Chronology

1609	Champlain, coming from the north, enters what is now New York from Canada and discovers Lake Champlain. Henry Hudson discovers river now named for him and supplies the Netherlands with a claim to the region.
1614	The States General of the United Netherlands grant a Dutch commercial syndicate a three years’ trading monopoly in ‘New Netherland,’ the charter being the first State document in which the name ‘New Netherland’ appears. Hendrick Christiaensen constructs Fort Nassau, a trading-house, on Castle Island, vicinity of Albany.
1620	Puritans’ petition to settle in colony denied.
1621	Dutch West India Company chartered, with jurisdiction over New Netherland for 24 years.
1623	New Netherland made a province managed by the Amsterdam Chamber of the West India Company.
1624	Dutch and Walloons, French Protestant refugees, make first settlement at Albany, and build Fort Orange.
1625	First colony settled on Manhattan Island.
1626	Peter Minuit purchases Manhattan Island from the Indians for trinkets worth about $24. The settlement in the vicinity of Fort Amsterdam develops as New Amsterdam.
1629	Dutch West India Company establishes patroon system to encourage colonization.
1630	Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, nonresident patroon, establishes first settlers at Rensselaerswyck on upper Hudson.
1632	Great Britain presses claims to New Netherland.
1636	Jacob Van Curler purchases land on Long Island from Indians; first recorded grant in Kings County.
1640	Southampton and Southold, L.I., settled.
1641	Director General Kieft calls council of the people; board of ‘Twelve Men,’ first representative assembly, appointed.
1643	English from Stamford, Conn., settle Hempstead, L.I.
1646	Mohawks kill Father Isaac Jogues, Jesuit missionary. Yonkers settled.
1647	Peter Stuyvesant becomes Director General of New Netherland.
1652	Esopus (Kingston) settled by Thomas Chambers. Stuyvesant establishes court and village of Beverwyck (Albany).
1653	New Amsterdam is granted burgher government—the earliest city government in the United States.
1654	July 8. Jacob Barsimon, first Jewish colonist, arrives from Holland. In August, 23 Jewish refugees arrive from Brazil.
1659	Dutch Reformed Church at Esopus is established.
1661	Schenectady is settled by Arent Van Curler.
1664	New Netherland is included in territory granted by Charles II to the Duke of York. New Netherland surrenders to the English and becomes the Province of New York.
1665	At Hempstead, L.I., Richard Nicolls, first English governor, publishes the ‘Duke’s Laws.’
1673	Dutch fleet recaptures New York.
1674	By Treaty of Westminster, the United Netherlands surrender New Netherland (New York), including New Jersey, to English.
1679	Fort Niagara, a stockade, is built by La Salle.
1683	Thomas Dongan becomes governor. First ‘elected representative’ assembly meets in New York at Fort James and adopts Charter of Liberties. Original 12 counties formed.
1684	At Albany the Five Nations submit to the king of England.
1686	July 22. Governor Dongan grants city charters to New York and Albany.
1688	New Rochelle settled by Huguenots.
1690	Schenectady massacre.
1691	Peter Schuyler with English and Dutch from Albany defeats the French at La Prairie, Canada.
1693	Episcopal Church organized in Colony.
1709–12	Palatines settle in the Hudson and Schoharie Valleys.
1713	By Treaty of Utrecht France recognizes British suzerainty over the Iroquois.
1731	New York–Connecticut boundary settled. French build fort at Crown Point.
1746	William Johnson made head of Indian Department.
1748	Great Indian Council at Albany.
1754	Benjamin Franklin proposes a scheme of colonial union at Albany Congress. King’s College (Columbia) founded.
1755–63	French and Indian War.
1758	Abercrombie repulsed at Ticonderoga. French rebuild Fort Niagara.
1760	Quebec captured by British.
1763	Peace treaty signed at Paris.
1764	New York Assembly urges united action against taxation without the consent of the taxed.
1765	Sons of Liberty organized. Stamp Act passed.
1766	Stamp Act repealed.
1768	Assembly protests new taxes on glass, paper, lead, tea, and other commodities, and colonists boycott English goods.
1770	Duties repealed except on tea. Battle of Golden Hill.
1771	Tryon named governor—last Royal executive of New York.
1772	Tryon (Montgomery) and Charlotte (Washington) Counties formed from Albany County.
1774	May 23. Committee of 51 sends letter to Boston by Paul Revere, proposing a Congress of Colonies. First academy in State established at Kingston.
