Massachusetts: A Historical Timeline

PRIOR TO 1602 PRE-EUROPEAN
pre-1600	Massachusetts is mainly inhabited by members of the Algonquin tribes: the Nipmuc, the Pocomtuc, the Pennacook, the Wampanoag, and the Mahican. These groups will later be ravaged by outbreaks of smallpox and other diseases carried by European settlers, as well as by armed conflict with settlers.
1602–1621 EARLY EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
1602	English explorer and privateer Bartholomew Gosnold leads the first recorded European expedition of coastal Massachusetts, naming Martha's Vineyard after his daughter.
1605–06	French explorer Samuel de Champlain explores the Massachusetts coast in search of a place for permanent settlement. Plans to settle in Chatham are dashed by skirmishes with the native Nausets.
1606	Plymouth Company founded. Part of the Virginia Company, its purpose is to establish English settlements along the North Atlantic coast.
1614	Jamestown colony founder John Smith explores Massachusetts Bay and names the region New England.
1620	The Mayflower lands at Cape Cod, carrying the English Separatists known as Pilgrims. They were meant to land in Jamestown, Virginia, but were thrown off course.
	Pilgrims establish Plymouth Colony, the first significant English settlement in the New England region.
	(November 11) Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact. It is the first governing document of the colony.
	Plymouth Council for New England is formed under the 1620 New England Charter. The first settlement it owns under the charter is the Plymouth Colony, but under terms of the Mayflower Compact, the colony continues to self-govern.
1621	Pilgrims hold their first unofficial Thanksgiving with native tribes after the fall harvest. While an earlier Thanksgiving was held in 1619 at Jamestown, the Pilgrims become most associated with the annual holiday tradition.
1624–29	The first African slaves are thought to be brought to the area. Samuel Maverick, possibly New England's first slaveholder, arrives from England in 1624.
1629–1684 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY
1629	(March) England's Charles I grants a charter allowing for the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The population is made up primarily of Puritans fleeing religious persecution in England.
1629	(July 8) Massachusetts Bay Colony celebrates its first official Thanksgiving.
1630	(September 17) Boston, named after the town in Lincolnshire, England, is founded by Puritans.
1630	Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop gives his City upon a Hill speech, declaring the colony has formed a covenant with God.
1632	Boston declared as the capital of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1634	Governor Winthrop agrees to the creation of an elected General Court, creating a representational democracy.
	Boston Common becomes America's first public park.
	Pequot War begins. The Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, together with native allies, fight with the Pequot tribe over fur trade and wampum rights. The war will end in 1638, with the Pequot virtually eliminated either in battle or by being sold to the slave trade.
1635	Boston Latin School, America's first public school, is founded.
1636	Harvard College, America's first college, is founded in Cambridge. Eventually incorporated into what is now known as Harvard University, the college soon gains a reputation as a hotbed of intellectual activity.
1636	Nonconformist Puritans, the Quakers, are banned from the Massachusetts Bay Colony under punishment of death if they return.
1638	The first confirmed account of slavery in Massachusetts, when native Pequot War prisoners are traded for African slaves in the West Indies.
1660	Quaker Mary Dyer is hung in Boston Common for repeatedly defying the Quaker ban and preaching her religious beliefs.
1675	King Philip's War begins, pitting colonists and their native allies against the native King Metacom (King Philip in English). While the war will officially end one year later upon Metacom's death, battles will continue to rage north of Massachusetts until a 1678 treaty. Proportionately, it is one of the bloodiest wars in American history.
1686–1689DOMINION OF NEW ENGLAND
1686	(June 3) Dominion of New England established. Created by James II to shore up defense against French and Native American forces, this brief New England alliance includes the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies.
1689	(May 18) With the overthrow of James II in the Glorious Revolution, colonists rise up against the Dominion and arrest its governor, Edmund Andros. The Dominion collapses.
1691–1776 PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY
1691	(October 7) English monarchs William and Mary charter the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Massachusetts becomes a royal colony that includes both of the former colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay.
1692	(February) First witchcraft trials held in Salem. They will continue until May 1693 and lead to the conviction of 29 people, of whom 19 will be executed.
