Timeline of New Bedford, Massachusetts

The following is a timeline of the history of New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Prior to 19th century

• 1652 - European settlers arrive.
• 1778 - September - Grey's raid.
• 1787 - Town incorporated.[1]
• 1792
  • The Medley newspaper begins publication.[2]
  • Post office in operation.
• 1796 - New Bedford and Fairhaven Bridge Company incorporated.[3]
• 1797
  • first Clarks Point Light built.
  • Population: 3,313.[1]
• 1798 - Columbian Courier newspaper begins publication.[2]

19th century

• 1800 - Population: 4,361.[4]
• 1803 - Social Library organized.[5]
• 1807 - New-Bedford Mercury newspaper begins publication.[2]
• 1808 - Old Colony Gazette begins publication.[2]
• 1812
  • Fairhaven separates from New Bedford.[5]
  • Friends' Academy incorporated.[3]
• 1816 - Bedford Commercial Bank incorporated.[5]
• 1825 - Merchants Bank incorporated.[5]
• 1828 - Lyceum founded.[5]
• 1829
  • Ash Street Jail built.
  • First Baptist Church built.
• 1830
  • New Bedford Port Society formed.[3]
  • Population: 7,592.[5]
• 1831
  • New-Bedford Weekly Register begins publication.[2]
  • Dorcas Society organized.[3]
• 1832 - Seamen's Bethel built.
• 1833 - Mechanics Association founded.[5]
• 1834 - United States Customhouse and Rotch house (residence) built.
• 1837 - New Bedford Rural Cemetery incorporated.[3]
• 1838
  • September: Frederick Douglass moves to New Bedford.[6]
  • New Bedford and Taunton Rail Road incorporated.[3]
• 1840 - Population: 12,087.[4]
• 1841 - Charles W. Morgan (ship) built.
• 1843
  • Whalemen's Shipping List, and Merchant's Transcript begins publication.[2]
  • Orphans Home incorporated.[3]
• 1846 - Wamsutta Mills incorporated.[3]
• 1847
  • City incorporated.
  • Abraham H. Howland becomes mayor.
  • Horticultural Society incorporated.[3]
• 1849
  • J. & W. R. Wing Company in business.
  • Palmer Island Light built.
• 1850
  • Daily Evening Standard newspaper begins publication.[2]
  • Population: 16,443.[4]
• 1853
• Rodney French becomes 3rd Mayor of New Bedford.[7]
  • Municipal public library established.[8][9]
  • New Bedford Institute for Savings built.
• 1855 - New Bedford Five Cents Savings Bank incorporated.[10]
• 1861 - Fort Taber built at Clark's Point.
• 1866
  • Hathaway & Soule in business.[11]
  • Wamsutta Club founded.
  • Hutchinson's Circulating Library in business.[12]
• 1867 - Fire Station no.4 built.
• 1871 - Whaling Disaster of 1871
• 1877 - Church of the Sacred Heart built.
• 1888 - Fairhaven Bridge Light built.
• 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.[13]
• 1894 - Buttonwood Park Zoo opens.
• 1895 - New Bedford Textile School chartered.
• 1899
  • New Bedford – Fairhaven Bridge constructed.[14]
  • Union Baptist Church built.

20th century

• 1900 - Population: 40,733.[15]
• 1901 - Hotel Waverly built.
• 1903
  • Old Dartmouth Historical Society founded.[15]
  • Insect invasion.[16]
• 1905 - Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish established.
• 1908 - St. Anthony of Padua Church built.
• 1910
  • Population: 96,652.[15]
  • Local 147 of the National Industrial Union of Textile Workers (IWW) declares a strike against increases in work.[17][18]
• 1912 - Orpheum Theatre opens.
• 1916 - Whaling Museum opens.
• 1919 - Alvorada Jornal Diario newspaper begins publication.[2]
• 1920 - Population: 121,217.
• 1923
  • April 2: The Zeiterion theatre opens[19]
• 1927 - St. Casimir Parish established.
• 1942 - Airport built.
• 1946 - Your Theatre founded.[20]
• 1962 - Waterfront Historic Area League organized.
• 1970
  • Club of French Sharpshooters, a French Canadian benevolent and fraternal organization, disbands[13]
  • Racial unrest.[21]
• 1972
  • New Bedford High School established.
  • John A. Markey becomes mayor.
  • New Bedford Historical Commission established.[22]
  • Sister city relationship established with Horta, Azores.[23]
• 1976 - New Bedford Fire Museum opens.
• 1977 - Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School established.
• 1987 - Sister city relationship established with Tosashimizu, Japan.[24]
• 1988-89 - New Bedford Highway Killer active
• 1996
  • Multi-stage folk festival begins at the State Pier; this event evolves into Summerfest, then New Bedford Folk Festival[25]
  • New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and New Bedford Historical Society established.
  • City website online (approximate date).[26]
• 1997
  • Azorean Maritime Heritage Society organized.
  • New Bedford Bay Sox baseball team formed.