1775	May 10. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold capture Fort Ticonderoga. May 12. Seth Warner takes Crown Point. May 22. First Provincial Congress meets. July 6. Necessity for war declared in a broadside. Nov. 13. Montgomery captures Montreal.
1776	Jan. 20. General Peter Schuyler, commanding New York Department, forces Sir John Johnson to disarm and give his parole. July 9. Provincial Congress at White Plains ratifies Declaration of Independence. Sept. 15. New York City is occupied by the British. Oct. 11. Battle of Valcour Island, Lake Champlain. Oct. 28. Battle of White Plains. Nov. 16. Forts Washington, Tryon, and George captured by British.
1777	Apr. 20. First State constitution adopted at Kingston. July 27. Jane McCrea murdered. July 30. George Clinton takes oath of office as first governor of State. Aug. 3–22. St. Leger attacks Fort Stanwix. Aug. 6. Battle of Oriskany. Aug. 16. Battle of Bennington. Aug. 19. General Schuyler superseded by General Gates. Sept. 19. First Battle of Saratoga. Oct. 7. Second Battle of Saratoga. Oct. 16. Kingston burned. Oct. 17. Burgoyne surrenders.
1778	Feb. 6. New York approves Articles of Confederation. Nov. 11. Cherry Valley massacre.
1779	July 16. General Wayne captures Stony Point. Aug. 29. Generals John Sullivan and James Clinton defeat Tories and Indians in Battle of Newtown. Oct. 22. Loyalist estates forfeited.
1780	Indians and Tories ravage Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys. Arnold’s treason discovered; André captured at Tarrytown and executed at Tappan.
1781	Oct. 25. Last battle of Revolution in New York fought at Johnstown.
1782	Congress accepts New York’s deed of cession of western lands and confirms State’s western boundary. American Army winters at Newburgh.
1783	Naturalization law enacted. George Washington at Newburgh refuses a crown proffered by military faction. Treaty of peace signed. Washington’s farewell to officers.
1784	May 1. University of State of New York established by legislature.
1786	Lynchville (Rome) settled by Dominick Lynch.
1787	Oct. 27. First issue of the Federalist.
1788	Phelps and Gorham purchase from Massachusetts 2,000,000 acres in western New York. July 26. New York ratifies Constitution of the United States in Poughkeepsie by a vote of 30 to 27.
1789	Washington is inaugurated in New York City. Two lots in each township in State granted by the legislature for educational purposes.
1790	New York relinquishes all claims to Vermont territory. Population 340,120.
1791	Holland Land Company purchase. Saratoga and Rensselaer Counties formed from Albany County.
1792	Western Inland Lock Navigation Company empowered to build canals and locks to Lake Ontario and Seneca Lake.
1795	First canal boat passes through Little Falls. Legislature appropriates $50,000 annually for five years to maintain schools. Union College receives charter. Jay becomes Governor.
1796	American flag raised at Fort Ontario, Oswego, Fort Niagara. Canal boats arrive at Oneida Lake.
1797	Legislature meets in Stadt Huis, Albany.
1798	July 31. State public records removed to Albany.
1799	Legislature provides for gradual emancipation of slaves. Cherry Valley Turnpike incorporated.
1800	Population 589,051.
1801	Public school system organized. State constitutional convention.
1802	West Point Military Academy formally opens.
1804	Aaron Burr kills Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Clinton chosen Vice President.
1806	Cornerstone of old New York State capitol laid.
1807	Robert Fulton’s Clermont makes first trip, New York to Albany, in 32 hours.
1808	John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company chartered. Clinton re-elected Vice President. Importation of slaves prohibited.
