1600s

1609. (September 6) Landfall of Henry Hudson. Explores the Hudson.
1613. Trading-post established on Manhattan Island by Amsterdam merchants.
1621. Dutch West India Company chartered.
1624. Peter Minuit director-general of New Netherland.
1626. Buys Manhattan Island of the Indians.
1629. Staple rights granted to New Amsterdam.
1632. Wouter Van Twiller succeeds Minuit
1633. Adam Roelandsen first school-master of New Amsterdam. First church built in Pearl Street.
1635. Fort Amsterdam completed.
1638. Van Twiller succeeded by William Kieft
1642. First tavern (later Stadt Huys) built at the head of Coenties Slip. Church of St. Nicholas built within the fort First public ferry established on the East River.
1643. Destructive war with the Indians.
1647. Kieft succeeded by Peter Stuyvesant
1652. First city charter .granted,—beginning of representative government.
1653. Palisades erected along the line of Wall Street as a military defense.
1656. City first surveyed and mapped.
1658. Streets first paved with stone. A rattle-watch organized.
1659. Road opened to Harlem.
1664. City taken by the English. Richard Nicolls governor.
1665. Trial by jury established. Duke's Laws promulgated.
1668. Francis Lovelace succeeds Nicolls as governor.
1669. Public meeting established for merchants.
1670. First Lutheran Church built.
1673. First mail between New York and Boston. City retaken by the Dutch.
1674. Receded to the English. Edmund Andros governor.
1678. Monopoly of bolting flour granted city.
1682. Death of Peter Stuyvesant.
1683. Andros succeeded by Thomas Dongan.
1686. City seal presented. New charter granted city.
1688. Wall Street laid out and Water Street projected.
1689. Fall of the house of Stuart and usurpation of Jacob Leisler.
1691. Henry Sloughter governor. Leisler hanged.
1692. Benjamin Fletcher governor. Rise of piracy. Pine, Cedar, and adjoining streets laid out.
1693. First printing-press set up by William Bradford.
1696. First Trinity Church and Dutch Church in Garden Street erected.
1697. Streets lighted and night-watch established.
1698. Earl of Bellomont governor. Suppression of piracy.
1699. City Hall in Wall Street erected.

1700s

1702. Lord Cornbury governor.
1703. The Queen's Farm granted to Trinity Church. Huguenot Church built in Pine Street.
1705. First English school established.
1707. Broadway paved from Bowling Green to Trinity Church.
1708. Lord Lovelace governor.
1710. Robert Hunter governor. Lutheran Church erected in Broadway.
1711. Slave-market established in Wall Street
1719. Presbyterian Church built in Wall Street.
1720. William Burnet governor.
1725. The first newspaper—the New York Casette—established by William Bradford.
1728. John Montgomery governor.
1729. Jews' burial-ground opened near Chatham Square. Dutch Church built in Nassau Street.
1730. City charter amended. Greenwich and Washington
Streets projected. Stage line to Philadelphia established. Jewish synagogue erected in Mill Street.
1731. Beginning of the Society Library. Fire department organized.
1732. William Cosby governor. Pearl Street regulated.
1734. Zenger's Weekly Journal founded. Almshouse erected on the Common.
1735. Freedom of the press established in Zenger triaL
1740-41. The year of " the hard winter."
1741. " Great Negro Plot."
1743. George Clinton governor. James Parker founded The Post Boy.
1751. Moravian Church built in Fulton Street.
1752. Merchants' Exchange built. St. George's Chapel erected in Beekman Street.
1753. Sir Danvers Osborne governor.
1754. The Walton House erected in Pearl Street. King's College chartered.
1755. Sir Charles Hardy governor. Staten Island ferry established.
1760. First Baptist Church built in Gold Street.
1761. Robert Monckton governor.
1763. Paulus Hook (Jersey City) ferry established.
1764. First Methodist Church erected in John Street.
1765. Passage of the Stamp Act. Rioting in New York and Sons of Liberty organized. Sir Henry Moore governor.
1766. Stamp Act repealed. St. Paul's Church built.
1767. John Street Theatre opened.
1768. Brick Church (Beekman Street) opened for worship.
1769. North Dutch Church built in William Street.
1770. Battle of Golden Hill. Chamber of Commerce incorporated. Statue of George III. erected on the Bowling Green. Statue of William Pitt set up in Wall Street. Marine Society incorporated. Earl of Dunmore governor.
1771. Sir William Tryon governor.
1773- Corner-stone of New York Hospital laid. Gazette founded by James Rivington.
1774. Hoboken ferry established.
1775. Tea-ships prevented from landing their cargoes. Bridewell erected on the Common.
1776. (April) Washington occupies New York. (September) British occupy New York. Fire destroys five hundred buildings. Battle of Harlem Heights.
1778. Fire destroys three hundred buildings.
1783. (November 25) Evacuation of the city by the British. Washington bade farewell to his officers.
1784. Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen formed. King's College rechartered and named Columbia College.
1786. St. Peter's Church erected in Barclay Street
1788. The Doctor's Mob.
1789. First Congress met. New York federal capital. Washington inaugurated. Tammany Society founded.
1790. Tontine Association founded. First sidewalks laid in the city.
1791. Filling in of the Collect begun. Bank of New York chartered.
1794. Christ Church built in Ann Street.
1795. First epidemic of yellow fever. Almshouse built in Chambers Street. Commercial Advertiser founded.
1796. State prison opened in Greenwich.
1797. Canal constructed in Canal Street.
1798. Park Theatre built.

1800s

1801. Sailor's Snug Harbor founded. Evening Post founded by William Coleman.
1804. New York Historical Society organized. Duel between Burr and Hamilton.
1806. First free school opened.
1807. First steamboat, the " Clermont," built by Robert Fulton. College of Physicians and Surgeons chartered. St. John's chapel built in Varick Street.
1808. American Academy of Fine Arts incorporated. City plotted to One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street.
1811. Fire destroys one hundred buildings.
1812. Present City Hall completed.
1813. New York blockaded by British fleet.
1814. Steam ferry-boats first used on the rivers.
1816. Beginning of Bellevue Establishment.
1817. First line of packet ships established. Erie Canal begun.
1819. " Savannah," first ocean steamship, built. First savings-bank founded.
1821. Mercantile Library founded.
1824. Lafayette revisited America.
1825. Erie Canal completed. Gas introduced into the city. House of Refuge opened in Madison Square. Second Merchant's Exchange begun in Wall Street.
1827. Journal of Commerce founded.
1828* American Museum founded.
1831. University of the City of New York founded.
1832. Epidemic of Asiatic cholera.
1833. New York Sun founded by Benjamin H. Day, " Knickerbocker Magazine" established.
1834. Mayor first chosen by the people. Anti-slavery riots.
1835. New York Herald founded by James Gordon Bennett. Fire destroys six hundred buildings.
1836. Union Theological Seminary founded. Erie railway begun. Express founded by James and Erastus Brooks.
1837. Financial panic attended by riots.
1838. The Tombs built on the site of the Collect
1840-50. Era of clipper ships.
1841. New York Tribune founded by Horace Greeley.
1842. Croton Aqueduct opened.
1846. Magnetic telegraph opened between New York and
Philadelphia. Present Trinity Church completed.
1848. Astor Library founded by bequest of John Jacob Astor. Collins Line of steamships founded.
1849. Astor Place Opera-House riot. City charter amended.
1851. New York Times founded by Henry J. Raymond.  Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, visited New
York. Visit of Jenny Lind.
1853. World's Fair in Crystal Palace, on Murray Hill.