Selected Important Dates in Connecticut History US Presidents and Vice Presidents

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SELECTED IMPORTANT DATES
IN CONNECTICUT HISTORY

Prepared by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism

10,000 years ago, humans arrive in what will become Connecticut

1614	Adriaen Block, representing the Dutch, sails up the Connecticut River.
1633	The Dutch erect a fort, the House of (Good) Hope, on the future site of Hartford.
1633	John Oldham and others explore and trade along the Connecticut River. Plymouth Colony sends William Holmes to found a trading post at Windsor.
1634	Wethersfield founded by colonists from Massachusetts.
1634	First English arrive in Windsor.
1635	Fort erected at Saybrook by Lion Gardiner.
1635	Group from Dorchester, Massachusetts, joins Windsor settlement.
1636	Thomas Hooker and company journey from Newtown (Cambridge), Massachusetts, to found Hartford.
1637	Pequot War.
1638	New Haven Colony established by John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton.
1639	Fundamental Orders of Connecticut adopted by Freemen of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor; John Haynes chosen first Governor.
1639	Henry Whitfield House, Guilford, oldest house in state, built.
1643	Connecticut joins in forming the New England Confederation.
1646	New London founded by John Winthrop, Jr.
1650	Code of laws drawn up by Roger Ludlow and adopted by legislature.
1662	John Winthrop, Jr. obtains a charter for Connecticut.
1665	Union of New Haven and Connecticut Colonies completed.
1665	The first division of any Connecticut town--Lyme's separation from Saybrook.
1675-76	Connecticut participates in King Philip's War fought in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
1687	Andros assumes rule over Connecticut; Charter Oak episode occurs.
1689	Connecticut resumes government under charter.
1701	Collegiate School authorized by General Assembly.
1708	Saybrook Platform permits churches to join regional consociations or unions of churches.
1717	New Haven State House erected on the Green.
1717	Collegiate School moves to New Haven; called Yale the next year.
1740s	Height of religious "Great Awakening."
1745	Connecticut troops under Roger Wolcott help capture Louisburg.
1755	Connecticut Gazette of New Haven, the colony's first newspaper, printed by James Parker at New Haven.
1763	Brick State House erected on New Haven Green.
1764	Connecticut Courant, the oldest American newspaper in continuous existence to the present, launched at Hartford by Thomas Green.
1766	Governor Thomas Fitch who refused to reject the Stamp Act defeated by William Pitkin.
1767	Thomas and Samuel Green launch newspaper which after many changes becomes New Haven Journal-Courier.
1773	Old New-Gate Prison opens as Connecticut's first prison.
1774	Connecticut officially extends jurisdiction over Susquehanna Company area in Northern Pennsylvania.
1774	Silas Deane, Eliphalet Dyer, and Roger Sherman represent Connecticut at First Continental Congress.
1775	Several thousand militia rush to Massachusetts in "Lexington Alarm."
1775	Connecticut men help plan and carry out seizure of Ft. Ticonderoga.
1775	First gun powder mill in Connecticut started in East Hartford.
1776	Samuel Huntington, Roger Sherman, William Williams, and Oliver Wolcott sign the Declaration of Independence; large majority of Connecticut people under Governor Jonathan Trumbull support the Declaration.
1777	British troops under General Tryon raid Danbury.
1779	British troops under General Tryon raid New Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk.
1781	Benedict Arnold's attack upon New London and Groton results in massacre at Ft. Griswold.
1781	Generals George Washington and comte de Rochambeau confer at Webb House in Wethersfield.
1783	Meeting of 10 Anglican clergy at Glebe House, Woodbury, leads to consecration of Bishop Samuel Seabury and beginning of Protestant Episcopal Church in United States.
1784	Tapping Reeve establishes the first law school in the United States in Litchfield.
1784	Earliest Connecticut cities incorporated--Hartford, Middletown, New Haven, New London, and Norwich.
1784	Governor Trumbull retires from governorship.
