1649. Town of Providence (later Annapolis) founded.
1650, April. Anne Arundel County created (Chapter 8, Acts of 1650); named for Lady Anne Arundell (1615-1649), wife of Cecelius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore.
1652, July 5. Susquehannocks made treaty at Severn River, ceding Eastern Shore and Western Shore lands (except Kent Island & Palmer's Island) to English.
1655, March 25. Puritans from Virginia defeated Gov. William Stone's forces at Battle of the Severn.
1672, Oct. George Fox, founder of Religious Society of Friends, preached at West River. Friends formed Baltimore Yearly Meeting.
1682, Dec. 13. William Penn met at Harwood with Charles Calvert, 3rd Lord Baltimore.
1694/5, Feb. Capital moved from St. Mary's City to Anne Arundel Town. Governor Nicholson laid out plan for capital city.
1694, Dec. Anne Arundel Town renamed Annapolis.
1696. Construction began on new State House and probably on St. Anne's Church, Annapolis.
![[photo, McDowell Hall, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/images/1198-1-1082.jpg)
1696. King William's School (later St. John's College) founded at Annapolis by Governor Francis Nicholson (1655-1727/8) and others.
1698-1704. County Court met at State House.
1704. Construction completed on new State House and St. Anne's Church, Annapolis.
1704, Oct. 18 First State House destroyed by fire.
1706. State House reconstructed on same site.
McDowell Hall, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, April 2005. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
1709-1769. County Court continued to meet at State House.
1727, Sept. Maryland Gazette, first newspaper in the Chesapeake, published by William Parks at Annapolis (until 1734).
1737, Sept. 19. Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832), signer of Declaration of Independence, born in Annapolis.
1745. Jonas Green (1712-1767) revived Maryland Gazette.
1745. Tuesday Club formed in Annapolis.
1749, Feb. 7. Benjamin Ogle (1749-1809), Governor of Maryland, born in Annapolis.
1759. Curtis Creek Furnace established.
1764, March 17. William Pinkney (1746-1822), who served as U.S. Attorney General, 1811-14, born in Annapolis.
1767. Annapolis merchants sent Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) to London to study painting with Benjamin West.
1767-1775. Anne Catherine Green (c.1720-1775) continued publication of Maryland Gazette and became first women publisher in the colonies.
1769-1824. County Court met in small building adjacent to State House.
1771. First brick theater in America opened in Annapolis.
![[photo, State House (from Francis St.), Annapolis, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/25ind/images/statehouse/1198-1-383.jpg)
1772, March 28. Cornerstone laid for new State House in Annapolis.
1773. Maryland Gazette carried "Antilon" and "First Citizen" debate on officers' fees.
1774, June 22. First Provincial Convention (an extralegal body) met at Annapolis, and sent delegates to First Continental Congress.
1774, Oct. 19. Mob burned Peggy Stewart in Annapolis harbor.
1776, June 26. Departure of Robert Eden (1741-1784), Maryland's last colonial governor.
State House (from Francis St.), Annapolis, Maryland, May 2003. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
1776, July 6. Maryland Convention declared independence from Great Britain.
1776, Aug. 14-Nov. 11. Constitutional Convention of 1776 (meeting of Ninth Provincial Convention).
1776, Nov. 3. Declaration of Rights (Maryland's Bill of Rights) adopted by Ninth Provincial Convention. Church of England disestablished.
1776, Nov. 8. First State Constitution adopted by Ninth Provincial Convention.
1781, March-April. Marquis de Lafayette with Continental Light Infantrymen encamped at Annapolis on route to Yorktown.
1781, Sept. 16-17. Rochambeau's French troops encamped at Belvoir on route to Yorktown.
1783, Nov. 26-1784, June 3. Annapolis served as capital to newly forming American nation when Continental Congress met at Annapolis.
1783, Dec. 23. George Washington resigned commission as commander in chief of Continental Army at State House in Annapolis.
1784, Jan. 14. Treaty of Paris, ending Revolutionary War, ratified by Congress at Annapolis.
1784, Dec. 30. St. John's College established at Annapolis. General Assembly designated it, with Washington College, as University of Maryland.
1786, Sept. 11-14. Annapolis Convention of delegates from several states met at Mann's Tavern, Annapolis, to discuss revisions to Articles of Confederation. Maryland sent no representatives.
1789, Nov. 21. George Howard (1789-1846), Governor of Maryland, born in Annapolis.
1796, May 21. Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), who served as U.S. Attorney General, 1849-50, born in Annapolis.
1801-1803. John Francis Mercer (1759-1821) of Anne Arundel County served as Governor of Maryland.
1813, June 13. Chesapeake, first steamboat on Chesapeake Bay, traveled between Baltimore and Annapolis.
1824. County Courthouse opened at Church Circle, Annapolis.
1842, Jan. Slaveholders' convention met at Annapolis.
![[photo, Naval Academy grounds, Annapolis, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/37mun/annapolis/images/i004554b.jpg)
1845, Oct. 10. U.S. Naval Academy founded at Annapolis, when Department of the Navy established officers' training school at Fort Severn, Annapolis.
1850, Nov. 4-1851, May 13. Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851 met in Annapolis.
U.S. Naval Academy grounds, Annapolis, Maryland, May 2000. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
1851, Sept. 11. William Parker, former slave from Anne Arundel County, resisted efforts of Edward Gorsuch of Baltimore County, Maryland, to recapture fugitive slaves at Christiana, Pennsylvania.