1704	The Boston News-Letter, the first American newspaper to be issued on a regular basis, publishes its inaugural addition.
1716	The Boston Light, America's first lighthouse, is built in Boston Harbor.
1756	(October 30) Lydia Chapin Taft becomes the first woman in the American colonies to vote. Her vote takes place in an Open Town Meeting in Uxbridge after townspeople let Taft act as a proxy of her recently deceased husband, Josiah Taft.
1763	The French and Indian War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763).
1770 TO 1789 REVOLUTIONARY MASSACHUSETTS
1770	(March 5) British troops fire on an angry mob in what becomes known as the Boston Massacre, which results in the deaths of five civilians. The event inspires outrage against the British and plants the seeds for the impending Revolutionary War.
1773	(December 16) The Boston Tea Party. Colonists calling themselves the Sons of Liberty board a British ship holding taxed tea and throw the crates overboard into Boston Harbor. The protest takes direct aim at the 1773 Tea Act and "taxation without representation" of the Townshend Acts, becoming an iconic symbol of civil disobedience.
1774	England passes the Intolerable Acts, many a direct response to the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Port Act closes Boston Harbor until the British East India company is repaid for the lost cargo, and Boston's economy is hit hard. Under the Massachusetts Government Act, all positions in the colony's government are to be appointed by the governor or king.
1774	Elected members of the Massachusetts General Court meet in Concord on October 4, forming the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. The Congress assumes all power to rule, tax, and raise a militia, arguably establishing the first autonomous government in the colonies.
1775	(February 9) The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion and sends additional troops to restore order to the colony.
1775	(April 18) Paul Revere (along with others) takes his famous midnight ride from Boston to Lexington in order to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of British troops' plans to raid military reserves in Concord. Contrary to popular belief, Revere did not shout "The British are coming!" but rather, "The Regulars are coming out," referring to the British army.
1775	(April 19) The Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first military battles of the Revolution. The first shot fired by Patriot colonials becomes known as the "shot heard round the world."
1776	(July 4) The Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, formally announcing that the original 13 colonies are now independent of British rule.
1779	(September 1–October 30) John Adams, Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin draft the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention. Its structure will be used as the basis for the United States Constitution.
1780–1815 FEDERALIST ERA
1780	(June 15) Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ratified.
1783	Massachusetts outlaws slavery in accordance with its 1780 Constitution, becoming the first state to do so.
1783	The Treaty of Paris is signed on September 3, ending the Revolutionary War and "Acknowledging the 13 colonies to be free, sovereign and independent States." The United States Congress of the Confederation will ratify the treaty on January 14, 1784.
1788	On February 6, Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1815–1860 MISSOURI COMPROMISE AND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
1806	Freed slaves build Massachusetts' first black church, the First African Baptist Church, which comes to be known as African Meeting House. It will become a popular meeting place for abolitionists. Currently, it is the oldest black church still standing in the United States.
1820	As a result of the Missouri Compromise over slavery, the District of Maine separates from Massachusetts to form another free state.
1826	(April 1) The town of Quincy breaks ground on the building of the first American commercial railroad. It opens on October 7 the same year.
1831	William Lloyd Garrison founds the New England Anti-Slavery Society in Boston. Separate anti-slavery societies in the region become united, and the group eventually leads to Garrison establishing the American Anti-Slavery Society.
1837	Mount Holyoke Female Seminary opens its doors. It is the first higher education institution for women in Massachusetts and one of the first in the country.
1843	Charles Thurber of Worcester patents the first practical typewriter, the chirographer.
1844	Charles Goodyear perfects the process of vulcanizing rubber at a small factory in Springfield and takes out a patent.
1845	Elias Howe introduces the first sewing machine in Boston, and Boston Associates starts an integrated textile mill in Waltham.
1850	The first National Women's Rights Convention held in Worcester. Delegates demand the right to vote, to own property, to be admitted to higher education, medicine, the ministry, and other professions. Prominent abolitionist and suffragist Lucy Stone helps initiate the convention and sustains it until 1860, when the brewing Civil War shifts focus from suffrage to the emancipation of slaves.
