New York History Timeline

Important Dates, Events, and Milestones

Offers a chronological timeline of important dates,  events, and milestones in New York history.

16th Century

1524 - Jan 17 - Giovanni da Verrazano, commissioned by France's Francis I, sails from the Madeiras, in la Dauphine, for the New World, probably accompanied by Jacques Cartier.

17th Century

1609 -

• Hudson River was first explored by Henry Hudson.
• Samuel de Champlain explores the northeastern New York area .

1614 - Fort Nassau is built near present-day Albany

1624 - The Dutch settled here permanently and for 40 years they ruled over the colony of New Netherland

1625 - The Dutch purchase Manhattan Island from the local Indians

1664 - Expedition led by Colonel Sir Richard Nicolls, one of four Commissioners appointed by the Crown to carry out military acquisition of the Dutch territories in America. Nicolls selected Sir Robert Carr to subdue the Dutch on the South (Delaware) River. Sir Robert Carr drives the Dutch off the Delaware and claims the land for James, Duke of York. Delaware becomes an English colony. Colony of New Netherland was conquered by the English and was then named New York in honor of the Duke of York.

18th Century

1765 - New York City hosts a colony conference dealing with the King of England's Stamp Act

1776 - July 9 - Existing as a colony of Great Britain for over a century, New York declared its independence becoming one of the original 13 states of the Federal Union

1777 -

• April 20 - New York's first constitution was adopted
• June - Election for the first governor took place.
• July 9 - George Clinton was declared elected
• July 30 - George Clinton was inaugurated as Governor at Kingston

1783 - November 25 - The Battle of Saratoga, one of the decisive battles of the world, was the turning point of the Revolution leading to the French alliance and thus to eventual victory. New York City, long occupied by British troops, was evacuated

1783 - December 4 - At Fraunces Tavern, General George Washington bade farewell to his officers.

1784 - "The Empire State," an expression possibly originated by George Washington

1788 - With the Revolutionary War ended, New York becomes the 11th US State
1797 - January - Albany became the capital of the State

1789 - April 30 - New York City became the first capital of the new nation, where President George Washington was inaugurated

1792 - The New York Stock Exchange, founded, and has become the center of world finance.

19th Century

1809 - Robert Fulton's "North River Steamboat," the first successful steam-propelled vessel, began a new era in transportation.

1812 - Robert Fulton's steamboat churns up the Hudson River

1825 - Erie Canal, completed

1831 - Short Lines started

1853 - Railroads started

1860s - The State of New York supplies almost one-sixth of all Union forces during the Civil War

1880s- Overland transportation grew rapidly from a system of turnpikes established in the early 1880s to the modern day Goveror Thomas E. Dewey New York State Thruway.

1886 - The Statue of Liberty, with its famous inscription, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," was the first symbol of America's mission.

20th Century

1900s - Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt achieved the presidency; and Nelson Rockefeller served as vice president. Governors Charles E. Hughes, Alfred E. Smith and Thomas E. Dewey all were candidates for the presidency.

1901 - President William McKinley is assassinated in Buffalo

1918 - The Erie Canal was replaced by the Barge Canal
1929 - New York stock market crashes
1932 - Lake Placid hosts the Olympic Winter Games
1939 - World's Fair opens in New York City
1946 - New York City is chosen as the site of the United Nations
1959 - St. Lawrence Seaway opens
1964 - World Fair opens (again) in New York City
2001 - World Trade Center attacked by terriorist