21st century

• 2003 - Coast Guard Station New Bedford closes.
• 2006 - Scott W. Lang becomes mayor.
• 2010
  • Population: 95,072.
  • New Bedford Museum of Glass opens.[27]
• 2012 - Jonathan F. Mitchell becomes mayor.[28]
• 2015 - Marine Commerce Terminal begins operating.[29][30]

See also

• New Bedford history
• List of mayors of New Bedford, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in New Bedford, Massachusetts
• Timelines of other municipalities in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts: Boston, Cambridge, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Salem, Somerville, Waltham, Worcester

References

1. Morse 1797.
2. "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington DC: Library of Congress. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
3. Taber 1852.
4. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, U.S. Census Bureau, 1998
5. Crapo 1836.
6. "Frederick Douglass Chronology". Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
7. "New Bedford Streets; A Piece of Americana: Rodney French Boulevard - New Bedford Guide". New Bedford Guide. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
8. Edward Edwards (1869), Free Town Libraries: Their Formation, Management, and History in Britain, France, Germany & America, New York: J. Wiley, OCLC 1385548, OL 6921178M
9. Proceedings on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the library edifice, for the Free Public Library, of the city of New Bedford, August 28, 1856, New Bedford, Mass.: E. Anthony, 1856, OCLC 8693441, OL 6999890M
10. George H. H. Allen (1923), New Bedford Five Cents Savings Bank, New Bedford, Mass.: [Reynolds, printer], OCLC 18996332, OL 13522925M
11. "Soule", Men of progress: one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston: New England Magazine, 1896
12. Davies Project. "American Libraries before 1876". Princeton University. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
13. Barcellos, Robert (29 November 1970). "French Sharpshooters disband after nearly 80 years". Sunday Standard-Times. Archived from the original on 17 November 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019. The Club of French Sharpshooters was incorporated on Sept. 26, 1892
14. "New Bedford-Fairhaven Middle Bridge, Spanning Acushnet River on U.S. Highway 6, New Bedford, Bristol County, MA". Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress). Retrieved October 2, 2012.
15. Britannica 1910.
16. "Flies invade New Bedford". New York Times. June 9, 1903.
17. Upton, Austin. "IWW Yearbook 1910". IWW History Project. University of Washington. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
18. "An Injury to One an Injury to All". Industrial Worker. 2 (9). 21 May 1910. p. 1.
19. "History". Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
20. "Who We Are". New Bedford: Your Theatre, Inc. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
21. Robin D. G. Kelley and Earl Lewis, ed. (2005). "Chronology". To Make Our World Anew: a History of African Americans. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-983893-6.
22. "New Bedford Historical Commission". City of New Bedford. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
23. Reference Department, New Bedford Free Public Library, December 30, 2014
24. "Whitfield-Manjiro Friendship Society". Retrieved December 30, 2014.
25. "History". New Bedford Folk Festival. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
26. "City of New Bedford Official Home Page". Archived from the original on December 1996 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
27. "New Bedford Museum of Glass". Retrieved October 2, 2012.
28. "Meet the Mayors". Washington, DC: United States Conference of Mayors. Archived from the original on June 27, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
29. First cargo ship arrives New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, New Bedford Guide.com, July 6, 2015
30. "$113m New Bedford marine terminal sits largely idle", Boston Globe, August 30, 2015

Bibliography

• Jedidiah Morse (1797), "New Bedford", American Gazetteer, Boston: At the presses of S. Hall, and Thomas & Andrews
• Henry Howland Crapo (1836), The New-Bedford directory ... and the town register ... Also, a list of whale ships, belonging to the United States, New Bedford, Mass.: J.C. Parmenter, printer, OCLC 35857446, OL 14030423M
• New Bedford Directory. New Bedford, Mass.: C. & A. Taber. 1849.
• Herman Melville (1851), "Chapter 6", Moby-Dick, Harper & Brothers (novelist's description of New Bedford)
• New Bedford Directory. New Bedford, Mass.: Charles Taber & Co. 1852.
• New Bedford Directory. New Bedford, Mass.: Charles Taber & Co. 1859.
• Directory ... City of New Bedford, for 1871-2. Boston: Greenough, Jones & Co. 1871.
• Directory ... City of New Bedford, for 1873-4. Boston: Greenough, Jones & Co. 1873.
• Elias Nason (1874), "New Bedford", Gazetteer of the State of Massachusetts, Boston: B.B. Russell, OCLC 1728892
• Directory ... City of New Bedford, for 1875-6. Boston: Greenough, Jones & Co. 1875.
• Directory ... City of New Bedford, for 1879-80. Boston: Greenough, Jones & Co. 1879.
• Joseph Sabin, ed. (1881). "New Bedford, Mass.". Bibliotheca Americana. 13. New York. OCLC 13972268.
• Robert Grieve (1889), "Nantucket", Illustrated Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Taunton, New Bedford, Fall River (2nd ed.), Providence, RI: J.A. & R.A. Reid, OCLC 10563002
• New Bedford and Fairhaven Directory: 1897. Boston: W.A. Greenough & Co. 1897.
• "New Bedford", Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), New York, 1910, OCLC 14782424 – via Internet Archive

External links

• WhalingCity.net. Chronological History of New Bedford, Mass.
• American Experience (2010). "Timeline: The History of Whaling in America". Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World. WGBH Educational Foundation.
• Works related to New Bedford, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).
• Items related to New Bedford, various dates (via US Library of Congress, Prints & Photos division)
• Images related to New Bedford (via New York Public Library)

Images

• 
  Map of New Bedford, 1851
• 
  Hathaway & Soule, est.1866
• 
  Advertisements, 1873
• 
  Wamsutta Mills in 1876
• 
  Aerial view of New Bedford Harbor, 1984