1809	Schenectady County formed from Albany County.
1810	Population—959,049.
1811	Erie Canal authorized.
1812	War with Great Britain. Hamilton College, Clinton, receives charter.
1813	Ogdensburg is raided and looted. Gideon Hawley of Albany is appointed first State superintendent of schools.
1814	Americans abandon and blow up Fort Erie. End of war on Niagara frontier. Battle of Lake Champlain.
1815	Treaty of peace proclaimed.
1816	De Witt Clinton calls first State nominating convention in Albany. First county fair in New York State is held in Cooperstown, Otsego County; organized by Elkanah Watson.
1817	Slavery in the State prohibited, effective 1827. Ground broken at Rome for the Erie Canal. Champlain Canal begun.
1818	A State library founded at the capitol. Superintendent Hawley reports 5,000 schools organized and over 200,000 pupils.
1819	Erie Canal between Utica and Rome opened to navigation. New York first called Empire State. Charter granted to the Baptist Education Society, from which grew Colgate University.
1820	Population—1,372,812.
1821	State constitutional convention establishes general male suffrage. Schools transferred to care of Secretary of State.
1823	Delaware & Hudson Canal Company incorporated in Pennsylvania and New York. Joseph Smith, founder of Mormon church, has a vision revealing golden plates of Book of Mormon in Palmyra, N.Y. Judicial system reorganized. First State-wide survey of poor relief made.
1825	Geneva (Hobart) College chartered. Erie Canal completed.
1826	Mohawk & Hudson River Railroad Company chartered. New York House of Refuge, first juvenile reformatory in America, opened.
1827	Emancipation of all slaves in the State.
1828	Ithaca & Owego Railroad chartered. Cayuga & Seneca Canal completed.
1829	Fanny Wright helps found the Working Men’s Party. Delaware & Hudson Canal completed between Rondout on the Hudson and Honesdale, Pa.
1830	Mormon Church organized at Fayette, Seneca County. Book of Mormon first published. Population—1,918,608.
1831	First Mohawk & Hudson Railroad train runs from Albany to Schenectady. Joseph Henry of Albany develops electromagnet. Imprisonment for debt abolished.
1832	Martin Van Buren of Kinderhook elected Vice President. Buffalo and Utica granted city charters.
1833	The Chenango Canal between Utica and Binghamton started. New York & Erie Railroad Company organized. Chemung Canal between Watkins and Elmira completed. Antislavery convention held in Utica. Oneida Lake Canal Company incorporated. Tower of Victory erected at Newburgh.
1834	Rochester granted city charter.
1836	Black River Canal between Rome and Boonville opened. Martin Van Buren elected President.
1839	Antirent riots. S.F.B. Morse patents his telegraph and makes first successful daguerreotype portraits.
1840	Governor Seward refuses to give up Negro fugitives. Population—2,428,921.
1841	American Express Company formed in Albany.
1844	Long Island Railroad opened. American Party organized.
1845	Consolidation of small schools. Antirent war.
1846	Hudson River Railroad Company formed. Third constitution adopted. University of Buffalo founded.
1847	John Humphrey Noyes establishes the Oneida Community. Syracuse granted city charter.
1848	Gerrit Smith, abolitionist, declines nomination of Liberty Party for President. First women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls. Millard Fillmore elected Vice President. Slavery extension condemned. Niagara Falls incorporated as village. Auburn and Oswego granted city charters.
1849	Hudson River Railroad opened to Poughkeepsie.
1850	University of Rochester opened. Millard Fillmore becomes President upon death of President Taylor. Population—3,097,394.
1851	Erie Railroad opened. Hudson River Railroad, New York to Albany, completed. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, Scranton to Ithaca, opened.
1853	New York Central Railroad Company incorporated.
1854	First Young Men’s Christian Association in United States meets at Buffalo. Separate State department of public instruction, with superintendent as executive head, created.
1855	Elmira College founded. Niagara Suspension Bridge completed.
1856	Genesee Valley Canal from Rochester to Olean completed.
1857	Financial panic. Temperance law passed.
1860	Population—3,880,735.
1861	Vassar College chartered. In Tweddle Hall, Albany, mass meeting held for ‘conciliation, concession and compromise’ on slavery. Legislature appropriates $3,000,000 to sustain Union. Governor Morgan calls for 25,000 troops.