1860–1900 THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION ERAS
1861	(April 12) American Civil War begins. Massachusetts is one of the first states to recruit and train a black regiment (the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry).
1865	(April 9) The Civil War ends with the Confederate Army surrender at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. The war has claimed more than 600,000 soldiers lives and countless civilians. It is by far the bloodiest war in American history.
1869	Massachusetts State Board of Health established. It is the first of its kind in the country.
1872	(November 9) The Great Fire of Boston destroys 65 acres of the city's downtown. Boston's largest-ever fire, it remains one of the most costly fires in terms of property loss in U.S. history, causing $73.5 million in damage and killing at least 20.
1875	Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone in his Boston workshop. He will patent the device on March 7 the following year.
1888	The Great Blizzard hits western Massachusetts in March, causing $20 million in damage and claiming 400 lives.
1892	Andrew and Abby Borden are brutally murdered in Fall River. Their daughter Lizzie is arrested for the crime; she is eventually acquitted after one of the most sensational murder trials in U.S. history.
1900–1929 ERA OF SOCIAL UNREST
1912	The Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence. One of the greatest labor strikes in U.S. history, it leads to the shut down of most mills. Striking workers, many recent immigrants, win wage increases that lead to increases for thousands of New England workers.
1919	The Boston Police Department strikes in protest of low wages and poor working conditions. Eventually the National Guard is called in to restore order before the strike ends on December 20.
1919	Massachusetts becomes the eighth state to ratify the 19th Amendment, which secures women the right to vote, on June 25. Ratification will be completed on August 18, 1920.
1927	On August 23, Italian-born anarchists and laborers Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for armed robbery and murder of a guard in Braintree. Critics contend that the pair were unfairly targeted for racial and political reasons.
	The Swift River Act is passed, leading to the building of the Quabbin Reservoir and the destruction of the towns of Enfield, Dana, Greenwich, and Prescott.
	First commercial passenger flight from what is now Boston's Logan International Airport leaves for New York City. Today, more than 26 million people fly out of Logan each year.
1929–1950 THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR II
1929	The stock market crashes in October on what comes to be known as Black Tuesday. The Great Depression will lead to the collapse of the state's two main industries, shoes and textiles, which primarily relocate to the South to take advantage of lower wages.
1941	(December 7) Pearl Harbor. The United States enters WWII. Massachusetts becomes a major center for airfields and pilot training.
1942	(November 28) Fire in Boston's popular Cocoanut Grove nightclub leads to the deaths of 492 people. It will remain the second-worst single-building fire in American history. The club's owner is eventually convicted of manslaughter, and the tragedy leads to improved fire and safety codes throughout the country.
1944	Howard Aiken of Harvard University develops IBM's Mark I, the first large-scale automatic digital computer in the United States. The event heralds the dawning of the computer age.
1950–PRESENT MODERN MASSACHUSETTS
1957	The Massachusetts Turnpike opens, linking the cities of Boston, Springfield and Worcester to each other, as well as to Logan International Airport.
1967	The first African-American U.S. senator elected by popular vote, Massachusetts Republican Edward W. Brooke, begins serving in Congress. Brooke will remain the only black U.S. senator of the 20th century until Carol Moseley Braun takes office in 1993.
1973	A federal court judge orders Boston's public schools be integrated. The resulting student-busing program sparks boycotts and racially motivated violence.
1987	The Big Dig is approved. A colloquial term for Boston's $14.6 billion Central Artery/Tunnel Project, it proposes to reroute traffic from Interstate 93 (Boston's chief highway) through a 3.5-mile tunnel under the city. Plagued by delays, budget overruns, and even the related death of one Bostonian, construction will continue until 2007.
2004	Massachusetts becomes the first state and only the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex marriage after a state supreme court ruling.
2004	(October) The Boston Red Sox baseball team wins the World Series for the first time in 86 years, one of the longest championship droughts in Major League Baseball history.
2006	With passage of the Massachusetts health-care reform law, the state legislature declares that all Commonwealth citizens shall be provided with health insurance coverage.