Timeline of Albuquerque, New Mexico

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, US.

History as a town

 * 1706 – Town founded as a trading post between the Tiwa Puebloan peoples and the Hispanos in Nuevo México by Francisco Cuervo y Valdés for New Spain.
 * 1793 – San Felipe de Neri Church built.
 * 1837 – Unrest.
 * 1846 – U.S. army fort built.
 * 1850 – Town becomes part of U.S. New Mexico Territory.
 * 1862 – Town occupied by Confederate troops before being retaken by the Union Army.
 * 1867 – Military post closes.
 * 1873 – Jesuit College established.
 * 1879 – Albuquerque High School established.
 * 1880
 * Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway depot built near town.
 * New town platted.
 * Albuquerque Daily Journal newspaper begins publication.
 * Albuquerque Indian School and Albuquerque Street Railway Company established.
 * 1881
 * Territorial Exposition held.
 * Menaul School established.
 * 1882
 * First Methodist Episcopal Church built in new town.
 * Albuquerque Browns baseball team and St. Vincent Academy established.
 * Park Van Tassel makes the first balloon flight in New Mexico Territory on July 4 at New Town.
 * 1883
 * Germania club founded.
 * Ladies' Library Association active.
 * 1885
 * New town of Albuquerque chartered.
 * Henry Jaffa elected mayor of new town.
 * 1889 – University of New Mexico founded.
 * 1890 – Population: 3,785.

History as a city

 * 1891
 * New Albuquerque incorporated as a city.
 * El Defensor del Pueblo newspaper begins publication.
 * 1894 – Harwood Industrial School established.
 * 1895 – La Bandera Americana newspaper begins publication.
 * 1897 – El Nuevo Mundo newspaper begins publication.
 * 1899 – Southwestern Brewery and Ice Company building constructed.
 * 1901 – Albuquerque Public Library opens.
 * 1902 – Alvarado Hotel in business.
 * 1903
 * Albuquerque Business College established.
 * American Lumber Company mill opens.
 * 1904 – Electric streetcar begins operating.
 * 1906 – Southwest Presbyterian Sanatorium founded.
 * 1910 – Population: 11,020.
 * 1912
 * City becomes part of the new State of New Mexico.
 * New Mexico State Fair begins.
 * Albuquerque Independent Society formed.
 * "First meeting of the New Mexico League of Municipalities was held in Albuquerque"
 * 1914
 * Albuquerque High School building constructed.
 * Home Circle Club chartered.
 * 1917 – City Charter adopted.
 * 1919 – New Mexico Workers Chronicle begins publication.
 * 1920 – People's Sanatorium opens.
 * 1922 – First National Bank Building (Albuquerque) constructed.
 * 1924 – Sunshine Theatre opens.
 * 1925 – Santa Fe Railway Shops (Albuquerque) built.
 * 1926 – Courthouse relocated to New Town from Old Town.
 * 1927
 * Rio Grande Zoo opens.
 * KiMo Theater built.
 * 1928
 * Oxnard Field, Albuquerque's first airport, is constructed.
 * KGGM radio begins broadcasting.
 * 1929
 * First commercial airline service by Western Air Express and Transcontinental Air Transport
 * West Mesa Airport constructed.
 * 1930 – Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express merge to become TWA.
 * 1932 – Museum of Anthropology of the University of New Mexico established.
 * 1933 – KKOB (AM) radio headquartered in city.
 * 1934 – Continental Airlines begins service.
 * 1936 – Albuquerque Little Theater dedicated.
 * 1938 – Lobo Theater and New Mexico State Fair grounds open.
 * 1939
 * Albuquerque Municipal Airport constructed.
 * Hilton Hotel built.
 * 1942 – Kirtland Air Force Base established.
 * 1942-1944 – Royal Air Force cadets, flying from the British base at Terrell, Texas, fly to Albuquerque frequently on training flights, using it as a stand-in for Warsaw, Poland.
 * 1943 – POW Camp Albuquerque established.
 * 1946 – U.S. military Sandia Base (nuclear weapons installation) active.
 * 1947 – Old Town Historical Society established.
 * 1948 – Ernie Pyle House/Library branch established.
 * 1949 – Old Town annexed to city.
 * 1954 – Simms Building constructed.
 * 1956 – Albuquerque Petroleum Club founded.
 * 1957 – Tingley Coliseum dedicated.
 * 1959 – Uncle Cliff's Kiddieland opens.
 * 1960 – New Mexico Genealogical Society headquartered in city.
 * 1961
 * Winrock Shopping Center in business.
 * Bank of New Mexico Building constructed.
 * TWA begins the first commercial jet service with the Boeing 707 and the Convair 880.
 * 1963
 * Circle Autoscope Drive-In cinema opens.
 * First National Bank Building East constructed.
 * Albuquerque Municipal Airport renamed to Albuquerque Sunport
 * 1965
 * New terminal opens at the Albuquerque Sunport.
 * Coronado Center shopping mall in business.
 * Albuquerque Press Club founded.
 * 1967 – Albuquerque Museum of Art and History established.
 * 1970 – Anti-war protest.
 * 1972
 * Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta begins.
 * Glenwood Hills Association established.
 * 1974
 * City adopts mayor-council form of government.
 * TWA begins the first jumbo jet aircraft service with the Lockheed 1011.
 * 1976 – Indian Pueblo Cultural Center opens.
 * 1979
 * National Solar Thermal Test Facility established.
 * TWA begins the first nonstop flights to New York.
 * American Airlines begins service.
 * 1980
 * Southwest Airlines begins service.
 * Population: 331,767.
 * 1982 United Airlines begins service.
 * 1983 Delta Air Lines begins service.
 * 1986
 * Albuquerque Petroleum Building constructed.
 * New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science founded.
 * 1987-1989 Albuquerque International Sunport undergoes a major expansion.
 * 1990
 * Albuquerque Plaza built.
 * American International Rattlesnake Museum opens.
 * Population: 384,736.
 * 1991 – National Museum of Nuclear Science & History chartered.
 * 1993 – ¡Explora! Science Center and Children's Museum opens.
 * 1994
 * Albuquerque Poetry Slam begins.
 * 1996
 * April: City website online.
 * Rio Grande Botanic Garden and Albuquerque Aquarium open.
 * Cottonwood Mall (Albuquerque, New Mexico) in business.
 * 1997 – Jim Baca elected mayor.
 * 2000 – National Hispanic Cultural Center opens.
 * 2002 – Alvarado Transportation Center opens.
 * 2003 – Metropolitan Courthouse built.
 * 2004 – Albuquerque Sikh Gurudwara established.
 * 2005
 * Duke City Derby (roller derby) league formed.
 * Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum opens.
 * ¡Globalquerque! music fest begins.
 * 2007 – Alamosa Skatepark built.
 * 2009 – Richard J. Berry becomes mayor.
 * 2010 – Population: 545,852.
 * 2011 – I-25/Paseo Del Norte interchange planned.
 * 2012 – Population: 555,417.
 * 2013 – I-25/Paseo Del Norte interchange construction started.
 * 2015 – Panhandler jobs program begins.
 * 2017 – Tim Keller is elected Mayor