Massachusetts Timeline
Massachusetts is the sixth smallest state in the United States. However, it is densely populated and is a major center of finance and trade. Massachusetts is one of America's main tourist spots. View a timeline of the history of Massachusetts.
1000 AD Leif Ericson may have explored the Massachusetts region.
1498 Historians believe that John Cabot sighted Massachusetts.
1602 Bartholomew Gosnold landed in Massachusetts. He named Cape Cod.
1605-1606 Samuel de Champlain made maps of the New England Coastline.
1614 John Smith sailed along the coast of Massachusetts. He wrote a book, A Description of New England, which guided settlers to the Massachusetts region.
16 September 1620 The Pilgrims left England on the Mayflower.
December 1620 The Pilgrims settled in Plymouth. Before leaving the ship, they drew up the Mayflower Compact.
1 April 1621 The Plymouth, Massachusetts colonists created the first treaty with Native Americans.
1621 The First Thanksgiving was celebrated.
1630 The Puritans settled in Massachusetts.
17 September 1630 The town of Boston was founded by John Winthrop as an extension of the colony at Salem
1635 Boston Latin School, the first secondary school in the colonies was founded.
1636 Harvard, the first college in the United States, was founded.
1638 Massachusetts set up the first library in the colonies.
1639 Stephen Daye set up the first printing press of the American Colonies in Cambridge.
1640 Daye published the first English language book in the colonies, Bay Psalm Book.
1641 The Body of Liberties, the first code of laws of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was established.
1647 The Massachusetts bay Colony ordered that elementary schools be established in all towns where there were more than 50 families.
29 June 1652 Massachusetts declared itself an independent commonwealth.
1675 King Philip's War took place.
1680 New Hampshire separated from Massachusetts.
1684 King Charles II cancelled the colonial charter of Massachusetts.
1686 King James established a government in Massachusetts. He made Sir Edmond Andros the governor of the colony.
1689 Mary became the queen in England. When the colonists heard, they ousted Andros from office and set up their own government.
1689 The first of four French and Indian Wars broke out.
1689-1713 Colonists fought off French and Indian attacks.
1691 Mary set up a new charter for the colony.
1692 Sir William Phips became the first royal governor of the colony.
19 August 1692 Five women were hanged in Salem, Massachusetts after being convicted of the crime of witchcraft. Fourteen more people were executed that year and 150 others are imprisoned.
1704 The Boston-News Letter became the first successful newspaper in the colonies.
1763 British won the final victory in the French and Indian Wars.
1765 The Stamp Act was issued making many of the colonists very angry with British rule.
1770 The Boston Massacre took place.
1773 The Boston Tea Party took place.
18 April 1775 Paul Revere made his famous ride to warn his fellow patriots of the British arrival.
19 April 1775 The battles of Lexington and Concord were fought starting the Revolutionary War.
3 July 1775 General George Washington took command of the Continental Army in Cambridge
Spring 1776 Washington drove the British out of Boston.
1780 Massachusetts adopted its state constitution.
1783 After the Revolutionary War ended many farmers suffered economically. They could not pay their taxes or debts.
September 1786 Daniel Shay led a group of angry farmers to the courthouse in Springfield. Fighting broke out between the government troops and the farmers.
February 1787 The farmers surrendered and Shay's Rebellion ended.
6 February 1788 Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution. They became the sixth state to join the union.
1797 John Adams of Massachusetts became president of the United States.
1807 Thomas Jefferson persuaded Congress to pass the Embargo Act. The act caused huge hardships upon the people of Massachusetts.
1814 Francis Cabot Lowell built the first factory in the United States in Waltham. It was a textile factory.
1820 Maine separated from Massachusetts.
1821 Boston English high school was the first public high school in the United States.
1825 John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts became president of the United States
1831 William Lloyd Garrison began publishing the Liberator, an anti-slavery newspaper, in Boston.
1832 The New England Anti-Slavery Society in Boston was formed. The society helped slaves escape to Canada.
1852 Massachusetts became the first state to require that all children must attend school.
1861-1865 Massachusetts furnished more than 125,000 soldiers to the Union Army during the Civil War.
1870s Alexander Graham Bell developed the telephone in Boston.
1881 A telephone line was set up between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island.
1912 A textile strike took place in Lawrence. It brought nationwide attention to the poor working conditions in textile factories.
1917 The United States entered World War I. The Yankee (26th) Division of Massachusetts was the first National guard unit to reach the battlefields in France
1919 The mayor of Boston refused to let the city's police form a union. Around three fourths of the police force went on strike. Governor Calvin Coolidge had to send in the National Guard to end the strike.
1929 The great Depression hit the United States. Massachusetts set up its own employment-relief program.
1938 A hurricane hit Massachusetts killing hundreds of people and causing great property damage.
1939-1945 Massachusetts factories and shipyards produced huge quantities of war material and supplies during World War II.
1957 The state legislature prohibited segregation in public housing.
1959 The United States Navy launched its first nuclear surface ship from Quincy.
1961 John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts became president of the United States
1963 Segregation in private housing became illegal in Massachusetts.
1970s Boston schools became integrated.
1988 Massachusetts celebrated its bicentennial of statehood.
1990s A country-wide recession hit Massachusetts especially hard.
Works Cited
Michael G. Mensoian, Robert L. Turner, and Winfred E. A. Bernhard. "Massachusetts." Worldbookonline.com.
Ratnikas, Algis. Today in History. Online. A href="http://timelines.ws/TODAY.HTML.