1784	Connecticut relinquishes Westmoreland area to Pennsylvania.
1784	Act passed providing for emancipation at age of twenty-five of all African- Americans born after March 1784. In 1797 the age was lowered to 21.
1785	First Register and Manual published.
1787	Oliver Ellsworth, William Samuel Johnson, and Roger Sherman serve as Connecticut's representatives at Philadelphia Constitutional Convention.
1788	Convention at Hartford approves federal Constitution by 128-40 vote.
1789	Oliver Ellsworth and William Samuel Johnson begin service as first United States Senators from Connecticut.
1792	First turnpike road company, New London to Norwich, incorporated.
1792	First banks established at Hartford, New London, and New Haven.
1793-96	Old State House, Hartford, erected; designed by Charles Bulfinch.
1795	Connecticut Western Reserve lands (now Northeastern Ohio) sold for $1.2 million and the proceeds used to establish the School Fund.
1795	First insurance company incorporated as the Mutual Assurance Company of the City of Norwich.
1796	Thomas Hubbard starts Courier at Norwich. In 1860 paper merges with the Morning Bulletin and continues as Norwich Bulletin to present.
1799	Eli Whitney procures his first federal musket contract.
1802	Brass industry begun at Waterbury by Abel Porter and associates.
1806	First important English dictionary in United States published by Noah Webster.
1810	Hartford Fire Insurance Company incorporated.
1812	Joseph Barber starts Columbian Register at New Haven. In 1911 combined with New Haven Register and continues as Register to present.
1812-14	War of 1812 unpopular in Connecticut; new manufacturers, especially of textiles, boom.
1814	The British Raid on Essex results in the loss of over 25 American ships at Pettipaug Point.
1814	Hartford Convention held in Old State House.
1815	First steamboat voyage up the Connecticut River to Hartford.
1817	Federalists defeated by reformers in political revolution.
1817	Thomas Gallaudet founds school for the deaf in Hartford.
1817	Hartford Times founded by Frederick D. Bolles and John M. Niles.
1818	New Constitution adopted by convention in Hartford and approved by voters; ends system of established church.
1820	Captain Nathaniel Palmer of Stonington is the first American to sight the Antarctic continent. Peter Harvey, a crewman on Palmer's ship, is the first African-American to sail to the Antarctic.
1821	Crewmen under Captain John Davis of New Haven make the first documented landing on Antarctica.
1821	Captain Nathaniel Palmer of Stonington and British sealer George Powell jointly discover the South Orkney Islands in the Antarctic.
1823	Washington College (now Trinity) founded in Hartford.
1827	"New" State House erected in New Haven; Ithiel Town, architect.
1827	Old New-Gate Prison closed. After a brief period of returning to mining, it soon became a tourist attraction.
1828	Farmington Canal opened.
1831	Wesleyan University founded in Middletown.
1831	Mutual Insurance Company of Hartford founded.
1832	First Connecticut railroad incorporated as the Boston, Norwich and New London.
1833-34	State Heroine Prudence Crandall opens school for young African-American girls.
1835	Revolver patented by Samuel Colt.
1835	Music Vale Seminary, first American music school, founded at Salem by Oramel Whittlesey.
1838	Railroad completed between New Haven and Hartford.
1839-41	The Amistad legal case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court.
1840s and 1850s	Peak of whaling from Connecticut ports and especially from New London.
1842	Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, first public art museum, established.
1843	Charles Goodyear develops vulcanizing process for rubber.
1843	Civil rights of Jews protected through act guaranteeing equal privileges with Christians in forming religious societies.
1844	Dr. Horace Wells uses anesthesia at Hartford.
1846	Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, the first life insurance company, chartered in Connecticut.
1848	Slavery abolished in Connecticut.
1849	First teachers' college founded at New Britain (now Central Connecticut State University).
1851	Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company started (under another name) in Hartford.