1862	Ericsson’s Monitor launched at Rowland’s Shipyard, Greenpoint, L.I. 120 regiments sent to war. Martin Van Buren dies at Lindenwald, Kinderhook.
1863	Draft riots in Troy and New York City.
1864	Confederate prison established in Elmira.
1865	Cornell University chartered.
1866	Public schools made entirely free. Constitutional convention. Fenian raid into Canada.
1867	Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton addresses the State assembly on woman suffrage.
1869	Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton present cause of woman suffrage before committee of U.S. Senate.
1870	Population—4,382,759.
1871	Cornerstone of New York State capitol laid. Syracuse University opened. Tweed Ring broken.
1872	Kingston incorporated a city.
1873	International bridge across Niagara River completed. Financial panic.
1874	Women’s whisky war. First Chautauqua Assembly meets at Lake Chautauqua. Compulsory education law passed. S.J. Tilden elected as a reform governor.
1877	First State reformatory for adults established in Elmira.
1879	New capitol at Albany opened.
1880	State board of health established. Population—5,082,871.
1881	Chester A. Arthur becomes President.
1883	A cantilever railroad bridge across the Niagara River at the Falls opened. Civil service commission created.
1884	New York & West Shore Railroad opened. Grover Cleveland of Buffalo elected President. Public park at Niagara Falls opened.
1886	Strikes in various parts of State for eight-hour day. Women admitted to practice of law.
1890	Population—6,003,174.
1891	First Empire State Express, New York Central, runs from New York to Buffalo in 8 hours and 42 minutes.
1892	Grover Cleveland elected President for a second term.
1893	New York Central engine No.999 establishes a world record for speed, running a mile in 32 seconds between Batavia and Buffalo.
1895	Empire State Express established long-distance record for speed, traveling from New York to Buffalo at an average of 64.34 miles an hour.
1899	State historical association organized, James A. Roberts president.
1900	Theodore Roosevelt elected Vice President. Population—7,268,894.
1901	Theodore Roosevelt, upon death of President McKinley, becomes President, the fifth from New York State. First dental clinic in United States opened in Rochester.
1903	People authorize use of $101,000,000 to convert Erie into Barge Canal.
1904	President Theodore Roosevelt re-elected. Ray Brook Sanatorium opened for patients with incipient tuberculosis.
1906	President Roosevelt awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
1907	Public service commission created. Albany granted second-class city charter.
1908	Curtiss airplane Red Wing makes successful trial trip. Glenn H. Curtiss at Hammondsport, N.Y., wins prize for flight in June Bug. Gambling at race tracks prohibited.
1910	Glenn H. Curtiss flies from Albany to New York City in 2 hours and 32 minutes, breaking former records. Population—9,113,614.
1911	Fire in State capitol. Direct primary election law.
1913	Governor William Sulzer impeached.
1915	Citizens Military Training Camp established at Plattsburg.
1916	Physical and military training in public schools made compulsory. Able-bodied male citizens between 18 and 45 become liable to draft by governor.
1917	Ashokan, now Catskill, Aqueduct, providing water for New York City, completed. State constabulary created.
1917–18	New York supplies 518,864 men to military and naval service during World War. Total number of casualties above 40,000, including 14,000 dead.
1918	New York State Barge Canal opened.
1919	Mrs. Ida B. Sammis of Suffolk and Mrs. Mary M. Lilly of Manhattan, first women members, are elected to New York Assembly. Theodore Roosevelt dies at Oyster Bay, L.I. Federal prohibition amendment ratified. Display of red flags in State prohibited. A commercial hydroairplane, carrying mail and small packages, flies from New York to Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, and Albany; on return trip stops at Hudson and Poughkeepsie.
1920	Five Socialists expelled from State assembly. Four Army Air Service planes fly from Mineola, L.I., to Nome, Alaska. Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic candidate for Vice President. New York State dedicates granite shaft on Antietam Battlefield in memory of New York dead. Population—10,385,227.
