Mortal History of New York City

1492 - Christopher Columbus lands at San Salvadore.

1524 - Giovanni da Verranzzano, an Italian pirate and explorer, is commissioned by the

French to find the New World. Blown off course, he reaches the harbor of New

York.

1609 – Henry Hudson lands on Manhattan (The Island of Hills).

1624 – The Dutch West India Company sends settlers to Manhattan (30 families).

1626 – Manhattan is purchased from the Natives by Peter Minuit.

1636 – The area of Brooklyn is settled by the Dutch. Meanwhile, Jonas Bronk settles the

area known as the Bronx.

1639 – Five hundred acres in Westchester County are purchased by Jonas Bronk.

1647 – Peter Minuit becomes governor of Manhattan, and renames it ‘New Amsterdam.’

Peter Stuyvesant is made Director General.

1652 – The first of three Naval battles take place off the coast of New York, fought

between the English and the Netherlands.

1653 – New Amsterdam receives city charter, ending direct control by West India Co.

England declares war on Dutch Republic.

1654 – Twenty-Three Sephardic Jews arrive in NY from Brazil aboard the French St.

Charles.

1664 – English forces seize control of New Amsterdam.

The City is renamed ‘New York.’

1670 – Staten Eyelandt (Staten Island) is purchased for the third and final time from the

Natives. Meanwhile, the Morris Family brings in black slaves from Barbados to their home in the Bronx.

1673 – The Dutch reclaim New York from the English.

1674 – The English reclaim New York from the Dutch.

1683 – Governor Dongan devides province into 10 counties: New York, Kings, Queens,

Richmond, Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Oranger, Ulster and Albany.

1688 – New York incorporated into Dominion of New England.

1693 - Long Island renamed after Nassua in honor of William of Nassua

1698 – Population of New York: 18,067 (4,937 live on Manhattan, 2,017 in Kings,

3,565 in Queens, 727 in Richmond, 1,063 in Westchester)

1756 – The French and Indian War begins (also called the Wilderness Campaign.)

1766 – Sons of Liberty destroy a theater. They later successfully raise Liberty Pole.

1775 – Shortly after the Revolutionary war begins, the Sons of Liberty force the British

Government out of NY.

1776 – The Battle of Long Island. English forces seize New York. Liberty Pole cut.

1781 – English occupation of New York ends.

1789 – George Washington is inaugurated as President in NYC.

1790 – New York no longer Federal Capital.

1796 – Albany replaces New York as state capital.

1806 – Napoleonic Wars; British warship blockades harbor.

1811 – Fire destroys 100 buildings (Duane and Chatham Streets)

1822 – New York now America’s largest city.

1827 – City opens up public park at Greenwich Village, now Washington

Square Park.

1829 – First Hotel opens on Coney Island.

1831 – 1^st Horse-drawn carriage, called an omnibus.

First railroad incorporated, tracked layed down from 23^rd Street

To Harlem River along 4^th Avenue by New York and Harlem Railroad.

1834 – Brooklyn receives city charter.

1838 – Green-Wood Cemetery commissioned, completed 1839

1847 – Madison Square Park opens.

1853 – World’s Fair at Crystal Palace.

1857 – Work begins on Central Park.

1860 – The Civil War begins.

1864 – The Draft Riots occur in New York City.

1867 – Prospect Park completed.

1870 – Construction begins on the Brooklyn Bridge.

1874 – Brooklyn Bridge is made public.

1885 – The Statue of Liberty is completed.

1895 – All territory west of Bronx River annexed to New York City.

1898 – A charter is adopted, making Manhattan the city of Greater New York. The

Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island are incorporated into NYC.

1901 – Construction of Manhattan Bridge starts.

1904 – Manhattan’s 1^st electric powered subway by I.R.T. opens.

1905 – 1^st crossing of Staten Island Ferry.

1909 – 700 foot Metropolitian Life Tower opens at Madison Square Garden, becomes

world’s tallest building.

1914 – World War I begins (also called the Great War).

1916 – First subway through Queensboro Tunnel, between Grand Central and Queens.

1918 – Prohibition begins.

1923 – City starts to dismantle old elevated railways.

1927 – Holland Tunnel opens, 1^st tunnel in the world designed for automobiles.

1929 – The Stock Market crashes, and the Great Depression begins.

1930 – Workers dig foundations for Empire State Building.

1931 – Empire State Building opens, 102 floors, construction costs an estimated 50

million.

1934 – Fiorello La Guardia becomes Mayor of NYC.

1936 – Riker’s Island penitentiary opens.

1838 – Chester Carlson produces 1^st Xerox photograph in his Queens workshop.

1839 – World’s Fair, “Building of the World of Tomorrow” opens in Flushing Meadows.

1941 – America enters the second World War.

1942 – Times Square is blacked out during the War.

1945 – B-25 bomber crashes into the 79^th floor of the Empire State Building (dense fog).

1948 – The United Nations is formed.

President Truman dedicates New York International Airport (Idlewood).

1957 – Aquarium from Castle Clinton re-opens in Coney Island.

1964 – LaGuardia Airport gets a 36 million dollar terminal.

Verrazano Narrows Bridge links Brooklyn and Staten Island.

1965 – Malcolm X assassinated at Audubon Ballroom on 165^th Street by Black Muslims.

1969 – “Miracle Met’s” win World Series.

1970 – World Trade Center’s 1^st building opens

1971 – Big Apple now the City’s promotional logo.

1973 – 110 story twin towers of the World Trade Center eclipse Empire State Building

as world’s tallest.

1986 – New York Coliseum closes – demolished in 1999.

1990 – Ellis Island reopens as immigration museum.

1993 – Bomb explodes below World Trade Center; 6 die, over 1,000 injured.

1998 – Grand Central terminals celebrates 85^th birthday after 200 million restoration.

2001 – Terrorists hijack two airplanes and fly them into the Twin Towers. Towers

collapse from heat; five other buildings in the World Trade Center Complex

also collapse.

2003 – Massive explosion at Exxon Mobil oil plant in Staten Island.