1853	Aetna Life Insurance Company started in Hartford.
1860	Lincoln speaks in several Connecticut cities.
1861-65	Approximately 55,000 men serve in Union Army; William Buckingham serves as wartime governor.
1864	Travelers Insurance issues its first policy.
1865	Connecticut General Life Insurance Company founded.
1868	Land at Groton given by Connecticut to U.S. Navy for a naval station.
1875	Hartford made sole capital city.
1877	First telephone exchange in world opened in New Haven.
1879	New Capitol building in Hartford completed; Richard M. Upjohn, architect.
1881	Storrs Agricultural College founded (becomes University of Connecticut in 1939).
1897	Manufacture of automobiles begun by Pope Manufacturing Company of Hartford.
1900	First United States Navy submarine, Holland, constructed by Electric Boat Co.
1901	First American state law regulating automobile speeds.
1902	Constitutional Convention held; proposed new Constitution defeated in a statewide referendum.
1905	General Assembly adopts public accommodations act ordering full and equal service in all places of public accommodation.
1907	The first Boy Scout Troop in Connecticut (Troop 1) is established in East Hartford.
1910	U.S. Coast Guard Academy moves to New London.
1911	Connecticut College for Women founded at New London.
1917	U.S. Navy Submarine School formally established at New London Naval Base, Groton.
1917-18	Approximately 67,000 Connecticut men serve in World War I.
1920	University of New Haven founded.
1927	University of Bridgeport founded.
1928	Igor Sikorsky purchases land in Stratford for new aviation factory; becomes Sikorsky Aviation Company.
1932	St. Joseph College founded in West Hartford.
1936	Floods cause enormous damage in Connecticut River Valley.
1938	Hurricane and floods produce heavy loss of life and property.
1938	First section of Merritt Parkway opened.
1939	First section of Wilbur Cross Parkway opened.
1941-45	Approximately 210,000 Connecticut men serve in World War II.
1943	General Assembly establishes Inter-Racial Commission, recognized as the nation's first statutory civil rights agency.
1944	Ringling Brothers Circus tent fire in Hartford takes 168 lives.
1947	Fair Employment Practices Act adopted outlawing job discrimination.
1950-52	Approximately 52,000 Connecticut men serve in Korean War.
1954	Nautilus, world's first atomic-powered submarine, launched at Groton.
1955	Serious floods cause heavy damage and loss of life.
1957	Ground broken for first building in New Haven's Oak Street redevelopment area.
1958	129-mile Connecticut Turnpike opened.
1959	General Assembly votes to abolish county government (effective 1960); also to abolish local justice courts and establish district courts.
1960	Ground broken for first building in Hartford's Front Street redevelopment area; now known as Constitution Plaza.
1961	New state circuit court system goes into effect.
1962-75	Approximately 104,000 Connecticut men and women serve in the armed forces during the Vietnam War era.
1965	Constitutional Convention held; New Constitution approved by voters.
1966	First elections held for reapportioned General Assembly under new Constitution.
1966	Constance Baker Motley of New Haven, first African-American woman appointed to be a federal judge.
1972	Under constitutional amendment adopted in 1970, General Assembly holds first annual session since 1886.
1974	Ella T. Grasso, first woman elected Governor in Connecticut.
1978	Common pleas and Juvenile Courts become part of the Superior Court.
1982	Appellate Court created by Constitutional Amendment (Effective July 1, 1983.)
1990	Eunice S. Groark, first woman elected Lieutenant Governor in Connecticut.
2001	Reapportionment Commission creates five Congressional districts due to national population shifts identified in the 2000 census.
2001	9/11 Terrorist attacks on New York City kill 152 Connecticut citizens.
2005	Connecticut first state to adopt civil unions for same-sex couples without being directed to do so by a court.
2006	M. Jodi Rell becomes Connecticut's second female Governor elected in her own right.
2008	Connecticut becomes one of the first three states to perform marriages of same-sex couples.

