Timeline of Nantucket

The following is a timeline of the history of Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA.

17th century

 * 1621 – Island granted to Plymouth Company of London.
 * 1641 – Island bought by Thomas Mayhew.
 * 1659
 * Island sold to Thomas Barnard, Peter Coffin, Tristram Coffin, Christopher Hussey, Thomas Macy, William Pike, John Swayne, and Richard Swayne.
 * Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Land established.
 * 1660 – Island becomes part of the Province of New York.
 * 1661 – Settlers arrive from Amesbury and Salisbury, Massachusetts.
 * 1665 – Maddequet Ditch (canal) dug.
 * 1671 – Town incorporated.
 * 1672 – Town relocated to Wescoe from Madaket.
 * 1673 – Town named "Sherburne."
 * 1683 – Island becomes part of Dukes County, Province of New York.
 * 1686 – Jethro Coffin house built.
 * 1692 – Island becomes part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
 * 1695 – Nantucket County established.

18th century

 * 1712 – Sperm whaling begins.
 * 1713 – Tuckernuck Island becomes part of Nantucket County.
 * 1732 – Quaker meeting house built.
 * 1746
 * Lighthouse and East Mill constructed.
 * The Old Mill an historic windmill.
 * 1774 – Population: 4,545.
 * 1775 – Nantucket tentatively states their neutrality during the American Revolutionary War.
 * 1779 – April: British loyalists raid island.
 * 1784 - Great Point Light established.
 * 1795 – Town of Sherburne renamed "Nantucket."

19th century
Original Nantucket Railroad reaches bankruptcy, Nantucket Central Railroad Company established
 * 1810
 * Second Congregational Meeting House incorporated.
 * Population: 6,807.
 * 1814 – Nantucket declares neutrality in the US-British War of 1812.
 * 1816 – May: Nantucket Gazette newspaper begins publication.
 * 1817 – Fragment Society formed.
 * 1820
 * Nantucket Mechanics' Social Library Society founded.
 * Population: 7,266.
 * 1821 – The Inquirer newspaper begins publication.
 * 1823
 * Columbian Library Society founded.
 * United Methodist Church built.
 * Shark (Nantucket, Mass.?, August 1853).jpg – United Library Association and Lancasterian school founded.
 * 1834 – Nantucket Athenaeum incorporated.
 * 1835
 * African Methodist Episcopal Church incorporated.
 * Silk Factory in business.
 * 1836 – Ladies' Howard Society formed.
 * 1838 - Nantucket High School established.
 * 1839 – Trinity Church built.
 * 1840 – First Baptist Church built.
 * 1846 – Fire.
 * 1848 – Atlantic House hotel in business in Siasconset.
 * 1850 - Sankaty Head Light built.
 * 1854 – Lightship Nantucket and Town Library established.
 * 1855 - Death of Dorcas Honorable, Nantucket's last Native American Wampanoag Indian.
 * 1856
 * Nantucket Agricultural Society founded.
 * Lighthouse rebuilt.
 * 1864 – Josiah Freeman photography studio in business.
 * 1866 – Union Benevolent Society founded.
 * 1869 - Nantucket's last whaler sailed.
 * 1873 – Nantucket Relief Association founded.
 * 1875 – Civil War monument erected.
 * 1877 – Sherburne Lyceum organized.
 * 1881 – Nantucket Railroad built.
 * 1883 – Siasconset Union Chapel, Nantucket Hotel, Surf-Side Hotel and Springfield Hotel built.
 * 1886
 * Electric telegraph installed.
 * New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Company formed.
 * Wyer's Art Store in business (approximate date).
 * 1892 – Point Breeze Hotel in business.
 * 1894 – Nantucket Historical Association founded.
 * 1895 – Goldenrod Literary and Debating Society founded.
 * 1897 – Church of St. Mary-Our Lady of the Isle built.

20th century



 * 1901 – Brant Point Light rebuilt.
 * 1902 – Maria Mitchell Association founded.
 * 1908 – Maria Mitchell Observatory built.
 * 1910 – Population: 2,962 (county).
 * 1917 - Nantucket Central Railroad Company closes after all available trains were commandeered by the United States Army to serve in the Western Front of World War One
 * 1923 – Sankaty Head Golf Club opens.
 * 1925 – Nobska (steamship) begins operating in region.
 * 1930 – Whaling Museum opens.
 * 1940 – Straight Wharf Theatre established.
 * 1945 – Murray's Toggery Shop in business.
 * 1956 – July 25: SS Andrea Doria wrecked offshore.
 * 1966 – Nantucket Historic District established.
 * 1970 – Population: 3,774.
 * 1972 – Hy-Line ferry begins operating.
 * 1974 – Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge established (approximate date).
 * 1975 – Nantucket National Wildlife Refuge established.
 * 1976 – December 15: MV Argo Merchant wrecked offshore.
 * 1990 – Population: 6,012.
 * 1995 – Nantucket Regional Transit Authority begins operating.
 * 1997 – Bill Delahunt becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 10th congressional district.
 * 1999
 * October 31: EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes south of island, 217 dead.
 * African Meeting House restored.

21st century

 * 2001 – Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound organized.
 * 2010
 * Cape Wind (wind farm) development approved.
 * Population: 10,172.
 * 2011 – William R. Keating becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 10th congressional district.