederick.

1786, March 12. Mt. Vernon Compact ratified by Maryland.

1786, Sept. 11-14. Annapolis Convention of delegates from several states met at Mann's Tavern, Annapolis, to discuss revisions to Articles of Confederation. Maryland sent no representatives.

Capt. John O'Donnell statue (1980), by Tylden Streett, O'Donnell Square. Canton, Baltimore, Maryland, July 2007. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1787, May 21. Toll roads connecting Baltimore with Frederick, Hanover, Reisterstown, Winchester's Town (now Westminster), and York authorized by General Assembly.

1787, Sept. 17. U.S. Constitution signed by Marylanders Daniel Carroll, James McHenry, and Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, at Philadelphia.

• Constitution Day - Sept. 17

1787, Dec. Cokesbury College, first Methodist college in world established at Abingdon.

1787, Dec. Steamboat launched by James Rumsey (1743-1792) on Potomac River near Shepherdstown, Virginia.

"James Rumsey's Boat" memorial, commemorating 1787 launching of first steamboat on Potomac River at Shepherdstown, Virginia, by James Rumsey (born in Cecil County, Maryland), October 2007. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1788, May 1. Parade and festival (following ratification of federal constitution) gave name to Federal Hill, Baltimore.

1788-1791. John Eager Howard, governor.

1789. Allegany County created from Washington County.

1789. Georgetown College (now Georgetown University) founded in Washington, DC, by John Carroll (1735-1815).

1789. Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Poor Negroes and Others Unlawfully Held in Bondage formed at Baltimore.

1789, June 15. Josiah Henson, author, abolitionist, and minister, born in Charles County.

1789, Nov. 6. Pope Pius VI appointed John Carroll as first Catholic bishop in United States.

1789, Dec. 19. Maryland ratified federal Bill of Rights, first ten amendments to U.S. Constitution. On same day, Maryland also ratified what later became 27th Amendment to U.S. Constitution.

1790. Easton incorporated.

1790, May 11. Easton Maryland Herald, and Eastern Shore Intelligencer, first newspaper on Eastern Shore, published by James Cowan.

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.

1790, Aug. 15. By papal direction, Bishop Charles Walmsley consecrated John Carroll (1735-1815) as bishop of Baltimore, at St. Mary's Chapel, Lulworth Castle, Dorset, England.

1791. Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) published Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris....

1791, Dec. 19. Maryland ceded 36 square miles of Montgomery County land (Georgetown) for federal District of Columbia.

1791-1792. George Plater, governor.

1792. African Americans formed Sharp Street Methodist Church, Baltimore.

1792, Aug. 5 - 1793, Jan. 16. Thomas Johnson (1732-1819) of Frederick County served on U.S. Supreme Court.

1792-1794. Thomas Sim Lee (Federalist), governor.

1793. Refugees from Haitian Revolution arrived in Baltimore.

1794. First of many yellow fever epidemics struck Baltimore.

1794, Jan. 21. Baltimore Equitable Society, first fire insurance company in Maryland, formed.

1794, Dec. 26. Maryland ratified 11th Amendment to U.S. Constitution.

1794-1797. John H. Stone (Federalist), governor.

1795. Bank of Baltimore established.

1795. Federal government sited post office at Cumberland.

1795, May 19. Johns Hopkins (1795-1873), financier and philanthropist, founder of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Johns Hopkins University, born in Whites Hall, Gambrills, Anne Arundel County.

1796. Baltimore City incorporated: Baltimore Town became Baltimore City.

1796, Jan. 27 - 1811, June 19. Samuel Chase (1741-1811) of Baltimore served on U.S. Supreme Court.

1796, Dec. 30. Maryland law forbade import of slaves for sale, permitted voluntary slave emancipation.

1797, Sept. David Stodder's shipyard at Harris Creek, Baltimore, launched U.S. Frigate Constellation, first ship of U.S. Navy.

1797-1798. John Henry (Federalist), governor.

1798-1801. Benjamin Ogle (Federalist), governor.

1799. Construction began on Fort McHenry, Baltimore, named for James McHenry (1753-1816), Secretary of War, 1796-1800.

1799, Jan. 18. General Assembly authorized purchase of "Choptank Indian Lands," Dorchester County.

1799, May 14. Alexander Martin established Baltimore American and Daily Advertiser at Fells Point.

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