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

Year of Qualification	Name	State*	Term of Office
1789	George Washington	Virginia	8 yrs.
1797	John Adams	Massachusetts	4 yrs.
1801	Thomas Jefferson	Virginia	8 yrs.
1809	James Madison	Virginia	8 yrs.
1817	James Monroe	Virginia	8 yrs.
1825	John Quincy Adams	Massachusetts	4 yrs.
1829	Andrew Jackson	Tennessee	8 yrs.
1837	Martin Van Buren	New York	4 yrs.
1841	William H. Harrison¹	Ohio	1 m.
1841	John Tyler	Virginia	3 yrs. 11 m.
1845	James Knox Polk	Tennessee	4 yrs.
1849	Zachary Taylor²	Louisiana	1 yr. 4 m. 5 d.
1850	Millard Fillmore	New York	2 yrs. 7 m. 26 d.
1853	Franklin Pierce	New Hampshire	4 yrs.
1857	James Buchanan	Pennsylvania	4 yrs.
1861	Abraham Lincoln³	Illinois	4 yrs. 1 m. 10 d.
1865	Andrew Johnson	Tennessee	3 yrs. 10 m. 20 d.
1869	Ulysses S. Grant	Illinois	8 yrs.
1877	Rutherford B. Hayes	Ohio	4 yrs.
1881	James A. Garfield⁴	Ohio	6 m. 15 d.
1881	Chester A. Arthur	New York	3 yrs. 5 m. 15 d.
1885	Grover Cleveland	New York	4 yrs.
1889	Benjamin Harrison	Indiana	4 yrs.
1893	Grover Cleveland	New York	4 yrs.
1897	William McKinley⁵	Ohio	4 yrs. 6 m. 9 d.
1901	Theodore Roosevelt	New York	7 yrs. 5 m. 21 d.
1909	William H. Taft	Ohio	4 yrs.
1913	Woodrow Wilson	New Jersey	8 yrs.
1921	Warren G. Harding⁶	Ohio	2 yrs. 4 m. 27 d.
1923	Calvin Coolidge	Massachusetts	5 yrs. 7 m. 4 d.
1929	Herbert C. Hoover	California	4 yrs.
1933	Franklin D. Roosevelt⁷	New York	12 yrs. 1 m. 8 d.
1945	Harry S. Truman	Missouri	7 yrs. 9 m. 9 d.
1953	Dwight D. Eisenhower	New York/ Pennsylvania⁸	8 yrs.
1961	John F. Kennedy⁹	Massachusetts	2 yrs. 10 m. 2 d.
1963	Lyndon B. Johnson¹⁰	Texas	5 yrs. 1 m. 29 d.
1969	Richard M. Nixon¹¹	New York	5 yrs. 6 m. 20 d.
1974	Gerald R. Ford¹²	Michigan	2 yrs. 5 m. 11 d.
1977	Jimmy Carter	Georgia	4 yrs.
1981	Ronald Reagan	California	8 yrs.
1989	George Bush	Texas	4 yrs.
1993	William J. Clinton	Arkansas	8 yrs.
2001	George W. Bush	Texas	8 yrs.
2009	Barack H. Obama	Illinois	8 yrs.
2017	Donald J. Trump	New York	Currently serving

