# Timeline of New Bedford, Massachusetts

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$^{:243}$
* 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.
** 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 – Fairhaven Bridge constructed.
** Union Baptist Church built.
* 1900 - Population: 62,442.

## 20th century

* 1901 - Hotel Waverly built.
* 1903
** Old Dartmouth Historical Society founded.
** New Bedford Whaling Museum established.
** Insect invasion.
* 1905 - Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish established.
* 1906 - Completion of harbour improvements.
* 1908 - St. Anthony of Padua Church built.
* 1910
** Population: 96,652.
** Local 147 of the National Industrial Union of Textile Workers (IWW) declares a strike against increases in work.
* 1912 - Orpheum Theatre opens.
* 1916 - Whaling Museum opens.
* 1919 - Alvorada Jornal Diario newspaper begins publication.
* 1920 - Population: 121,217.
* 1923 - April 2: The Zeiterion theatre opens
* 1927 - St. Casimir Parish established.
* 1942 - Airport built.
* 1946 - Your Theatre founded.
* 1958 - Northeast Airlines Flight 285 crashes at New Bedford Airport.
* 1962 - Waterfront Historic Area League organized.
* 1970
** Club of French Sharpshooters, a French Canadian benevolent and fraternal organization, disbands
** Racial unrest.
* 1972
** New Bedford High School established.
** John A. Markey becomes mayor.
** New Bedford Historical Commission established.
** Sister city relationship established with Horta, Azores.
* 1976 - New Bedford Fire Museum opens.
* 1977 - Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School established.
* 1985 - A labor strike breaks out between fishermen and a trade association of shipowners.
* 1987 - Sister city relationship established with Tosashimizu, Japan.
* 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
** New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and New Bedford Historical Society established.
** City website online (approximate date).
* 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.
* 2012 - Jonathan F. Mitchell becomes mayor.
* 2015 - Marine Commerce Terminal begins operating.