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
 * 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.