1852, Oct. 9. James Booth Lockwood (1852-1884), arctic explorer, born in Annapolis.
1861, April 22. Union troops occupied Annapolis.
1864, April 27-Sept. 6. Constitutional Convention of 1864 met in Annapolis.
1867, May 8-Aug. 17. Constitutional Convention of 1867 held at Annapolis; Democrats rewrote constitution.
1873, April. William H. Butler, Sr. (c. 1829-1892), elected as Annapolis Alderman, first African American to hold elected office in Maryland.
1879. Maryland House of Correction opened at Jessup,
1884, Nov. 26. George Briscoe lynched at New Bridge, Magothy River.
1898, Oct. 5 Wright Smith lynched at Annapolis.
1899, March 28. Building program began at Naval Academy, Ernest Flagg architect. Construction started with Dahlgren Hall, first building of "new" Naval Academy.
1902, July 18. Annapolis Emergency Hospital opened at Franklin and Cathedral Sts.
1906, Nov. "Anchors Aweigh" composed by Charles A. Zimmerman, Naval Academy bandmaster, and midshipman Alfred Hart Miles; performed at Army-Navy football game that year; later dedicated to Class of 1907.
1906, Dec. 21. Henry Davis lynched at Annapolis.
1910, Dec. 5. New building for Annapolis Emergency Hospital dedicated on Franklin St.
1911. U.S. Navy used Greenbury Point, Annapolis, as air station.
1911, Dec. 26. King Johnson, lynched at Brooklyn.
1917. Federal government established Camp Meade (now Fort Meade).
1922, July 1. Highland Beach incorporated.
1922, Oct. 10. Ku Klux Klan rallied in Annapolis.
1935. Hall of Records opened, Annapolis.
1937. St. John's College adopted "great books" curriculum.
1939. Ritchie Highway connected Baltimore and Annapolis.
1940, April 27. First divided highway in Maryland dedicated (MD Route 2 from Annapolis to Baltimore).
1941. Women's Prison of the State of Maryland (now Maryland Correctional Institution for Women) opened at Jessup.
1943. Slot machines allowed by law in Anne Arundel County (Chapter 321, Acts of 1943).
1944. New Baltimore municipal airport in Anne Arundel County recommended by Baltimore mayoral commission.
1949, Nov. Annapolis Emergency Hospital renamed Anne Arundel General Hospital.
1950, June 24. Friendship International Airport (now BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport) began service.
1952. Historic Annapolis, Inc., founded by Anne St. Clair Wright.
1952, July 30. Chesapeake Bay Bridge opened.
1952, Fall. First Anne Arundel County Fair held at old Labrot Race Track near Sandy Point.
1958, Oct. 1. James W. Rouse's Harundale Mall, Glen Burnie, opened; first enclosed shopping center in State.
1961, Jan. Anne Arundel Community College founded as Anne Arundel Junior College with classes at Severna Park High School in Sept. 1961.
1963. Legislation passed to outlaw slot-machine gambling.
1964. County Charter provided for County Council and County Executive.
1965, July 1. Chesapeake Center for Field Biology founded at Edgewater.
1965-1974. Joseph W. Alton, Jr. (1919-2013) (Republican), County Executive.
1966. Second Chesapeake Bay Bridge authorized.
1966, Sept. Anne Arundel County schools desegregated.
![[photo, John A. Cade Center for Fine Arts, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/images/1198-1-646.jpg)
1967, Sept. Anne Arundel Community College moved to its present Arnold campus.
1967, Sept. 12-1968, Jan. 10. Constitutional Convention of 1967-1968 met at Annapolis.
1970. Chesapeake Center for Field Biology renamed Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies at Edgewater.
John A. Cade Center for Fine Arts, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland, January 2004. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
1973. Friendship Airport reopened as Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport.
1974-1982. Robert A. Pascal (Republican), County Executive.
1982-1990. O. James Lighthizer (Democrat), County Executive.
1983, July 1. Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies renamed Smithsonian Environmental Research Center at Edgewater.
![[photo, State Archives, Hall of Records Building, 350 Rowe Blvd., Annapolis, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/25ind/images/archives.jpg)
1986, July-Aug. State Archives moved to new Hall of Records (now Edward C. Papenfuse State Archives Building) Rowe Blvd., Annapolis.
Edward C. Papenfuse State Archives Building, 350 Rowe Blvd., Annapolis, Maryland, 1997. Photo by James Hefelfinger (Hefelfinger Collection, MSA SC 1885-734-7, Maryland State Archives).
1990-1994. Robert R. Neall (Republican), County Executive.
1994-1998. John G. Gary (Republican), County Executive.
1998, Dec.-2006, Dec. 4. Janet S. Owens (Democrat), County Executive.
2004, March 2. Electronic voting system used during primary elections at polling places and for absentee ballots in all counties and Baltimore City.
2006, Dec. 4-2013, Jan. 29. John R. Leopold (Republican), County Executive.
2007, March 19. Maryland House of Correction closed at Jessup.
2007, Nov 27. Middle East Peace Conference held at U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.
2008, June 17-18. U.S. - China Strategic Economic Dialogue IV held at U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.
2012, June 6. Maryland Live!, the third gambling facility in Maryland with video lottery terminals [slot machines], opened at Arundel Mills.
2013, Feb. 22-2014, Dec. 1. Laura A. Neuman (Republican), County Executive.
2014, Dec. 1-. Steven R. Schuh (Republican), County Executive.
? Copyright Maryland State Archives