The following is a timeline of the history of New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States.
Prior to 19th century
- Prior to 1602 - the Wampanoags, 'People of the Morning Light,' an Algonquian-speaking Native American group, inhabit the area from Narragansett Bay to the tip of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket
- 1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold an English privateer visits the site of New Bedford.
- 1652 - In the Dartmouth Purchase, John Winslow, William Bradford, Myles Standish, Thomas Southworth, and John Cooke purchase from Wasamequin (Massassoit) and his son Wamsutta a territory that would come to be known as Old Dartmouth, which included the current towns of Dartmouth, New Bedford, Acushnet, Fairhaven, and Westport
- ca.1665 - Influx of Quakers.
- 1760 - Village proper established.
- 1778 - September - Grey's raid by the British against American coastal communities.
- 1787 - Town incorporated.
- 1792
- The Medley newspaper begins publication.
- Post office in operation.
- 1796 - New Bedford and Fairhaven Bridge Company incorporated.
- 1797
- first Clarks Point Light built.
- Population: 3,313.
- 1798 - Columbian Courier newspaper begins publication.
19th century
- 1800 - Population: 4,361.
- 1803 - Social Library organized.
- 1804 - 59 whaling vessels were registered from New Bedford.
- 1807 - New-Bedford Mercury newspaper begins publication.
- 1808 - Old Colony Gazette begins publication.
- 1812
- Fairhaven separates from New Bedford.
- Friends' Academy incorporated.
- 1816 - Bedford Commercial Bank incorporated.
- 1822 - New Bedford Meeting House built.
- 1825 - Merchants Bank incorporated.
- 1828 - Lyceum founded.
- 1829
- Ash Street Jail built.
- First Baptist Church built.
- late 1820's - Abolitionism in New Bedford, Massachusetts voiced by Quakers.
- 1830
- New Bedford Port Society formed.
- Population: 7,592.
- 1831
- New-Bedford Weekly Register begins publication.
- Dorcas Society organized.
- 1832 - Seamen's Bethel built.
- 1833 - Mechanics Association founded.
- 1834 - United States Customhouse and Rotch house (residence) built.
- 1837 - New Bedford Rural Cemetery incorporated.
- 1838
- September: Frederick Douglass moves to New Bedford.
- New Bedford and Taunton Rail Road incorporated.
- 1840 - Population: 12,087.
- 1841 - Charles W. Morgan (ship) built.
- 1843
- Whalemen's Shipping List, and Merchant's Transcript begins publication.
- Orphans Home incorporated.
- 1846 - Wamsutta Mills incorporated.
- 1847
- City incorporated.
- Abraham H. Howland becomes mayor.
- Horticultural Society incorporated.
- Joseph Grinnell built the first cotton mill.
- 1848 - Beginning of Arctic Whaling.
- 1849
- J. & W. R. Wing Company in business.
- Palmer Island Light built.
- 1850
- Daily Evening Standard newspaper begins publication.
- Population: 16,443.
- 1853
- Rodney French becomes 3rd Mayor of New Bedford.http://www.newbedfordguide.com/new-bedford-streets-rodney-french-boulevard/2013/11/18
- Municipal public library established.
- New Bedford Institute for Savings built.
- 1855 - New Bedford Five Cents Savings Bank incorporated.
- 1861 - Fort Rodman aka Fort Taber, built at Clark's Point.
- 1866
- Hathaway & Soule in business.
- Wamsutta Club founded.
- Hutchinson's Circulating Library in business.
- 1867 - Fire Station no.4 built, now houses New Bedford Fire Museum.
- 1871
- St. John the Baptist Church founded.
- Whaling disaster of 1871
- 1877 - Church of the Sacred Heart built.
- 1884 - St. Luke's Hospital founded.
- 1888 - Fairhaven Bridge Light built.
- 1890 - Population: 40,733.
- 1891 - Charles S. Ashley becomes mayor.
- 1892 - Club of French Sharpshooters, a benevolent and fraternal organization founded by 80 French Canadian residents of the North End, founded.
- 1894 - Buttonwood Park Zoo opens.
- 1895
- St. Anthony of Padua Church founded.
- New Bedford Textile School founded.
- 1899
- New Bedford â Fairhaven Bridge constructed.
- Union Baptist Church built.
- 1900 - Population: 62,442.
20th century
21st century
See also
- New Bedford history
- List of mayors of New Bedford, Massachusetts
- National Register of Historic Places listings in New Bedford, Massachusetts
- of other municipalities in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts: Boston, Cambridge, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Salem, Somerville, Waltham, Worcester
References
Bibliography
- (novelist's description of New Bedford)
External links
Images