1921	Membership or participation in Communist Party declared sufficient grounds for dismissal of public school teachers. State motion picture censorship commission established.
1922	Children’s courts established. $20,000,000 appropriated for highways.
1923	March 3. The Mullen-Gage prohibition enforcement law repealed.
1924	United Farmer-Labor Party of New York State organizes in convention at Schenectady. Bear Mountain Bridge opened to traffic. 15,000 acres of land in the Adirondacks and Catskills swept by fire. Alfred E. Smith re-elected governor for third term.
1925	Niagara Falls illuminated by 1,300,000,000 electric candlepower. Bronx River Parkway, cost $16,000,000, officially opened. College of home economics, Cornell, chartered.
1926	New York State Historical Association dedicates the John Hancock House, new headquarters at Ticonderoga. State administrative reorganization adopted, effective January 1, 1927. Governor Smith re-elected for fourth term.
1927	First radio broadcast of the roar of Niagara. The Peace Bridge between Buffalo, N.Y., and Fort Erie, Ontario, opened to traffic. Sept. 12. New York State celebrates its 150th anniversary at Kingston. Oct. 8. Pageant of the Battle of Saratoga on 150th anniversary.
1928	Roosevelt Memorial Park, 38 acres of water front, dedicated at Oyster Bay. Franklin D. Roosevelt elected governor.
1929	$450,000,000 power system formed, connecting every important city in New York State from Albany northward and westward. Bridge between Crown Point, N.Y., and Chimney Point, Vt., opened.
1930	Charles Evans Hughes becomes Chief Justice of the United States. First television feature act shown in Schenectady theater by Dr. Alexanderson of the General Electric Company. Democratic and Republican State conventions declare for the repeal of the Volstead law. Metropolitan Opera Company plays La Boheme in the new Westchester County civic center at White Plains; first grand opera in suburbs of New York. Old Age Security Act passed. Governor Roosevelt re-elected. Population—12,588,066.
1931	‘One million cubic feet of rock’ at brink of Niagara Falls crashes. Police teletype alarm system linking 46 municipalities established. New York Temporary Emergency Relief Administration set up in Albany.
1932	Governor Roosevelt dedicates new Port of Albany and opens Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid. Buffalo celebrates centennial. Model juvenile delinquency institution opened at Warwick. Franklin D. Roosevelt elected President of the United States. Herbert H. Lehman elected governor.
1933	March 13. New York State ratifies 21st amendment to Federal Constitution, repealing the 18th. 250th anniversary of the purchase of White Plains from the Indians celebrated. Farmers of four counties dump their milk in protest against rates set by milk control board.
1934	State racing commission established. Oath of allegiance to the Constitution required of all teachers. Fort Niagara, recently rebuilt, dedicated by Secretary of War Dern. 250 feet of rock at lip of Horseshoe Falls plunge 160 feet into the Niagara gorge. Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to Dr. George H. Whipple, University of Rochester. Herbert H. Lehman re-elected governor.
1935	Devastating floods in Finger Lakes region. Unemployment insurance law passed by the legislature. New York Spa at Saratoga formally opened to the public.
1936	Old Age Pension Bill enacted, making age 65 the initial year for pensions. Governor Lehman appoints new State Board of Social Welfare. President Roosevelt re-elected. Governor Lehman re-elected.
1937	Cornerstone laid of the first community council house, Tonawanda Indian Reservation, erected by WPA. Women permitted to serve on juries. Unemployment Insurance organized.
1938	Eighth State constitutional convention. July 14. Howard Hughes, having circled the globe in 91 hours, lands at Floyd Bennett Airport, L.I. Eastern New York, especially Long Island, hit by hurricane. Governor Lehman re-elected fourth time for first four-year term in history of State.
1939	New York World’s Fair opens. New York State Historical Association opens new central quarters in Cooperstown. President Roosevelt entertains King and Queen of England at Hyde Park.
1940	Pari-mutuel betting introduced on race tracks. Peekskill becomes a city. Population—13,379,662.