^*State of residence for election purposes.
¹Died in office, April 4, 1841, and was succeeded by Vice President Tyler.
²Died in office, July 9, 1850, and was succeeded by Vice President Fillmore.
³Assassinated April 14, 1865, and was succeeded by Vice President Johnson, April 15, 1865.
⁴Died September 19, 1881, from wounds by assassin, and was succeeded by Vice President Arthur.
⁵Died September 14, 1901, from wounds by assassin, and was succeeded by Vice President Roosevelt.
⁶Died in office, August 2, 1923, and was succeeded by Vice President Coolidge.
⁷Died in office, April 12, 1945, and was succeeded by Vice President Truman.
⁸Electoral College results from the National Archives list New York as Eisenhower's home state for the 1952 and 1956 elections. The Official Register of the United States for 1956, the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005, and various state-level election result resources list Pennsylvania as Eisenhower's home state in 1956.
⁹Assassinated November 22, 1963, and was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.
¹⁰Acceded to the Presidency November 22, 1963; elected President on November 3, 1964.
¹¹Elected November 5, 1968, reelected November 7, 1972; resigned on August 9, 1974.
¹²Acceded to the Presidency August 9, 1974.

VICE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

Year of Qualification	Name	State*
1789	John Adams	Massachusetts
1797	Thomas Jefferson	Virginia
1801	Aaron Burr	New York
1805	George Clinton¹	New York
1813	Elbridge Gerry²	Massachusetts
1817	Daniel D. Tompkins	New York
1825	John C. Calhoun³	South Carolina
1833	Martin Van Buren	New York
1837	Richard M. Johnson	Kentucky
1841	John Tyler⁴	Virginia
1845	George M. Dallas	Pennsylvania
1849	Millard Fillmore⁵	New York
1853	William R. King¹	Alabama
1857	John C. Breckinridge	Kentucky
1861	Hannibal Hamlin	Maine
1865	Andrew Johnson⁶	Tennessee
1869	Schuyler Colfax	Indiana
1873	Henry Wilson¹	Massachusetts
1877	William A. Wheeler	New York
1881	Chester A. Arthur⁷	New York
1885	Thomas A. Hendricks¹	Indiana
1889	Levi P. Morton	New York
1893	Adlai E. Stevenson	Illinois
1897	Garret A. Hobart¹	New Jersey
1901	Theodore Roosevelt⁸	New York
1905	Charles W. Fairbanks	Indiana
1909	James S. Sherman¹	New York
1913	Thomas R. Marshall	Indiana
1921	Calvin Coolidge⁹	Massachusetts
1925	Charles G. Dawes	Illinois
1929	Charles Curtis	Kansas
1933	John N. Garner	Texas
1941	Henry A. Wallace	Iowa
1945	Harry S. Truman¹⁰	Missouri
1949	Alben W. Barkley	Kentucky
1953	Richard M. Nixon	California
1961	Lyndon B. Johnson¹¹	Texas
1965	Hubert H. Humphrey	Minnesota
1969	Spiro T. Agnew¹²	Maryland
1973	Gerald R. Ford¹³	Michigan
1974	Nelson A. Rockefeller¹⁴	New York
1977	Walter F. Mondale	Minnesota
1981	George Bush	Texas
1989	Dan Quayle	Indiana
1993	Albert A. Gore	Tennessee
2001	Richard B. Cheney	Wyoming
2009	Joseph R. Biden, Jr.	Delaware
2017	Michael R. Pence	Indiana

^*State of residence for election purposes.
¹Died in office.
²Died in office, Nov. 23, 1814.
³Resigned December 28, 1832, to become U.S. Senator.
⁴Became President by death of Harrison.
⁵Became President by death of Taylor.
⁶Became President by death of Lincoln.
⁷Became President by death of Garfield.
⁸Became President by death of McKinley.
⁹Became President by death of Harding.
¹⁰Became President by death of Roosevelt.
¹¹Became President by death of John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963.
¹²Elected November 5, 1968; reelected November 7, 1972; resigned October 10, 1973.
¹³First Vice President nominated by the President and confirmed by the Congress pursuant to the 25th amendment to the Constitution of the United States; took oath of office on December 6, 1973; succeeded to the Presidency on August 9, 1974 upon resignation of Richard M. Nixon.
¹⁴Nominated to be Vice President by President Ford on August 20, 1974; confirmed by the Senate on December 10, 1974; confirmed by the House and took oath of office on December 19, 1974.

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